Leaders Now Need ‘Soft Skills’

CU360
April 1, 2010 | COMMENTS

When it comes to desirable qualities in a leader, traditional picks such as integrity and confidence will always make the list. But bringing order to chaos is also a must in this time of financial turmoil and job uncertainty.

What other qualities will set leaders apart in the future?

Some of the top business competencies sought from upcoming leaders include strategy development and execution, business ethics, and decision making, according to a recent study by the Institute for Corporate Productivity.

The five qualities that ranked highest were:

1. Knowledge of the business (61%).
2. Strategy execution (60%).
3. Good relationship-building skills (52%).
4. Customer knowledge (48%).
5. Strategy development (47%).

The questions directed at study participants explored three types of competencies (business, soft skills, and management) on two scales—a leadership-success index and a market-performance index. Each competency was measured in terms of what companies are actually doing and what they think they should be doing.

When leaders were asked what challenges they would face over the next decade, the answers were the need to operate efficiently and the need for profitability, according to Jay Jamrog, senior vice president of research at the institute.

Soft skills competencies that tied directly to leadership success were creating an environment of trust and respect, coaching skills, community involvement, being a role model for organizational values, and emotional intelligence.

“I think what companies are starting to realize is that the competencies that have to do with building relationships are becoming just as important as the skills to build and maintain a business,” Jamrog tells Training & Development magazine.

There's a connection between business ethics being rated highly and wanting leaders to be role models for organizational values—findings likely related to the rise of corporate scandals in recent years.

Jamrog believes that emotional intelligence will be one of the most important competencies in the next 10 years, whether in the form of empathy or building relationships.

One barrier is that, with the increase in layoffs, company leaders are increasing their spans of control to produce results. Developing more soft skills, however, typically means reducing one's span of control and allowing results to develop organically.

Jamrog also notes that companies aren't sure how to reward people for soft skills because business and management competencies are usually rewarded monetarily and measured quantitatively, and the same metrics don't work for relationship building.

In terms of management competencies, the top priorities include developing other leaders, learning change-management skills, and hiring talent.