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ai handles tech, humans handle humans 🤝
is it time we re brand soft skills, power skills?
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Happy Monday HR pals!👋
Today we’re pondering soft skills. Are they really soft? Do they just need an HR rebrand? Are they more powerful than ever as AI advancements accelerate?🧠 .
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Have a great rest of the week, and we’ll have more HR inspiration for your inbox at the start of next week!
In Today’s Edition
🤝 The Power Shift: Why Human Skills Matter More Than Ever
🛋️ The Break Room: "Soft" vs "Power" Skills - Let's Rebrand Already!
📚 Human Readsources: Trump orders plan for 1 million apprenticeships, Companies shifting from individual to shared office spaces, Trump suggests possible return for self-deported immigrants.
Super(human) power skills, not soft skills.
Ok being crabby isn't a power skill (actually it's quite annoying!), but in a world increasingly obsessed with technical prowess, 89% of employees who fail in their roles do so because of poor interpersonal skills, not technical shortcomings. This single statistic challenges everything we thought we knew about what makes teams truly successful.
As artificial intelligence increasingly handles the technical heavy lifting in our workplaces, the human elements of business - collaboration, empathy, adaptability, and influence - are becoming the true differentiators between thriving and struggling organizations. These supposedly "soft" skills are actually the hardest to master and the most crucial for navigating our AI-augmented future.
This fundamentally changes how we hire, develop, and retain talent. We must shift from treating interpersonal capabilities as "nice-to-haves" to recognizing them as mission-critical competencies that deserve intentional investment and development.
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🌟 The Power Shift: Why Human Skills Matter More Than Ever
Remember when we called empathy, communication, and leadership "soft" skills? Those days are over.
As AI revolutionizes our workplaces, these human capabilities aren't just nice-to-haves – they're becoming the core differentiators for successful teams. And (time for the stat of the day), 89% of hiring failures stem from a lack of these interpersonal skills, not technical shortcomings.
The transformation is clear: while AI handles the technical heavy lifting, our teams need to double down on uniquely human abilities. We're seeing a massive shift from traditional skill hierarchies to what many are now calling "power skills" or "core skills." These capabilities – adaptability, emotional intelligence, creative problem-solving – are becoming the true drivers of workplace success.
For HR pros, this means rethinking how we develop and measure these skills in our teams. Start by reframing your training programs to emphasize human-centric capabilities, implement regular feedback loops focused on interpersonal growth, and create metrics that actually capture the impact of these skills on team performance.
The future belongs to organizations that can successfully blend technical expertise with strong human capabilities – and it's our job to lead that transformation.
🔗 Relevant links
👀 TLDR
The "soft skills" rebrand is here - they're now power skills and they're your secret weapon against the AI takeover. Time to make empathy, communication, and adaptability your team's (superhuman) superpower! 💪
⚡ Takeaway and Try
- 🗣️ Establish "Human Skills Spotlight Sessions" where teams meet monthly to share real examples of soft/power skills that proved crucial in tech-driven projects. Create a structured feedback loop to document these experiences, inform training programs, and celebrate team members who excel at bridging the human-tech divide. Track engagement rates, number of shared examples, and subsequent training program modifications.
- 🎓 Launch a "Dual-Track Development Program" that pairs technical training with corresponding soft/power skill modules. For example, match AI tool training with courses on explaining complex concepts to stakeholders. Measure completion rates, skill application frequency, and confidence levels before and after implementation.
- 📈 Implement quarterly "Adaptation Success Stories" presentations where teams showcase how they've enhanced human connections while leveraging new tech tools. Document these cases to create a best practices library and inform onboarding processes. Track presentation participation rates and subsequent adoption of shared practices.
- 🔍 Develop a "Future Skills Forecast" survey system that regularly assesses which human capabilities are becoming more critical as automation increases. Use results to proactively adjust training budgets and development priorities. Measure accuracy of predictions against actual skill demands and team performance metrics.
☕ The Break Room: What's Your Take?
what would you rebrand "soft skills" to? |
📚 Human Readsources
🏢 Trump Orders 1 Million New Apprenticeships Within 120 Days (HR Dive) - Trump orders plan to create one million new apprenticeships annually.
⚖️ Companies Ditch Assigned Desks as Shared Workspaces Surge (HR Brew) - Companies increasingly adopt shared workspaces over individual desks to cut costs.
📊 Trump's Immigration Return Plan Sparks Employer Uncertainty (HR Dive) - Trump's immigration plan sparks employer concerns over worker shortages.
Thanks for reading to the end and we hope today’s edition sparked some new ideas for your workplace! 🧠
We know you’re super busy and really appreciate you letting us into your inbox a few times a week. 😀
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