As an associate professor, Tobin Porterfield, Ph.D, not only teaches his students the technical skills they need for their careers, but also soft skills like communication, time management, teamwork and more.
Unlike technical skills that typically are gleaned from formal instruction, soft skills are hard-to-teach skills that are better developed through experience, mentoring and interacting other people. Their importance is often underappreciated, Porterfield said.
“Most businesses continue to focus on technical skills and expertise,” he said, “But paying more attention to soft skills will enable employees and organizations put those technical skills to work to achieve greater innovation and growth.”
Porterfield and his co-author Bob Graham spent five years reviewing hundreds of articles in academic journals to develop a comprehensive list of 55 soft skills.
“People may have heard about soft skills, but very few, based on our discussions, can list more than one or two of them,” Graham said.
The 55 Soft Skills that Guide Employee and Organizational Success is the product of their research and highlights each of the skills employees and organizations can use to ignite growth and innovation.
“By cataloging each of them and explaining how they might be used in the workplace, we hope to expand the use of soft skills even further,” Graham said.
“This book is designed to improve people’s understanding of those soft skills and their application in the workplace,” Porterfield added. “Companies can improve their results and boost employee satisfaction when they focus more on soft skills.”
The book, which is available for purchase here, is the latest release from Serious Soft Skills, LLC, which Porterfield and Graham launch in June 2016. They also produce a weekly podcast and blog about how to unleash the power of soft skills.