Bethan Blakeley: The soft skills are the hardest

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There. I said it. ‘Soft skills’ is one of the terms that frustrates me the most. After some digging, it turns out it was coined by the US army in the late-1960s, referring to any skills that didn’t need the use of machinery. It stuck from there, hanging over everyone’s heads like a gloomy cloud that nobody has been able to shake.

The reality has shifted far from this distant, old-fashioned notion. Soft skills include a wealth of important talents, from communication, influencing, critical thinking and leadership to collaboration, emotional intelligence, creativity and problem-solving.

There have been some attempts to rebrand soft skills into core skills, essential skills, people skills, or even power skills – but none of these has quite worked. So, we’re still stuck with soft skills. If you look up ‘soft’ in the thesaurus, the adjectives you see there couldn’t be further from the type of skills we’re talking about here. ‘Slushy’, ‘subdued’, ‘washed out’, ‘muted’, ‘delicate’, ‘easy going’, ‘mushy’, and even ‘witless’ make the list of alternatives.

People skills, as I’m going to call them for now, are by far the most important tool you can have in your life and your career – especially in the fields of data, analytics and insights. Liz Henderson, executive adviser at Capgemini, said on the Driven by Data podcast (which I highly recommend, by the way) that “data is a people sport” – and she couldn’t have been more on the money.

If you’re playing to stereotypes (which I don’t condone very often, but stick with me here), analysts – and anyone working with data and numbers – will be glued to a computer screen, in the corner of the office, speaking to nobody, unable to string a sentence together, crippled by social anxiety. We need to turn this narrative around. If we can’t communicate the value of our insights to our stakeholders, they are pointless. If we can’t convince our peers that they should base a business decision on the analysis we’ve done, there is no point us doing it. If we can’t turn our data problem-solving skills into business problem-solving skills, and work with business leaders to find the common ground, we may as well pack our bags now.

Catherine King, global head of brand at Orbition Group, explains the importance of these so-called soft skills in the data and analytics industry: “The danger of working within the world of data lies in our overwhelming passion for it; we often overlook the fact that not everyone shares our level of enthusiasm. It’s easy to assume that the significance or crucial insights are apparent to all, simply because they are to us. However, the reality is that, without strong communication and storytelling skills, being understood, supported and valued will always be an uphill task.”

It’s absolutely imperative that we close the soft-skills gap in the data, analytics and insights industries if we’re to be taken seriously. To do that, we need to practise. We need to go against the stereotypical grain. Volunteer to present to the business. Be the one driving forward those relationships with stakeholders. I can’t say this loudly enough – put yourself firmly outside of your comfort zone and embrace it with everything you have.

If you feel as though your leadership skills could be improved, put your hand up to lead the next project in your team. If your collaboration skills need refining, volunteer to be the one to work with members outside of your business to collaborate on the next piece of work. If you want to up your communication game, keep your eyes peeled for ways you can do this, as often as you can. Write that blog post, make that phone call, offer your colleague a coffee and a catch up.

King also says: “The harsh reality is that merely completing our tasks is no longer sufficient to be successful. Regardless of our positions within the data field, it’s crucial that we effectively communicate our achievements and the insights we’ve gained. Relying solely on our work to speak for itself is a thing of the past; we must actively articulate our contributions. While this shift may feel uncomfortable for some, those who embrace this new mindset will witness tangible results almost immediately.”

Let’s turn that tired old narrative around and make our industry’s soft-skills shortage a thing of the past.