The Value of Soft Skills
The word ‘soft’ is the opposite of ‘hard’, and with that loaded term brings many connotations and perceptions that do not always seem in favour of soft skills. However -do not lose sight of the critical fact that soft skills are essential to be successful and fulfilled in what you do as a physiotherapist.
Hard skills can be more readily assessed, quantified, and gauged. They refer to technical skills and competence completing those kinds of tasks. Educational background, work experience, task prowess and objective competency are all round hard skills – which are indeed important for opening career opportunity doors and becoming technically proficient and expert clinically. But – soft skills, people skills…life skills if you will - represent personal capabilities that are the lifeblood of relationships in a social environment; and we as physiotherapists usually work and thrive in social environments.
Soft skills combine character traits, attitudes, mentalities, emotional intelligence, and social behaviours. They enable us to find our path in an environment, to build relationships and nurture these essential connections. These skills are also transferable to other professions, so they are worth identifying and training sufficiently. Being able to communicate, motivate others, have empathy, make prompt and effective decisions, lead a team, work collaboratively, be innovative, creative and curious are part of a complex skill set that can be translated into any working profession.
These dispositions consist of a constellation of abilities that we can utilise in all walks of life.
They do not need to be overly adapted depending on circumstance or situation. They will help us navigate challenging times, moments of uncertainty, pressure, and expectations, overwhelm or anxiety (i.e. during COVID-19). As the landscape of our world changes, the ability to pivot, adapt and be fluid is so important - and soft skills will play an influential role here.
They are ingredients for success and high performance in our physiotherapy journeys. We attend university – we learn about diagnosing, managing, and rehabbing injuries. The physiotherapists that positively impact others treat the person (i.e. a patient first approach), rather than focusing on treating the pathology or injury. Soft skills come to the fore here. Of course, you need to be able to complete the technical side of things, but it is the soft side that can win over a patient in this process.
We only learn the value of soft skills experientially. They are not part of our educational curriculum studying this field – I never attended modules on leadership, time management or the importance of non-verbal communication in building rapport with a patient. I have learned about soft skills from working in various places and spending time with patients, colleagues, and mentors - both inside and outside the physiotherapy profession. As Adam Grant, psychologist, professor, and author says – “the purpose of learning isn’t to affirm our beliefs; it’s to evolve our beliefs”.
The evidence behind the value of skills is there too. Robert Lavasseur, a preeminent leadership professor states that having interviewed may researchers in this field, “soft skills rated higher than technical skills” (2013). Studies by the Stanford Research Institute and the Carnegie Mellon Foundation among Fortune 500 CEOs confirm this concept. They reported that 75% of long-term job success resulted from soft skills…25% from technical skills (Sinha, 2008).
Lifelong learning, mentoring and community building are necessary in present-day culture - for handling an environment that changes quickly and demands a lot of us. Soft skills are a common thread through each of these areas that can help clarify career paths, create opportunities, and lead to self-actualisation in time. I have been fortunate to identify the main ones for me and have given them significant value over the years. I train them regularly and try to improve in weaker interpersonal, soft skill areas. There is no doubt that we must be constant learners – ‘a forever student’ even. Jackie Joyner-Kersee, the retired track and field athlete once proclaimed – “I maintained my edge by always being a student: you will always have something new to learn”.
#learnandgiveback