| Why Soft Skills are Crucial for the Future of Work 1

We all hear a lot about technical

skills. You’re probably looking for
people with chops in cybersecurity,
software development, data science,
and machine learning.

But what about

soft skills?

Even the most technically In this e-book we’ll answer

strong team needs “soft” the questions:
skills to succeed.
Why are certain soft skills
We need to change the so important?
conversation. Skills like
Which soft skills are in the
leadership, communication,
highest demand?
and critical thinking have to
be front and center. How can employers help their
people improve their soft skills?

How can employers measure

soft skills?

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Why Are Soft Skills
Important?
Your technical skills might impress
others, but it’s your soft skills that create
meaningful, lasting relationships. Soft
skills set people apart.

Imagine you’re at the end of your career, and

there’s a big retirement party in your honor.
People from all parts of your career will come.
Before the party you overhear people talking
about you in the hallway. What’s the one thing
you want them to say? How do you want people
to feel when they work with you?

C.K. Gunsalus
Professor at University of Illinois
at Urbana-Champaign

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3
Employers Want
Soft Skills

93% 59%

of employers say soft of hiring managers think

skills are “essential” or soft skills are hard to find.
“very important” when Source: 2015 LinkedIn Study

hiring employees.
Source: 2016 Wonderlic Study

Leadership skills and the ability to work in a team are the top traits
employers are looking for in new college graduates (more than even
problem-solving and analytical skills).
Source: 2016 National Association of Colleges and Employers Survey

| Why Soft Skills are Crucial for the Future of Work 4

4
Which Soft Skills Are
in Demand?
At Coursera, our enterprise customers
tell us they’re looking for three groups
of soft skills.

Leadership and Communication Self-awareness

management

| Why Soft Skills are Crucial for the Future of Work 5

Leadership &
Management
There’s no universal path
for becoming a great
leader or manager. TRY
THIS

Teach Real-Life
Leadership Skills

Leadership is learned through Rob Austin, a professor at

experience, so employees need Copenhagen Business School, uses

continuous on-the-job training,
especially when they’re stepping
into a management role for the
first time.
videos of real-life workplace scenarios
in his Coursera course, Leadership in
21st Century Organizations.
Students have to decide: What would I
do? Once they choose a position, they
defend their stance and debate other
possible actions with fellow students.

63%
Leadership is an
amalgamation of many
intangible pieces.
of millennials don’t think
their employer is helping them
fully develop leadership skills. Quentin McAndrew
Source: 2016 Deloitte Survey Professor and Vice Provost
at the University of
Colorado Boulder

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Communication
Even though the way we communicate at
work has changed, strong communication
skills are more important than ever.

TRY
THIS

Coach Employees on
Communication Skills
Instead of gathering
with colleagues and Lila Ibrahim, COO of Coursera, once led a team
customers around a that was in trouble.
conference room
table, we’re now “We merged multiple groups together, and
working with people the combination was like oil and water. We
across multiple sites, weren’t solving problems from a business
time zones, and perspective, and we weren’t focused on
national borders. the customer. We had one year to improve
or our project would be shut down.”
We need to find ways to
connect, influence, and As manager, she invested in the team’s soft
align with a much skills. She coached them on written
broader audience. communication, reviewing emails before they
sent them, and brought them in to lead
meetings. “Instead of just engineers, they
became engineers and leaders,” she says.

The team turned its project around and became

an example of success within the company.

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Self-Awareness
The most effective people at work are self-
aware. We all like working with people
who seem authentic and comfortable in
their own skin.

TRY
THIS

Write a Personal
Effective leaders can
Value Statement
navigate uncomfortable
or confusing situations Gunsalus encourages her students to
because they know: write down a personal leadership
credo or value statement. For
Who they are.
example, hers includes:
What they value.
What kind of reputation they “I work hard to leave it better
than I found it; I try to be
want to leave behind.
truthful, loyal, and a good friend;
I try to live with integrity and
Self-awareness is achieve excellence.”
knowing who you are,
owning your flaws, Knowing your personal guiding
continuing to learn and principles is an important first step
toward being an effective employee
grow, and being real.
and leader.

C.K. Gunsalus
Professor at
University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign

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How Can Employers
Help People Develop
Soft Skills?
Fight the myth that soft skills are innate.
No one is born with soft skills.

Shine a light on the most

There’s no magic gene. You important soft skills
can get much more payoff if
Define exactly which skills are
you’re intentional about
valued and rewarded. Include
developing your skills.
those desired behaviors in
every stage of management —
staffing strategy, hiring,
Quentin McAndrew
onboarding, training,
Professor and Vice
Provost at the performance management,
University of management, and leadership.
Colorado Boulder
“You can shine a bright light on
soft skills in every aspect of
your human capital
management practices,”
McAndrew says.

| Why Soft Skills are Crucial for the Future of Work 9

How Can Employers
Help People Develop
Soft Skills?
Include soft skills in development plans.

Every performance review and goal-setting conversation

should include a discussion of soft skills

Set clear goals for specific Recognize and reward success

behaviors. on those specific behaviors.
Monitor and measure each Identify high-performers for key
employee’s actual performance assignments, opportunities, and
on those specific behaviors in promotions based on success on
relation to those goals. those specific behaviors.
Provide candid feedback, Link personal soft skill goals to
direction, and guidance on those larger corporate objectives like
behaviors. revenue, profitability,
Troubleshoot when necessary. productivity, or quality.

Identify opportunities to
improve on those specific
behaviors.

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How Can Employers
Assess Soft Skills in
Interviews?
Soft skills are tough to quantify, but that
doesn’t mean it’s impossible.

TRY
THIS

Hire For Soft Skills

When you’re hiring, ask candidates
HOW they work:
What is your biggest accomplishment
in your career so far? How did you get
that done?
If we called your peers into a room
without you, how would they describe
working with you?
If people talked only about the
challenges of working with you, what
would they include?
Their answers will show how self-aware
they are:
Do they pay attention to how other people
see them?
Do they consider other people’s
perspectives?
Do they have answers to these questions,
and are they comfortable talking about
their own work style off the cuff?

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How Can Employers
Measure Employees’
Soft Skills Growth?
The short answer: Measure soft skills
development every year.

Use informal Use a formal system

analysis to track soft skills
A manager can do a quick check Use a formal system to track
of an employee’s soft skills in a soft skills. Psychologists use the
specific scenario, like giving Grit Scale, the Mayer-Salovey-
feedback to a colleague or Caruso Emotional Intelligence
hosting a cross-functional Test (MSCEIT), and other
meeting. noncognitive assessments.

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Conclusion
As work changes, soft skills like leadership, communication,
and self-awareness will only become more important. Soft
skills will set high-potential employees, teams, and
organizations apart from the pack.

CALL TO
ACTION

Build Your Team’s

Soft Skills
While many organizations are
focused on building the With access to the best content
newest tech skills, the teams from over 150 global university
that also prioritize developing partners, Coursera for
interpersonal skills will be Business allows you to create
primed to succeed. Colleges Learning & Development
and business schools are Programs that map to your
recognizing the importance of company’s evolving needs.
those soft skills, and they’re
incorporating them into their
To learn more, contact us at
core curricula. It’s time that
coursera.org/enterprise.
business leaders follow the
same path by helping
employees develop
foundational skills.

Jeff Maggioncalda
Coursera CEO

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