What are the differences between soft skills and hard skills and how can you improve both in the workplace? Here’s what you need to know.

Difference Between Hard and Soft Skills

Both soft skills and hard skills will always be important. Take LinkedIn’s analysis of the top 20 most sought-after skills (based on job postings this year) as an example. High on the list are hard skills such as customer service, sales, and accounting, as well as soft skills such as leadership, communication, problem-solving, and time management.

Today, soft skills are considered so important in the workplace that it may surprise you to learn that the concept was only introduced by the US army in the late 1960s. They used the term ‘soft skills’ to describe those all-important skills necessary in the military which go beyond using machinery.

However, the definition of hard skills as being related to machinery and soft skills being related to everything else is no longer useful in our modern world. So, how exactly do we define soft and hard skills in the modern workplace? And how can soft and hard skills be taught?

Here’s a run-down of everything you need to know about soft and hard skills.

What are hard skills?

Hard skills tend to be the things we’d traditionally think of as skills – technical abilities that can be taught and learned and may be required for a job. For example, the job-specific hard skills for a computer programmer might include being able to code in a particular programming language, or a digital marketer being able to write copy or design graphics for social media.

A distinctive feature of hard skills is that they are often easy to quantify and measure. For example, if you’re hiring a computer programmer, you can give them a test in the programming language to see if they possess the right skill. If they do, that’s great – hire them! If they don’t, you can move on to the next candidate.

Hard skills are often gained through education (such as a university degree or a training course), or hands-on experience in a job. They’re usually listed on candidates’ CVs as their qualifications or skills.

Examples of hard skills:

• IT skills
• Fluency in foreign languages
• Data analysis
• Bookkeeping
• A university degree in a particular field
• Digital marketing

What are soft skills?

If a hard skill is a technical ability that can be taught or tested, soft skills are very different. What are soft skills? Soft skills are non-technical skills that are often equally or even more important than hard skills for a role. Transferable and versatile, soft skills are useful across a wide range of different job roles. However, by nature, they’re often harder to measure, quantify, or teach than hard skills.

Examples of soft skills:

• Communication
• Team work
• Leadership
• Problem solving
• Critical thinking
• Flexibility
• Work ethic
• Resilience
• Emotional intelligence

Which is more important in the workplace: hard skills or soft skills?

Hard skills are important for many jobs. For example, you probably wouldn’t hire a person with no background in physics or maths for an engineering role!

Yet, soft skills are essential, also. When choosing whom to add to the team, considering their interpersonal skills such as communication and collaboration is key.

In fact, many people propose that soft skills can be more important than hard skills in hiring. After all, they argue, you can train a new employee to do a particular job or use a specific tool, but it may be harder to train an employee to have emotional intelligence or critical thinking skills.

However, it’s actually easier to enhance employees’ soft skills in the workplace than many people assume. Here’s how personality profiling can help employees enhance their skills.

Enhancing employees’ hard and soft skills using personality profiling

While in the past it may have seemed easier to teach hard skills than soft skills, we now have access to highly accurate and useful personality assessment tools which can help enhance both types of skills in the workplace.

This becomes particularly valuable in the area of crisis leadership, where understanding one’s own and others’ emotional responses and decision-making processes can dramatically improve how a team navigates challenging situations. Whether it’s a natural disaster, an economic downturn, or a global pandemic, crisis leadership requires both hard and soft skills to successfully navigate through and emerge stronger on the other side.

One example of a personality assessment that can help employees unlock both hard and soft skills is DISC. This is a personality assessment used in workplaces around the world which is based on the work of psychologist Dr William Moulton Marston. The assessment identifies four key personality types, although individuals may fit into one or more of the categories:

• Dominance: ambitious and independent, D types are go-getters who strive for success by looking to the big picture rather than the fine details.
• Influence: energetic and friendly, I types are people-oriented workers who love collaborating with others and motivating their team.
• Steadiness: patient, hardworking, and reliable, S types can be slightly reserved but they’re effective and democratic team workers.
• Compliance: detail-oriented and analytical, C types strive for perfection and accuracy in their tasks and enjoy working alone.

Using DISC to teach hard skills

Whether you’re organising a structured training course for a group or teaching an employee how to do something in a one-to-one situation, an understanding of DISC can be a great way to ensure that the training appeals to employees’ individual learning styles. Each of the DISC profiles has its own preferred ways of approaching tasks and learning; keeping this in mind ensures that employees can learn hard skills effectively.

For example, Dominance types often learn best in a hands-on manner; they want to try things out and apply their learning to practical scenarios. Simulations and challenges are a great way to help D types learn. They’re also good at independent learning, not wanting to be held back at someone else’s pace.

In contrast, Steadiness types often learn most effectively by watching and listening, taking time to process new information before getting stuck into the task. S types prefer a harmonious work environment and can sometimes be resistant to change, so it’s important to make them comfortable while learning new things. After taking their time and asking logical questions, S types are good at applying their new knowledge to situations.

So while D types love being thrown in at the deep end, S types can’t imagine anything worse. An understanding of the different ways that different personality types learn can be a great way to adapt the teaching style in order to help everyone get the most out of the sessions.

Taking a DISC personality test can help employees understand their own preferred ways of learning. Further, asking employees to then share their results with others can help create an understanding team where everyone respects the differences in learning styles.

Using DISC to teach soft skills

DISC theory is also a great way to enhance employees’ soft skills. By taking a DISC assessment and understanding their behavioural style, employees can understand their own strengths, limitations, and opportunities for growth.

For example, the insights provided by DISC may help a Compliance type identify that their problem solving skills are a real strength while they may need to work on their communication skills or resilience in the face of criticism in order to reach their full potential.

Similarly, taking the DISC assessment may help Influence types recognise their impressive teamwork and leadership skills while highlighting areas for improvement such as critical thinking or work ethic.

Moreover, by understanding the personality profiles of their coworkers, DISC can help individuals improve a range of soft skills such as interpersonal skills, communication, collaboration, and conflict resolution. With greater insights into the different work and leadership styles of their coworkers, employees can improve their emotional intelligence and become better team members.

In short, while taking a DISC assessment isn’t a miracle that will instantly boost your employees’ soft skills, DISC theory provides a powerful springboard from which individuals gain the insights and emotional intelligence to sharpen these skills. Embedding DISC in your organisation creates a culture of personal growth where people can refine their soft skills as much as their hard skills.

If you’re looking to enhance soft skills or hard skills among your employees, DISC personality profiling can be a powerful tool. To find out more about the power of DISC or to try it in your organisation visit DISC Group. Offering a range of detailed DISC profile reports for individuals, teams, and leaders, as well as training and certifications, DISC Group provides everything you need to start boosting skills in your organisation.