Is it the year 2024…or are we still in a time of older use of out-of-date terms like:  Hard Skills and Soft Skills?  Maybe it is just me…but I feel confused when I hear people in different employment sectors tell me how important “Soft Skills” have now become and that “Hard Skills” knowledge has been placed on the back burner.  Or maybe its when I show my often old-fashioned state of mind and I ask consultant customers to explain and list the Hard Skills versus Soft Skills so I can be more aware of this transitional occurrence!!

Today I believe that in the workplace… there is no longer an either/or position regarding Hard/Soft Skills.  Time, occupational blending and cross-training has dissolved much of the traditional separation of Hard and Soft Skill traits.  How… because sometimes you need to be tough-minded… but also caring in working with customers/employees.  Additionally, isn’t it critical in the public or private sector that everyone understand performance and the fiscal bottom line?  Yes… but stressing the importance of team-building, idea-generation and emotional intelligence is also high-value when building professional GROWTH SKILLS.

Am I making my point??  Let’s continue.

When a conversation comes around to a discussion of Hard and Soft Skill development in my consultant job areas… I try to steer the conversation to a new list of professional GROWTH SKILLS which I refer to as a set of 5-C’s:

• Communication
• Conflict
• Collaboration
• Competition
• Compromise

Think about it!  Each of the 5-C’s GROWTH SKILLS components absolutely require experience, knowledge, and expertise derived from historic Hard and Soft Skills definitions and applications.  However, the challenge TODAY is to effectively blend them within today’s 5-C’s GROWTH SKILLS line-up.

Now… “Can’t We Just Say:  GROWTH SKILLS?”