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Leadership Development Dilemma: Priority on Soft or Hard Skills?

HR AND LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT REPUTATIONS

Here’s the harsh but true business reality regarding these reputations in most companies.

Regarding HR, in survey after survey for decade after decade, the CEO and top-line management executives have stated that they do not consider their HR leaders as an equal business partner primarily because they have little pragmatic operational, financial or strategic understanding of the business and are almost exclusively concerned with their administrative responsibilities.  In the past and today, the HR function has struggled mightily to convince the CEO and line executives of its worth to the company as being comparable to the worth of the other functions.  Unfortunately, the HR function has not been able to demonstrate, in a pragmatic way, exactly HOW its services can DIRECTLY help the CEO and its line executives to achieve the company’s critical business objectives and strategies.

Regarding Leadership Development, the CEO and top-line management executives have stated that their programs, especially those for middle and higher levels of management, have failed in their eyes primarily because they have offered little practical business value.

Simply covering soft skills, devoid of their relationship to the hard skills that are used by the leader to achieve the position’s business objectives, is not a realistic approach because it does not consider the leader’s associated challenges, problems, and risks.

Both of these negative reputations represent an opportunity for HR and Leadership Development management to address them in a positive way by covering the appropriate hard and soft skills together within the practical business context of the leader’s complex and difficult business reality of achieving certain critical business objectives.  If this is achieved, both reputations can be greatly improved.

ADVANTAGES OF TEACHING HARD AND SOFT SKILLS TOGETHER

  1. The company and division’s ability to achieve some of its business objectives and strategies will be enhanced.
  2. The practical business value of appropriate leadership development programs will be recognized by line management executives as a practical way to achieve some of its business objectives to which they are held accountable by the CEO and the Board of Directors.
  3. By providing practical business value in the appropriate leadership development programs, HR will clearly demonstrate its ability to be an equal business partner to its line management peers.
  4. Line management attendees are taught how to implement the relevant soft skills in the practical business setting of applying the relevant soft and hard skills together in an effort to achieve its business objectives.
  5. With the improved reputation of some leadership development programs to appropriately cover the relevant hard skills as they relate to the practical business objectives of the leader’s actual job, line management executive’s support for these programs and those that deal solely or primarily with soft skills will be greatly enhanced.
  6. By dealing with the appropriate hard skills in relation to the leader’s business objectives, the leaders and their superiors will value their time and effort spent on the program as being much more worthwhile than previous programs.

IMPLICATIONS

  1. The design of the hard skills portion of a program can be developed by using internal experts, outside consultants or graduate school staff who are fully knowledgeable of the relevant skills and the latest innovative practices on the subject.
  2. It is best to have a team of internal and outside experts to present the content in the actual program implementation. The relevant skills and latest innovative practices should be presented so that the attending leaders can discuss their potential application in meeting current business objectives.
  3. The company cost for any particular program will likely be about 20 to 25% more than the normal development costs for such a program. However, recognizing the increased business value for it, this cost increase is minimal and might even be absorbed by the line organization if needed.
  4. The Leadership Development staff for such programs will likely have to be realigned AWAY from their comfort zone of interpersonal or leadership skills and TOWARD the relevant hard skills. Hard skills content should not be avoided simply because the Leadership Development staff is uncomfortable or unfamiliar with it.
  5. Any cost savings or operational value resulting from the program should be quantified and documented to help justify the business value of other similar programs.
  6. It should be recognized that as long as investors and the market hold the management of any private or public company accountable for achieving certain financial, operating and strategic business objectives over the short and long term, the practical reality of today’s business world is that leaders must have BOTH hard and soft skills.

CONCLUSION

At present, CEOs and line management executives do not have a favorable view of many leadership development programs, especially those designed for senior and upper management.  Leadership Development and HR management can reverse that viewpoint and EARN their respect as an equal business partner by offering programs that reflect the appropriate mix of hard and soft skills, taught together, within the practical context of the leader’s actual business objectives, strategies, plans, risks, challenges, and problems.  By doing so, such programs provide practical business value that CEOs and line executives desire and appreciate. 

