The Hierarchy of Soft-Skills

It used to be “technical” skills that were most important. Now though, according to Forbes, soft skills, such as empathy, adaptability, integrity and resilience, have become crucial success factors at work. But did you know that there’s also a hierarchy to soft-skills?

In my view, it goes something like this, starting with self-awareness and self-management:

1. Understanding about what makes us fulfilled is the gateway skill.
2. Then comes knowing and influencing the conditions that help us to be motivated.
3. Followed by managing the fears, doubts and other emotions that can get in the way of being at our best.
4. Then, because we can never control all of the conditions around us, come soft-skills around being adaptable and responding to change – and being authentic at the same time.

After that, the soft-skills focus shifts to other people:

1. How well do we understand what makes others tick?
2. How skilled are we at being authentic and adaptable as we communicate with others?
3. How good are we at balancing out the needs of the job and the needs of other people to be fulfilled and motivated?
4. Beyond that, comes inspirational leadership, which I’ll cover in a future post.

What’s your view of the most important soft-skills; and which needs to come first?