Hello from Professor Mamta (new member) !! To start off the beginning at this valued platform, I'll initiate with a small briefing on skills & soft skills since I've come across several students/management professionals who yet aren't clear enough on the partition between the two.

According to my understanding, 'skill' means the efficiency at doing something rather, efficiently applying the knowledge; For ex. I may know how to cook Pizza, but I may not be able to apply that knowledge in cooking Mouth watering Pizza......to be more elaborate, I know what is recruitment process but I don't know how to recruit people, that means I don't have the skill to cook Pizza or to recruit people....(they are very crude examples, I am aware of that)

Thus, Knowledge means 'what' and Skill means 'How' to apply that knowledge for good results.

Soft skills are something that cannot be measured in a quantity, that is they are non quantifiable aspect of a person. For ex, you can tell how good a person is at 'C' language by asking him to do difficult programs or by taking an exam and giving him grades...but it is rather difficult to guage How much Communication Skills does a person have, or how much Leadership abilities a person has.....Soft Skills cannot be measured, their judgement is also relative....means for me a person may be excellent at communication skills but for you he may not.

Examples of Soft skills can be Communication Skills (very common example, many times mistaken as the only soft skill), Decision Making Skills, Entrepreunership, Leadership skills etc. Mostly they are a Behavioral Aspect of a person.

I hope that, this explanation does throw some light on the above difference.

I would also like to get some suggestions from you all, and also corrections if I am wrong in explaining anything.

Regards
Professor Mamta

Skill is ability to do a thing in an effective way - More the effectiveness better the skill.

Driving, Typing, Cooking, Computer skills, language skills, Flying, Speaking - any activity that you would do which can be repeated as and when you are called to do so is a skill. Most of them are measurable.

Soft skills are those which are difficult to measure but nevertheless can be perceived. Leadership, Counselling, Thinking, Decision Making, Coordination and execution, Programming, writing, expressing, Acting, interviewing, etc. are soft skills.

Warm Regards,

Sophiya Grenber

Welcome to chrm, prof mamta. Now here's my perspective on this discussion..

I define Learning ONLY when it is applied, till then it is only cognitive "awareness" and NOT "learning"...

Having defined Learning thus, we all learn in TWO ways mainly...

1. Learn by Shock (like a child that touches a flame... It has learnt the lesson in just one instance)
2. Learn by Repetition (like cycling... We do it many times before we actually learn to cycle)

SKILL as a word is used in the context of Learning by Repetition... Playing a Violin, Driving a Car, Playing Tennis etc.

Usually, we use the prefix HARD for something that is Tangible, Measurable directly. E.g., Hardware, something that is seen, can be touched etc... We use the prefix SOFT for something that is not-easily measurable directly. E.g., Software, something that we know runs in a machine, but we really cannot "see" where it is and measure it.

I guess Soft-skills emerged using the same paradigm as compared to Hard-skills!!

Pls revert for further discussions...

Shawn

Hello Professor & Colleagues ; )

A lot of discussion on - What is soft skill?

To me that word itself is a misnomer-and causes a lot of concern and difficulty for trainers.

Let me explain-when it comes to;leadership-promotioins-and all other processes,we bank heavily on what we call soft skills.What is soft about leadership?-about assertive behaviour-about empathy-about team inteaction.?

Unfortuantely the term was coined at a time when IQ was "the "factor for everything in your job-till we realised that something was absolutely-na-na

The 90's proved it even better and then we saw the rise of what had been espoused 50-60 years ago-social skills

The rise of EQ ,todays focus on behaviour,values,ethics,and skills makes this term redundant and misleading.

Try training a software guy on anything called soft skills and you will know what I mean-say software and the feeling is I am the one

My concern has always been "but that is just their job"-what about the person in them?Paying attention to all aspects of myself for me then is a soft skill-interpersonal skills-love-not being stressed-not burning out-being where I want to be-growing myself laterally-discovering myself-knowing me-remaing mentally young-achievements-not sucesses-joy in what I do-giving of myself and mentoring and coaching and......

Exactly why it is not soft-it requires courage to face your self.Multiple intelligences and multi-skills to come to terms with and then by far the most difficult part of it all-change-change that requires constant working at/on

And that is why there is nothing "soft "about soft skills-they were once-today they are the survival skills-growth skills and above all your achievement and sucess skills.

Anyone to buy this ahead..

Prof Tandon

Dear Friends,

I too am following this thread of mail on soft skills with great interest so as to really understand the word / concept of soft skills.

I am also quite unclear as to why this word "soft skills" was coined.

However, I fully agree with your views.

In my career span in HR, I have learnt from leading consultants of India, that skills can be categorised into two heads broadly :-

1. Functional Skills

2 Behavioral Skills

Things are fine with me with these two categories. I have been using them for in-house training. Recently I had coached a few MBA students on behavioral skills which, they were calling as soft skills.

Sometimes, our own jargons land us into mess.

Psychometric Tests are the best instruments today available to understand psychological aspects (more rightly behavioural / emotional / attitudinal aspects of human beings, primarily in relation to roles one plays in working life). However, as for validation goes, there are only few which are validated for its reliability, consistancy and acceptance. Nevertheless, these are the best objective tools available today to address these issues.

As the research goes on and tools are validated more and more of what we call "soft" will fall in the category of "revelaed" and therefore objective and measurable.

"Soft-skill" is more generic and, therefore, I would like to stay with it since it covers most of the skills which fall in the scope of definition I have tried to present.

