THE IMPORTANCE OF HAVING BOTH SOFT SKILLS AND HARD SKILLS

THE KEY TO SUCCESS IN ANY CAREER DEPEND LARGELY ON THE INDIVIDUAL'S UNDERSTANDING OF SOFT SKILLS OR EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE (EQ) AND HARD SKILLS OR INTELLIGENCE QUOTIENT (IQ). SOFT SKILLS ARE SOMETIMES KNOWN AS INTERPERSONAL SKILLS OR PEOPLE SKILLS. IT IS SOMEWHAT DIFFICULT TO QUANTIFY BECAUSE IT IS LESS TANGIBLE UNLIKE HARD SKILLS WHICH CAN BE MEASURED AND DEFINED.  HAVING A HIGH IQ DOES NOT NECESSARILY GUARANTEE ONE'S SUCCESS IN A CHOSEN CAREER. A THOROUGH GRASP OF EQ IS NEEDED.


CAREERS CAN BE CATEGORIZED AS FOLLOWS:


1. A CAREER THAT REQUIRES BOTH HARD SKILLS AND SOFT SKILLS- Example: Lawyers
2. A CAREER THAT REQUIRES A LITTLE HARD SKILLS BUT NEED MOSTLY SOFT SKILLS-Example: Salesman
3. A CAREER THAT REQUIRES A LITTLE SOFT SKILLS BUT NEED MOSTLY HARD SKILLS- Example: Scientists

A LIST OF SKILLS FOR THE FUTURE WORKFORCE

The Institute of the Future based in Palo Alto, California and the University of Phoenix Research Institute came out in 2011 with a 19 page report entitled "Future Work Skills 2020". The report analyzes six key drivers that will reshape the workplace of the future and identifies ten work skills that will be needed in the next ten years.


According to the report the six drivers of change are:
1. Extreme longevity
2. Rise of smart machines and systems
3. Computational world
4. New media ecology
5. Superstructed organization
6. Globally connected world


And the ten work skills needed by the future workforce are:
1. Sense-making
2. Social intelligence
3. Novel and adaptive thinking
4. Cross-cultural competency
5. Computational thinking
6. New-media literacy
7. Transdisciplinarity
8. Design mindset
9. Cognitive load management
10. Virtual collaboration

FROM NOVICE TO EXPERT

 How do you assess your progress in the development of skills? In 1980, brothers Stuart and Hubert Dreyfus came out with an 18-page report on their research at the University of California, Berkeley.  The Dreyfus model of skill acquisition proposes that a student passes through five clearly defined stages. They are as follows:
1. Novice- You have no experience and new to a certain task.
2. Advanced beginner- You begin learning.
3. Competent- You have sufficient knowledge.
4. Proficient- You have sufficient knowledge and training.
5. Expert- You have a high degree of skill resulting from experience.
As an example, in the field of target shooting, participants are classified as follows:
1. Tyro
2. Marksman
3. Sharpshooter
4. Master
5. Expert

Correlation between Stages of Learning & Stages of Skills Acquisition

According to Abraham Harold Maslow, American professor of psychology and creator of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, there are four stages of learning.

1.      Unconscious Incompetence- You don’t know that you don’t know.

2.      Conscious Incompetence- You know that you don’t know.

3.      Conscious Competence- You know that you know.

4.      Unconscious Competence-You don’t know that you know.

In her article titled “Learning a New Skill is Easier Said than Done”, Linda Adams, president of Gordon Training International, there are four stages in learning a new skill.

1.      Unconsciously unskilled-You are unaware that you are incompetent.

2.      Consciously unskilled-You know the extent of learning.

3.      Consciously skilled- You know how to do it.

4.      Unconsciously skilled- You do it naturally.

Correlating the stages of learning with stages of learning a new skill, it is clear that you are either unskilled or skilled and you are either unconscious or conscious about it. You have to know exactly at which stage of learning are in so that you will try to move up the ladder so to speak and then you can step into the realm of skills acquisition.

Introduction to Skills

One of the meanings of skill taken from Merriam-Webster online dictionary is “a learned power of doing something competently.” I am fascinated by the myriad skills a person encounters in life. A person can possess numerous skills acquired or developed through learning, training and experience unlike talent which is a natural ability to do something. Once a person acquires a skill or skills, he or she tends to do it well; well enough to qualify for a work or a job that pays well. DIFFERENT SKILLS BLOG focus is to explore all the different skills that are humanly possible to acquire. Equipped with a particular skill or a set of skills plus talents and passion, one can confidently look forward to a satisfying job, a successful future and become a seemingly irreplaceable asset to any organization and to the society at large.