软技能开启职场破冰之旅（英文版）.pdf

From attitude to empathy, we explore the power of soft skills in an automated world. The Soft Skills Imperative 01|20173 The Adecco Group The Soft Skill Imperative | White Paper 25 The Adecco Group The Soft Skill Imperative | White Paper 4 Unlocking entrepreneurial potentialand perhaps even GDP growth SK Soft Skills As tasks are automated and job roles and responsibilities evolve, human qualities are the new essential for the work- force and the workplace The world is navigating a transition from the knowledge economy to the self-knowledge econ- omy. In every area of operations, automation and robotics are remaking the way we manage traditional day-to-day tasks. Virtual collaboration platforms are altering how and where we work. Digital access to data is driving unprecedented capacityand demandfor real-time decision-mak- ing. Y et as we reinvent the way we do business, the real game-changer may prove to be neither algorithms nor artificial intelligence, but rather hu- man intelligence. People, it seems, still have one commanding competitive advantage over technology: the ability to understand other people. T o express empathy, communicate persuasively, and seek common ground in a manner that allows groups to agree on an action plan and, more important, to feel col- lectively invested in its success. Throughout the world, market demand is placing a premium on job applicants who demonstrate these and other “soft skills,” and companies are investing in develop- ment programs that strengthen these attributes in their employees. Whats driving this rush of enthusiasm? Theres yet to be a study conducted that demonstrates in hard numbers that soft skills play a direct, causal role in driving success for either candidates or corpora- tions. But individual organizations have become attuned to the impact of soft skills deficiencies within their ranks, and pioneering studies suggest that training in these areas can contribute to con- ditions that strengthen sustained organizational performance and financial results. Consider the experiences of two groups who, at first glance, could not appear to be less similar: participants in a womens entrepre- neurship training program in Guatemala and Major League Baseballs 2016 World Series champions, the Chicago Cubs. The success of each has been attributed in part to soft skills awareness and development. Funded by Oxfam America, the Women in Small Enterprise program is the focus of Not Strictly Business: Improving Womens Entrepreneurship Through Soft-Skills T rain- ing and Engagement of Men. The report was co-published by Oxfam America and Value for Women in October 2016. Author Daina Ruback was interested in determining which barriers were preventing women from start- ing businesses and participating fully as entrepreneurs. She also sought to resolve the question of why women drop out of programs that offer training and support for women in entrepreneurship. Her study found that soft skills development in areas such as negotiation and communi- cation, along with leadership training, put women on a more level playing field with their male counterparts and strengthened their prospects for long-term success. “Soft skills development empowers them to be able to do better in business and helps them to advocate and make decisions if theyre in a position where maybe they dont control the money in the household,” Ruback says. “Especially in Latin America, weve seen that the women who get soft skills training wind up staying in the entrepreneurship or business development programs for longer, feel more successful, and keep pursuing the small busi- ness path.” Those results are significant not only for the individual women, but also potentially for the global economy. An October 2014 BCG Perspectives article reported: “if women and men participated equally as entrepreneurs, global GDP could rise by as much as 2 per- cent or $1.5 trillion, according to research by The Boston Consulting Group.” We cant con- clude that soft skills training has the power to be directly responsible for sparking that increase, but there is evidence to suggest that it would help position women to launch and sustain businesses capable of generating that trillion-plus dollar increase. “Women who get soft skills training wind up staying in the entrepreneurship or business development programs for longer, feel more successful, and keep pursuing the small busi- ness path.7 The Adecco Group The Soft Skill Imperative | White Paper 6 As for the Chicago Cubs: observers have noted that emphasizing soft skills played a key role in recruiting and developing a team that would win its first World Series championship since 1908. This October 2016 Quartz article reveals how managers sought players with such qualities as character and ability to cope constructively with failure. They instructed their talent scouts to seek details of instances in which prospects had weathered adversity on and off the baseball diamonda skill that would take on tremendous significance during post-season play. By placing value on these personality traits and not just on batting and fielding skills, the organization assembled a team that won 103 of 161 games during the regular season. The players went on to win the championship by persevering despite having fallen behind in the series by three games to one. With examples like theseeven to the extent that theyre anecdotal rather than empirical its no wonder that companies are exploring what they can achieve by making these traits a priority in recruitment and professional development. But regardless of the extent to which they can unlock increased profit and growth potential, soft skills are becoming a business imperative because legacy skills are losing relevance as the nature of work is disrupted. “Soft skills played a key role in recruiting and developing a team that would win its first World Series championship since 1908.”9 The Adecco Group The Soft Skill Imperative | White Paper 8 The new workplace demands an update to old work skills In January 2016, the World Economic Forum published a Global Challenge Insight Report titled The Future of Jobs Employment, Skills and Workforce Strategy for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. “The accelerating pace of technological, demographic and socio-economic disrup- tion is transforming industries and business models, changing the skills that employers need and shortening the shelf-life of employees existing skill sets in the pro- cess,” the authors wrote. “For example, technological dis- ruptions such as robotics and machine learningrather than completely replacing existing occupations and job categoriesare likely to substitute specific tasks previ- ously carried out as part of these jobs, freeing workers up to focus on new tasks and leading to rapidly changing core skill sets in these occupations.” Professionals will need more than freedom to take on their new responsibilities, and studies suggest that nei- ther employees nor employers have prepared adequate- ly for the shift that is already underway. Findings of the Workforce 2020 study conducted by Oxford Economics and SAP underscore the depth of the divide. The report, based on a survey of more than 2,700 executives and 2,700 employees in 27 countries, found that according to more than 50 percent of executive respondents, “prob- lems with talent and key skills are affecting business performance.” At the same time, half of employees said they