Recently I had the opportunity to sit down again with David Wojcik from the Mississauga Board of Trade. We talked about the importance of “soft skills”, or as I prefer to call them, relational skills, as a critical leadership skill and one that sets effective leaders apart. We hope you give it a listen and that you find a useful insight for you to use in your work.

David: One of the most exciting and challenging things about leadership is that it requires a diverse set of skills.  Unique tactical skills, specialized skills, managerial skills, and the list goes on.  One of the skills that is often overlooked, but really important are soft skills.  To help us with the conversation is Liza Provenzano.  Liza Provenzano is the founder and CEO of Spark HR, a human resources firm that focuses on helping Canadian businesses to become more successful through the performance of aligned, capable and engaged teams.  Liza is an experienced HR professional, bringing 20 years of practical HR perspectives and insights to the solutions that Spark HR offers clients.  And we welcome Liza today.

Hi Liza.

Liza: Hello, David.

David: So let’s start off by defining what soft skills are.  Because I think people have varying degrees of understanding what they are, and varying degrees of definition of what they are.  So let’s start off with your definition of what soft skills are. 

Liza: Sure.  David, the category of soft skills, I would say are relationship skills.  They are also called social emotional skills.  The term emotional intelligence is a common term that’s used.  And really what we’re talking about in that group of skills are the skills to really tune in and be aware of our own emotional state, be able to regulate that in a productive way, and also be able to tune into the emotions of others, and respond appropriately to the emotions of others in a productive way.  So it’s really looking, at the end of the day, I think the best way to sum it in the work that I do, is to say it’s really looking at the relationship skills.

David: So when we talk about emotional intelligence, or EQ, of which I’ve been the guinea pig of many surveys and studies through my lovely bride, Joanne, as she’s become certified in some of these techniques –

Liza: Yes.

David:  – how do you know if you have an emotional quotient?

Liza: Oh, that’s a great question.  How do you know?  Well, I think one of the quick ways would be just, quite frankly, an honest reflection where you scan the quality and productivity of your relationships.  When I say the quality of your relationships, I mean are you experiencing high levels of mutual respect in relationships?  And in the workplace, are you able to collaborate and get things done together?  Are you able to resolve disagreements?  Are there high levels of trust?  So that’s where I would start David, just a quick scan of the key relationships I have in my workplace, and frankly, how do I feel about them in terms of respect, trust and collaboration?

David: So if you walk into the room and your team is all in there, and they all get up and walk out, chances are –

Liza: It’s not a good sign.

David: – your EQ might be a little on the low side.

(laughter)

Liza: Yes, there is the external signal that you would see.

David: Now, what happens if – or how important is emotional intelligence, or the EQ, or the soft skills, how important is that when it’s measured against all of the other hard skills we might have on the technology side, the finance side?  Because we know you can teach a hard skill, can you teach soft skills?

Liza: So two questions there: Can you teach it?  Yes.  So it is a learnable skill.  The second point, or question that you raise is why does it matter in relation to these other so-called hard skills.  So I’ll refer to those hard skills as, I’ll say the technical or functional expertise, you know, I need to know the subject matter of my business or my job in order to be successful.  And while that’s true as a leader, it’s not enough.  We know now that the absence of those relationship skills actually will cancel out the good things that a person can do with their technical and functional skills.  So to lead effectively in today’s workplaces, leaders need both.  They need to be able to have the task focus, they need to be able to have the relationship focus, and to be able to merge and balance those two effectively.

David: So Liza, this brings me back to a book I read years ago called the Peter Principle, where people rise to the level of their incompetence.  So if we look at leaders that are often hired by Boards of Directors, or a President is hired by a CEO, and they’ve been able to rise because of their technical skills, they’ve great salespeople, they’re great ops people, so they get into that leadership role, but maybe they don’t have those soft skills that are required.  So how does one, or how does a Board go about evaluating if those soft skills and EQ are in line with what they need?

Liza: Well, I think it’s a great distinction to make, David, because it’s a common mistake organizations make when they promote successful technical folks into roles where they are now accountable to lead and inspire teams.  So some of the attributes to look for would be what is the extent to which this individual the able to support their peers?  What is the extent to which they are able to resolve disagreements effectively with other people and still maintain their relationships?  What are the things that they do to collaborate effectively in the teams that they are in?  So looking at what they are already doing before the promotion is one thing.  Then once they get into the role, then there are a number of things that can be done to support their development as a leader of the team.  And often times, that’s where we fall down.  We put someone in the role assuming that because they were successful as an individual contributor, they’ll now be successful leading a team, and often times folks will struggle or have a lot of trial and error and trip over their feet before they get up and running.  So there are a number of things we can do to support their development when they get into a leadership role.

David: Is it possible for someone that lacks those soft skills to still be successful?  Do we see leaders out there that are possibly in that category?

Liza: It is possible for them to be successful with support.  If the individual is open to learning and experimenting with different ways of doing things, willing to stretch their comfort zone, willing to grow and develop, and they have those supports in place, yes, it is possible for those changes to happen and for a person to be successful with that new element of their role.  At some point, it may, as you say, it may stop where a person goes as far as they want to or are capable of.  But again, it is possible with the right supports in place.

David: So finally, Liza, this is the part of the interview that everybody waits for, your expert advice on what we can do to build those soft skills, those relatable skills, what can leaders do?

Liza: Yeah.  So there are a number of things leaders can do.  You mentioned it earlier, David, where there are a number of tools out there that are available to help leaders get an objective assessment of where they are at.  So certainly tapping into one of those tools could be helpful.  Simply being open to learning.  There are resources, free resources available, just to a degree that we’ve never seen before. Podcasts, books, videos, all kinds of resources that folks can find on their own to learn from.  Talking to colleagues and establishing networks and being open about some of the challenges, and looking how colleagues whom you respect have handled challenges along their path.  And actively, intentionally, setting goals, personal goals for oneself, to say, this is one thing – and just focus on one thing at a time – this is one thing that I want to work on, and get feedback from others on how you are doing with it.

David: And if you are one of those leaders who walks into the room and your team gets up and walks out, call Liza Provenzano at Spark HR.

(laughter)

We’ve been in conversation with Liza Provenzano, the founder and CEO of Spark HR.  Liza, thanks for being with us.

Liza: Thank you, David.