If you question the validity of this viewpoint, just ask a representative sample of line executives and any former HR manager who has subsequently moved into line management whether they would prefer such a program.

W-A-R-N-I-N-G

Relying almost exclusively on soft skills may be hazardous to the health of your leadership development function.

Jack Bucalo
Jack Bucalo
JACK has led the Global HR function for a Fortune 500 and 1000 international company and several other large international companies. With four years of line experience complementing his HR experience, he believes that the CHRO or HR Leader should play a more direct role in helping the CEO to achieve the company's business objectives and strategic goals, while effectively implementing its administrative duties. In doing so successfully, the CHRO or HR Leader can become an equal business partner with his/her line management peers while becoming more directly involved in the company's operational mainstream, rather than being just an administrative afterthought. As a pragmatic practitioner, Jack publishes detailed and actionable articles on a wide variety on critically-important HR issues on BIZCATALYST 360°. He is also on the advisory board for other web sites. Jack's over 20 years of executive-level HR experience for which he was responsible for company, executive and Board-related matters, form the basis for most of viewpoints.

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9 CONVERSATIONS

  1. The mix has to be there for management ( senior and middle) and employees to be continually productive and growing themselves. The mix should be in-bedded in the culture of the company ( small or large) and should be continually supported by all levels of management. Part of this process should be in the recruiting and on boarding of team members at all levels. Departmental meetings and management meetings should at times include the support of this objective and it should also be part of all employee reviews….

  2. Jack, thank you for writing and sharing your article. I agree with you wholeheartedly that leaders in today’s business climate should be mandated to have a healthy balance of soft and hard skills. An overabundance of either will not result in productivity or efficiency. Having said that it must be realized each industry has its own culture that may negate the need for one or the other or allow for an imbalance.

    • Thanks for your comment Joel. I agree with one caveat. In any one industry, the balance may vary in favor of hard vs. soft skills, but there will never be a situation where one set of skills will negate the other. Jack.

    • Jack, thank you for your response to my comment. From my many years (past and present) of experience, I can tell you that yes, in fact, there will be situations where one skill set will negate the other.

  3. Thanks so much for this piece, Jack. In my experience, business schools have a strong bias towards hard skills which is why Leadership programs in the marketplace have had to fill the need for developing what people call soft skills (I personally hate the language around soft skills as it seems to be inherent judgement). But I’m seeing a shift in what business schools are offering, especially in Executive Education. I work for the Cox Business School Exec Ed and they are marrying the two beautifully with great success. What’s key, in my mind, is to recognize that both are critical to success.

    • Thanks for your comments Kimberly. My experience with many top business schools is that the shift is coming very slowly as they continue to concentrate on the hard skills. It seems to me that the impetus for properly integrating both skills together lies with the HR and Leadership Development communities. It can be done and it can significantly improve the importance and viability of both communities if they do so. As I said in my article, simply relying on soft skills has not proven the practical business value of leadership programs, even though such programs have a practical opportunity for doing so. Good luck in your continued efforts to do so. Hopefully, my article will help you in some small way. Jack

    • Thanks Kimberly. Hopefully, it will support much of your work at the Cox Business School. From my work with many other top business schools, the impetus to include the proper mix of skills in such programs at the B schools and corporate institutes has to come from the companies themselves. In many of my articles on bizcatalyst360.com, I have provided many examples of how HR and Leadership Development groups can bring BUSINESS into their daily work.

    • Thanks for kind words Kimberly. Hopefully, my article can help you in your Executive Ed efforts at Cox and elsewhere. Feel free to use it in any way you feel it might be helpful. My experience with many of the top B-schools however, is that there is a long way to go. The impetus for this type of change must come from the current cadre of HR leaders who need to demonstrate the need for BOTH skills in their own programs and in interactions with the B-schools. Best regards. Jack

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