So much of your time and energy leading up to the early years of your career is spent learning and perfecting the skills needed for the job. Often — especially in STEM fields — those skills can be specific and require much hands-on training. But in order to achieve long-term success in any career, you must also develop soft skills. In fact, these transferable skills — skills that you apply to any job — are what hiring managers are seeking in their employees. Regardless of where you are on your career path, be sure to continue developing these vital skills.
Professionalism
It may seem obvious, but it cannot be overstated — you must be accountable for your actions. Employers expect honesty, integrity, and maturity from all employees, so be sure to deliver. Be punctual. Deliver high-quality work. Be aware of your actions, and take responsibility for any mistakes. Each day is a chance to learn and to grow.
Communication
The term “communication” is broad and encompasses speaking, writing, and listening. While employers want you to convey your ideas effectively, they also need you to listen. Good listeners work hard to understand the feelings of others, strengthen relationships, and resolve conflict. In order to accurately communicate, you must hear other points of view.
Problem Solving
Issues pop up in every job — how serious or far-reaching they are just depends on the day. Don’t ignore a problem or wait for someone else to fix it. Instead analyze the situation and make an informed decision. Employers value someone who can thoughtfully assess a problem, investigate possible approaches, and propose a solution.
Teamwork and Leadership
It’s rare that a professional role does not entail working with others. It’s critical that you are able to collaborate respectfully with members of your internal team as well as with clients and outside vendors, contractors, and the like. Working with a team also allows you to shine as a leader. Use your interpersonal skills to help motivate others. Or step up and organize, prioritize, and delegate tasks. While remaining focused on the ultimate goal, you can bring out the best in yourself as well as others on your team.
Adaptability
Sometimes plans change, and when they do, be flexible. Showing that you can pivot when needed proves that you’re someone a manager and employer can count on. Whether it’s a new schedule, a new concept, or a new project, it’s important that you’re able to adapt in order to succeed.
While you might have mastered the hard, technical skills needed for your current role, be sure to continuing developing your soft, transferable skills. Employers are looking for competent people who also exhibit professionalism, have good communication and problem-solving skills. Continuing to develop your leadership skills and remaining flexible when change arises will only serve you well.
ON TOPIC
Developing soft skills is important for long-term professional success. Career Coach David Bingley discusses the need for patience and understanding as managers empower team members to make decisions. Working toward empowerment can be daunting — for both sides — it's critical for personal and business growth.
I was a middle manager in an international hospitality company when I first heard about empowerment as a workplace norm. The meetings I attended filled me with dread in the sense that we as a leadership team were only paying lip service to the process. We had no intention of taking it seriously and we had no idea of how it would work successfully. There was a lot of assumption and very little self-awareness of how we operated. In truth, I had my suspicions that we, as a whole, would fail to uphold the spirit of empowerment, but I did not realize how fast we would fail or the impact it would have on teams moving forward.
It seemed to me that the spirit of empowerment was not understood. We did not discuss what empowerment meant or what we should expect. In the first hour a member of the front office team made a decision, which created an issue that escalated out of proportion. I do not recall the exact issue, but I can still feel the negative energy and emotions that went spinning out of control. To sum it up, a poor decision was made and a red flag was quickly raised. Multiple departments made accusations and the message was clear — the decision maker should have sought approval from their manager before making the decision. In the end, upper management got involved, knee-jerk reactions were made, and the customer was overcompensated for the mistake. The greatest outcome, though, was that no one on the team ever chose to make a decision again.
Another example came years later when I was teaching in a private culinary academy. A student who was working reception and reservations during the lunch service decided to reject a walk-in table of five because the floor plan he was using had only a few smaller tables available. He turned the table away in front of the school principal. The principal got angry and started the blame game. He refused to listen to the student and escalated what was a minor and easily fixable issue. I guided the student to examine how we could find space to seat the guests. It involved asking someone to move their table so that we could open up space for the table of five. The student did not immediately agree. In fact, he thought that it was rude and disrespectful. I let him know I agreed with him to a point, but explained that it is an industry practice and that if it was his own restaurant, he’d be turning money away. Instead, he could maximize his seating and income by explaining the situation to the guests and politely asking them to move tables. In return we would offer them a complimentary coffee or dessert for their trouble.
The difference between these two cases is that the spirit of empowerment was honored in the second case. It was a powerful learning moment for many people, not just for those directly involved. Someone made a decision and chose a course of action, and, as a manager, must honor and support that. Next, you need to decide if you need to step in and, together with the person who made the decision, take remedial action. If action is needed, either ask the decision maker what they think they should do to rectify the problem, or act as their mentor and guide them through your thought process to resolve the issue.
The key to empowerment is to stand in the shoes of the individual making the decision — free of all the knowledge, perceptions, and common sense that you possess now. You do not know what prompted them to make that particular decision, so you have to stand in their shoes neutrally. Celebrate the decision and support them as you learn more about them and their process. Really listen to them so they feel seen, heard, recognized, and respected.
Once you understand their process you can ask them — knowing what happened — what they would do differently. This is when you can unpack different options and scenarios. I was able to highlight that the floor plan was a flexible tool meant to assist in maximizing our potential when the unexpected factors come into play. The objective is to show solidarity and support to the team by supporting individuals to make decisions. When a poor decision is made, learn from that and continue to make decisions confidently.
Empowerment takes courage, practice, and commitment from a manager, and it pays dividends with your team in a short amount of time. As a leader, you want your team members to be responsible and take ownership for their actions. You want them to develop, and to do so they need your support. Therefore, you need to be equally as responsible and accountable. Some of the greatest lessons come through empowerment. Ask your team and yourself, “Knowing what you know now, what would you do differently?”
