Why the New Soft Skills Are Power Skills

The demands of the workplace are evolving, which is no secret. 

Working in a perpetual state of change is now recognised and expected, whether it's adjusting to a remote or hybrid setting, developing more diverse, egalitarian, and inclusive companies, or discovering new ways to increase productivity.

This entire transition doesn't take place in a day. It seriously affects workers and their potential for success. It might be difficult to keep up with the rapid change in both the workplace and the business. 

Due to this, almost 90% of executives and managers report that their companies either already have talent shortages or anticipate having them within the next five years.

Our knowledge of the abilities that will enable employees to flourish in the near future is evolving along with the workplace.

The terms "hard" and "soft" skills need to be reexamined.

The most in-demand abilities go beyond merely staying on the cutting edge of technology. Every employee's effectiveness depends on their capacity for leadership, teamwork, communication, productivity, and wellness. 

It is therefore no longer appropriate to refer to them as "soft talents," which implies that they are a lesser-valued set of abilities in the job. These abilities go beyond being good to have. They are necessary to transform the workplace.

Josh Bersin addresses the growing scepticism among HR and L&D professionals regarding the use of the labels "hard" and "soft" talents. "Soft Skills are hard (they are tough to construct, critical, and take tremendous effort to get), whereas Hard Skills are soft (they change continuously, are continually becoming obsolete, and are relatively easy to master," the author says.

Why we favour the phrase "power skills"

What terms should we use in their place, then? Leaders in HR and L&D like Josh Bersin and others support the use of the phrase "power skills."

How come "power skills"? The power that people have at work comes from these talents. power to collaborate, power to lead, and power to communicate clearly.

We at  Business think that when creating a strong training programme, these abilities should be at the front of your thoughts because they are essential for creating training programmes for the top businesses in the world. 

"Power skills have always been an important aspect of workplace learning, and their value has only gotten more urgent as the global workforce navigates the changes of the last few years," writes Melissa Daimler, Chief Learning Officer.

In order to create an agile business and a solid company culture, employees must be given the chance to acquire powerful abilities related to communication, cooperation, and change leadership.

After all, whether they work in a financial, technical, administrative, sales, or marketing function, these are essential competencies that all employees require. So, farewell, soft skills. Greetings from the new power skills era.