do not expect their current skills to be adequate just three years from now. Anxieties in that regard are heightened by the fact that according to both executives and employees, only half work at companies that have “a culture of continuous learning.” Within this changing dynamic, there is a grow- ing demand for soft skills not only for their intrinsic value, but also because they give employees a basis for learning and gaining command of new responsibilities. When LinkedIn surveyed 291 hiring managers in the United States, it found that 59 percent said soft skills are “difficult” to find in job ap - plicants. The problem is serious enough that 58 percent of respondents said soft skills defi- ciencies in the pool of candidates are “limiting their companys productivity.” In August 2016, Guy Berger, Ph.D., an economist at the com- pany, published findings of an analysis of soft skills listed on the LinkedIn profiles of peo- ple who had listed a new employer between June 2014 and June 2015. His review identi- fied communication, organization, teamwork, consistent punctuality, critical thinking, social skills, creativity, interpersonal communication, adaptability, and a friendly personality as the ten soft skills most in demand among employ- ers. This is not a comprehensive or universal list of what constitutes soft skills. Critical thinking, for example, is regarded by some experts as a subset of facility at problem-solving, which can fall within the category of hard skills. And beyond soft skills basics like strength in com- munication and interpersonal relationships are more nuanced capabilities that are gain- ing importance in an increasingly global and inclusive workplace. When the Pew Research Center conducted a review of The State of American Jobs, it found that 85 percent of respondents ranked “ability to work with those from diverse backgrounds” as a key soft skill. But while there may not be unanimous agreement about the way we define soft skills or their parameters, there is consensus that employees must demonstrate some combi- nation of these skills to be assets in todays workplace and to be equipped for continued productivity throughout their careers. “Soft skills are becoming a business imperative because legacy skills are losing relevance as the nature of work is disrupted.” “59 percent of hiring managers said soft skills are difficult to find in job applicants.11 The Adecco Group The Soft Skill Imperative | White Paper 10 Breaking barriers, crossing borders Around the world, soft skills training pro- grams aim to create a more employable workforce The move to promote soft skills is not a privilege that only the most developed economies and job markets can afford to indulge. Companies, governments, NGOs, and individuals in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas are convinced that soft skills contribute to strengthening productivity, customer relationships, and overall per- formance. Belief in their power to transform individual and team potential has been a catalyst for the launch of training initiatives across many industries and around the world. Recent news includes these reports from: Canada CIC News, the Canada Immigration Newsletter, pro- vided readers with information about an October 2016 webinar, Career Success and Communication Skills in Canada. The information, which was addressed to the “skilled immigrant” population, counseled that “develop- ing your workplace communication skills may be one of the most important factors in achieving your career goals in Canada.” It went on to explain that this skill involved not just speaking English well, but “effective workplace communication” overall. This was defined as including tone of voice, body language, cultural sensitivity, sense of humor, and other communication-related soft skills that contribute to making a positive impression. Ghana The Ghana News Agency reported in October 2016 that BEIGE Talent, a social responsibility project of the BEIGE Foundation, had enrolled a new class of recent university graduates in its skills and development pro- gram. The core of the projects mission is to aid new entrants into the job market in acquiring the soft skills necessary “to bridge the gap between the classroom and the real world of work,” the article said. The initiative launched in 2015 and has since provided training to three groups of 100 graduates apiece. India In September 2016, The Asian Age reported that the Central Industrial Security Force, which manages se- curity in the Delhi Metro network, would provide soft skills training to 250 staff members. The article quoted a senior CISF official as saying that the training would help personnel to develop the interpersonal skills necessary to deal with passengersparticularly touristsin a “more friendly” and “more dignified” manner. The initiative is part of an ongoing program that began with training conducted by private companies. Results of those initial efforts led the CISF to bring its own soft skills trainers in house. And in October 2016, The Hindu reported on the Puducherry governments announcement that its Depart- ment of Information and T echnology would provide soft skills training to 5,000 candidates. Conducted in col- laboration with the Information Communication T echnol- ogy Academy, the training would provide candidates with assessment and certification intended to help trainees qualify for employment at multinational corporations. Malta According to data compiled by the Employment and T raining Corporation (a division of the Ministry for Edu- cation and Employment), the percentage of foreigners in the countrys labor force has more than doubled since 2008. In December of that year, the figure stood at 9,821, or 6.1 percent of the workforce. By July 2015, that num- ber had grown to 27,145, or 14.7 percent. In a Times of Malta column published in August 2016, Lawrence Zam- mit, Founding Partner and Director of consulting firm MISCO, attributed the trend to a shortage of local labor “both in quantitative and qualitative terms.” He called on young people to develop the communication, inter- personal, organizational, and other soft skills required to compete successfully for jobs in this market. Peru In October 2016, members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum met in Lima for the Inter- national Symposium on Strategies for Strengthening Employability (Soft) Skills: Facilitating Quality Growth Through Upskilling. Speaking at the symposium, Alfonso Grados, Perus Minister of Labor and Employment, equated lack of soft skills with limited access to the employment market. He added that Peru plans to create a network for exchange of knowledge and best practice in the development of soft skills as a means of strength- ening employability. The objective is to create a “global benchmark” that benefits all APEC members. South Africa In Johannesburg, Chief Financial Officers are developing the skills they need to transition from operational and risk management responsibilities to more complex roles as strategists, catalysts, and leaders. In an October 2016 interview with Business Report, Ajit Kambil, global re- search director of Deloittes CFO program, spoke of the companys CFO T ransition Labs. The one-day workshops are designed to help new CFOs to learn to “define and communicate their priorities, assess and develop a talent strategy, understand and influence key stakeholders, and develop an action plan for their first 180 days. These a