When you account for the skills and training you gained in the military, your certifications, credentials and technical abilities are likely at the top of the list. You’ve prided yourself on your Lean Six Sigma, your fluency in six languages and your ability to identify risk in complex systems under high-stress adverse conditions, and you’ve been admired for the rank and seniority that accompanied your many years of hands-on aptitude. You can even disassemble a bomb in the dark without being detected.
Today, those skills are still important, but so are your soft skills, the ones you might think are less relevant but are highly desired by employers in the civilian sector.
Hard Versus Soft Skills
Hard skills are those that can be taught, trained on and learned. You learn to speak a foreign language, code a mobile application and skillfully handle artillery. Hard skills are critical to becoming competent, efficient then expert on a skill and task. With training, education and refinement, hard skills contribute value to your career path.
Soft skills, on the other hand, are equally important yet often overlooked. Some people consider these just things you have or don’t have. Soft skills include qualities such as leadership, empathy, team building or adaptability. Employers today do not simply hire employees to conduct tasks with efficacy. They seek people who can do the job well and will perform within the culture and teams it has in place. This is where soft skills are so important.
The U.S. Department of Labor emphasizes the importance of soft skills as a “competitive advantage,” noting that employers view these skills as a key factor in work readiness.
How to Sharpen Your Soft Skills
Everyone can refine the skills that are not taught in technical training. Qualities and abilities such as enthusiasm, a positive outlook, emotional intelligence, empowering of others, agility, courage and time management are skills most professionals possess to some degree. Many of you developed exceptional soft skills in your time in the military, yet you might be underselling them.
If you notice (or receive feedback) that you could benefit from improving a soft skill, here are steps you can take:
1. Clarify the Skill that Needs Developing or Refining
To improve your communication skills, for example, specify whether you need to get better at active listening (really hearing and understanding what’s being said); empathetic communication (responding to the situation someone is sharing, even if you’ve not been in the same place); speaking with clarity (do people reply with, “What?” often after you talk?) and so on. Get clear on what you want to improve to ensure you focus on the right skill.
2. Set a Goal
Put parameters and benchmarks around your goal. For example, you might focus on active listening skills with Bob (your boss) for 30 days to improve how well you receive what he intends to communicate. Goals help to break big challenges, such as “listen better,” into more manageable parts, like “receive the information as intended so I can get my projects completed on time.”
3. Find a Buddy or Mentor
Enlist the support of someone on your team or at your work. Share with them the skill you’re focused on, and ask for their support in identifying when you’re doing it correctly, where you need more help and so on. They might also suggest courses or books to help you strengthen this soft skill.
4. Practice
Any important skill requires repetition to perfect. Soft skills are no different. As you feel more confident with the skill, expand it. If you initially focus on active listening skills with Bob, later expand it to the entire management team or your peers to get even better at listening and communicating.
5. Ask for Feedback
Ask your buddy, mentor, manager or other colleague for feedback as you strengthen your soft skills. Share with them what you’re addressing, and ask them to watch for improvement or backsliding. Take their feedback to heart, and continue to improve.
Soft skills are vital to career advancement. Depending on your chosen career path, some may be outside the training you received in the military. Identifying which soft skills are important to your career, company and team, then aligning those with your goals for career growth, will ensure you present yourself as a well rounded addition to any team.
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