2011-11 Why IT Professionals Need Soft Skills by Barbara Bulleit, Bulleit Marketing

1. Why IT Professionals Need Soft Skills
 Define “soft skills”
 Compare with hard or occupational skills
 List of soft skills
 How soft skills apply in different positions
 Why learn them
 Benefit
© 2011 Global Knowledge Training LLC. All rights reserved.

2. Soft Skills Definition
 Emotional Intelligence Quotient - Personality traits
 Social graces
 Communication, language
 Personal habits, responsibility, integrity
 Friendliness, optimism, sense of humor, common
sense
 Characterize relationships with other people
 Complement hard skills
© 2011 Global Knowledge Training LLC. All rights reserved.

3. Emotional Intelligence Quotient -
Personality traits
 Can translate to abilities that can be learned and
practiced
 Empathy
 Communication
 Sociability
 Negotiation
 Willingness to teach and help others
 Teamwork
 Leadership
© 2011 Global Knowledge Training LLC. All rights reserved.

4. Hard Skills and Soft Skills Side-by-Side
 Hard Skills  Soft Skills
 Tangible  Less tangible
 Can be defined  Harder to quantify
 Can be measured  Personal and
 Relate to an interpersonal
occupation or job attributes
 May be technical  Determine a person’s
work performance
 Learn in school or
from books  Require adaptability
 Get the interview  Land the job
© 2011 Global Knowledge Training LLC. All rights reserved.

5. Expanded List of Soft Skills
 Leadership
 Strategic thinking
 Communication
 Delegation and motivation
 Conflict resolution and negotiation
 Influencing
 Creative problem solving
 Coaching and mentoring
 Team building
 Personal effectiveness
© 2011 Global Knowledge Training LLC. All rights reserved.

6. Soft Skills as an Individual Contributor
 Individual contributor
 Work with others
 Communication
 Conflict resolution
 Problem solving
 Help and support
 Initiative
© 2011 Global Knowledge Training LLC. All rights reserved.

7. Soft Skills as a Supervisor or Manager
 Supervisor or Manager
 Now a leader, coach, mentor
 Direction, strategy
 Goals and objectives
 Working guidelines and processes
 Communication up, down, across for all
 Delegation and motivation
 Effective feedback
 Difficult people and interpersonal situations
 Remote and multicultural employees
 Appropriate style
© 2011 Global Knowledge Training LLC. All rights reserved.

8. Why Learn Them
 Use of strategic thinking
 More effective and appropriate communication
 Increased ability to discuss difficult issues
 Greater inclination to see the other person’s
perspective
 Less conflict through discussion and negotiation
 Development of leadership skills
© 2011 Global Knowledge Training LLC. All rights reserved.

9. Why Learn Them (continued)
 Opportunities
 Greater responsibility
 Learning, new skills
 Visibility
 Promotion
 Salary increase
© 2011 Global Knowledge Training LLC. All rights reserved.

10. So Why do IT Professionals Need Soft
Skills?
 To get the job
 To keep the job
 To advance
 To grow as a professional and as a human being!
© 2011 Global Knowledge Training LLC. All rights reserved.