"Performance Skills" are more Organizational role centric and narrower in scope and well, as HR person this word will be more appropriate to select and focus my attention to relevant few among those of "soft-skills".

Once, one is clear about the scope of a definition everthing else falls in line.

Employees tend to not go for a programme where concepts are vague, or in their perception those are not relevant for their role.

Regards

Tesmian

Hi tesmian,

The definition that you have given for soft skills is the most precise one that I have evr read or come across.

However, I don't agree with the statement that Psychometric tests have made it possible to measure them. I think Psychometric tests do nothing but just give a finer insight into a person's mind. The most important use of Psychometric tests is whether the Person has a consistency of thoughts or not. Secondly, the score that a person gets for them depicts a larger picture as to how that person thinks. The keys to these tests are more or less based on Perception, however a generalised one i.e to say, the results of the tests are ususally the behavior of the person in a particular situation and his overall behavioral pattern but still, large part of it remains unquantifiable.

Well, its quite true that people like Software engineers, rather all Techhie people feel insulted when it is said that they are being sent for a Soft Skills Training. This is because they don't know the real meaning of Soft Skills and neither are they aware of its significance. This responsibility of conveying the correct meaning and its significance and making them mentally prepared and receptive for such kind of training programs, is Our Responsibility. Calling them Performance skills would be like underestimating them, because these skills are equally important to lead a successful personal life also.

I hope I have made my point clear. I apologise if in anyway I have been rude or seem very arrogant.

Regards,

Jigar

Dear Prof Mamata,

There can be no definition of the human situation, its potential. At best it can be a partial view and that too within some strict confines of time. After all it was a convict who gave to the world one of very enduring, beautiful epic. I have written a small piece on this, nothing specific but general applicable to a larger mosaic. Your response to it please.

A MEASURE OF SOFT SKILLS

Anything to do with the human situation is to do with spirituality- ‘soft’ and subtle.. Its essence is basically that. And any judgment of it is essentially an abstraction- an opinion. An abstraction is neither definable nor quantifiable.
To do this, we have to relate it to an absolute identity, and select criteria, relative to which we can then define and quantify.
It is a relativity-based definition. We have to ‘fix’ on something to define other things and we have to fix on other things to define something.
We cannot define ‘good’ without considering its polaric opposite- ‘bad’, and the limitless scale of definitions that exist between them.
To get a ‘fix’ on something we have to ‘fix’ something else. And the definition is valid in the Now only.
Because Time itself is nothing but an abstraction.
Everything is in a flux in the space- time continuum.
Nothing is really definable.
It is the core of this duality- based universe.
Really, one can never put one’s finger on the nub of a situation and say, “ I have it.” That would be tantamount to saying, “ I have seen God. I am God.”
Be aware but do not attempt to define.
Be aware but do not attempt to judge.
Enjoy but do not attempt to explain.
Throughout the ages mankind has always set about trying to explain his individual universe- bringing it to some sense of order by defining and quantifying objects. One’s sense of order can never be another’s. This creation of some order and believing in it can be dangerous. We run the risk of imposing it on others.
Whenever we feel this imposition, it is a guarantee that it is someone else’s sense of order. Imposition is what creates strife. Freedom from it gives one the choice to create one’s own sense of order.
If we seek to understand these things with the prevalent consciousness, we will assume chaos and no worldly order of things and events, no universal law, but whose law? Yours? Mine? Theirs? There will be NO chaos because then individual consciousness will prevail over collective consciousness.
We see Nature’s law move forward fluently and smoothly even in the face of man- made devastation. Everything in nature flexes, bends, weaves, spirals, swivels, turns, pirouettes, dances, sways, stands firm, stands tall, deforms, flowers, withers, reproduces, and myriad other things in multifarious, subtle ways. An apparently immutable law holds this beautiful chaos together. This immutable law governs man also.
Everything in the universe, from an insignificant grain of sand, a sub-atomic particle to the giants orbiting the cosmos, is inter-related and intertwined around this immutable law. All are parts of a Whole. A tiny movement of one causes ripples all over and everything flexes to adjust to that original movement. This is going on through eternity.
These orchestrated movements are the stuff of Life.

Hello arvensh & colleagues,

Increasingly we find organizations looking to hire workers whose skills are not as neatly categorized as soft or hard skills. I call what they are looking for as smart skills because they come from the development of multiple intelligences. Much appreciative is your elaboration on the soft and subtle side of the human side situation.

Jack Lowe Jr., chief executive officer of employee-owned Industry, an electrical and mechanical contractor in Dallas , is a believer in developing leadership skills. So strong a believer, in fact, that throughout the economic downswing he's continued to help employees to develop such skills as problem solving and conflict management. "If a leader is someone who influences people, then that's everyone," Mr. Lowe explains.

Every employer seeks a different mix of skills and experience from a prospective employee. But one thing they look for consistently is Soft skills. Since your note ended on the measure of the soft skills quotient, let me have this taken ahead by a small quiz on measuring one's soft skills which can be attempted at http://content.monstertrak.monster.com/resources/archive/jobhunt/softskills/

To conclude, your writings were influencial on exploring the huge factor of the skill quotient by terms of human understanding and its potential.

Regards,

Prof Mamta

Prof Mamata and esteemed members,

Backtracking to my earlier reply on this hot topic-  One can assess periodically any person's measure of human skills. This can and will change over time and therefore the word 'periodic'. Any judgment on this assessment may only hold for a short span of time. I sus that many organisations do this on a regular basis in the knowledge that aspirations, motivations, needs keep on shifting subtly all the time according to each one's situation and circumstances.

what do you say?

R.Venkatesh