Soft Skills Make for Tough Leaders

Here’s a secret most executives won’t tell you: on their route to the top, they most probably received communications training – yes, training in soft skills!

Technical brilliance and business acumen will have made them stand out, but it’s often the soft skills of interpersonal communication, business development or networking as well as presentation skills that pushed them to the top of the pile.

They may not have known it, but their Boards or CEOs may have chosen them for greater things if they had more ability to inspire or connect with their staff.

Top three things to know about soft skills

We’ve spent years coaching senior executives from the public and private sectors and these are the top three things they want to know:

  1. How do I connect with or engage with my staff or audience?
  2. How do I know if my message is getting through?
  3. How do I inspire others to act or to change the way they think or behave?

Sometimes the answer is as simple as executive coaching on communication delivery.

But so often the answer is also coaching executives to truly listen to their staff and to act on what they say.