1. The hidden dimensions
of business success
ileadmybusiness.co.nz
Business success is increased when a balanced combination of hard and soft
skills are utilized. Soft skills (sometimes referred to as relationship skills) are
typically difficult to observe, quantify and measure, and are the hidden dimensions
of business success. Soft skills are required for everyday life, as much as they’re
needed for work. They have to do with how people relate to each other:
communicate, listen, engage in dialogue, give feedback, cooperate as a team
member, solve problems, contribute to meetings and resolve conflict. Leaders at
all levels rely heavily on soft skills to: set an example, team build, facilitate
meetings, innovate, solve problems, make decisions, plan, delegate, observe,
instruct, coach, encourage and motivate. Recognizing the importance of the
balance between these two skill sets produces sustainable business
improvement.
The objective of this white paper is to explore further hard and soft skill sets,
determine their relative value and determine the correct balance for greatest
impact.
2. Table of Contents
Summary ........................................................................................................................... 3
Business Challenge .......................................................................................................... 4
Exploring the hidden dimensions of business success………………………………………7
How can I improve my soft skills? ..................................................................................... 8
Summary ......................................................................................................................... 11
More Information ............................................................................................................. 11
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3. Summary
Sustained business growth and success is driven by a balance between hard and soft
skills. Faltering or failing businesses often resort to a reflex or knee jerk reaction of
working harder for longer, and applying more hard skills in isolation to solve their issues.
Achieving a balance between utilizing both hard (technical or learnt) skills and soft
(relationship and thinking) skills is essential to business success. Coaching is the most
effective means of improving your soft skills. Deciding on the best coach and coaching
method, which best fits, your situation is not an easy choice. Coaching is not a quick fix
for short-term issues. Effective coaching changes the way you react to and think about
issues and problems, helping you come up with different and more effective solutions.
Measuring coaching success is difficult but the best means is to measure individual
productivity and engagement improvements as judged by others. The means by which
coaching is delivered are changing rapidly. Use of modern technologies (online, Skype
and others) is now being effectively incorporated into coaching programs very
successfully. The result is that coaching is becoming more affordable, accessible and
available to a greater number of individuals and organisations.
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4. Business Challenge
Many businesses come a point where despite the best efforts of both the leader and the
team the forward momentum falters or worse still stops altogether. This often results in
frustration and a reflex reaction to work harder. This often involves doing more hours,
doing more for others, doing more for longer, asking more from staff or demanding more
from customers. When the more is just more of the same, then the likely outcome is at
best a small transient gain in performance that is unsustainable.
“Doing more of the same and expecting different results is a definition of insanity”
Albert Einstein
The challenge is to do something different. The objective is to identify what that
something different could be and how we can use it to find a way to improve our own
and our business’s performance.
That something different is not always obvious or available to us. The new skills required
to uncover that something different are soft skills and our aim is to help you develop
them.
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5. In the table that follows are common examples of the issues faced by many Business
leaders along with proposed new thinking solutions
Current issue Current thinking New thinking
I just cant find a way
forward
Do more of the same.
Work harder and
longer.
Extend the search
beyond what you have
previous experience of.
I’ve tried working
harder, longer and
smarter.
Continue to apply
tried and tested ways
to solve the issue.
Find a new and different
way of tackling the issue.
I know something is
lacking but I don’t know
what.
I’ve used everything I
know to solve this
issue.
Look to your own level of
development to find the
blockage
I feel there should be
something more but I
don’t know what
I give up and bring in
external experts to
solve the issue for
me.
Examine your own
thinking, is it one track or
can you be objective and
come at things from
different angles.
Working in the business
not on it.
Finding the time to
explore why I’m in
this situation is a
distraction; I just need
to get on with it.
What is your purpose,
have you lost sight of
why you set your
business up or took this
position on in the first
place?
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6. Exploring the hidden dimension of business
success.
If you have sufficient hard (technical) skills and a shortage of soft (relationship) skills,
you have a soft skills gap. Soft skills balance the hard skills, and enable you to utilize
your technical expertise to improve business performance.
It is also possible to have a hard skills gap where your “technical expertise” is insufficient
to enable you to complete your tasks successfully. This can be addressed either by
further training, formal learning or bringing in outsourced technical expertise.
Examples of hard and soft skills.
Hard Skills Soft Skills
IT Competencies Communication
Financial procedures and analysis Listening
Sales and admin Providing effective feedback
Answer these questions to uncover if you have a soft skills gap:
Do you find it easy to win new business, but find it hard to develop a lasting relationship
with your clients?
Is keeping good staff a problem?
Are there lots of followers in your team but no real leaders?
If you answered yes to any or all of these questions are you willing to explore different
ways of resolving them? Health warning: this may be extremely challenging for you.
Why am I facing this now when in the past I’ve been very successful?
The current business world has changed very quickly to become a highly connected,
increasingly complex, time scarce environment. The information age demands a new
set of skills to be added to traditional industrial age skills.
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7. Today’s business environment has evolved for a variety of reasons to a point where soft
skills have become a vital ingredient for success. Traditional methods of problem
solving, decision-making and strategic planning for example are becoming less effective.
Research from Centre for Leadership at the University of Exeter showed the biggest skill
gaps in small to medium sized enterprises include:
• Delegation
• Time management
• Team work
• Developing future leaders
• Strategic thinking
• Training and education
• Strategic planning
• Managing conflict.
Source: Leadership Development in SME’s: Bolden, Richard (2007). Center for Leadership Studies, University of Exeter.
In our experience many business people express concerns in their business with areas
such as:
• Listening effectively
• Communicating effectively
• Developing effective relationships
• Presenting ideas and concepts effectively
• Defining and sharing a vision and business goals effectively
• Understanding how your business goals relate to your core values
Problems in these areas suggests a low level of the necessary soft skills as a result your
hard skill base has limited effectiveness in driving business success.
It's important for you to recognize the vital role soft skills play within your team and not
only work on developing them within yourself, but encourage their development
throughout the organization
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8. How can I improve my soft skills?
Soft skills predict success in life, they causally produce that success.
Hard Evidence on Soft Skills. James J Heckman, Tim D Kautz, National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper, 2012
Hard skill solutions are not “wrong” just incomplete on their own. To gain the big picture
solution to issues and problems the introduction of soft skill solutions into the mix
produces a more effective and efficient solution.
Below are a few examples of what a “balanced” approach could look like.
For example. Time management
Hard skill solution Soft skill solution
Training in or purchase of a time
management tool or a time management
app!
Exploration (through coaching) of how
your time is currently being spent.
Defining the ROI on my time investment
in different areas. Focusing on task
management not time management.
Outcome. Efficient use of time Outcome. Effective use of time
For example. Managing conflict
Hard skill solution Soft skill solution
Putting in a process for communication.
Obtaining legal advice. Starting
disciplinary processes or performance
management processes.
Understanding the other person’s real
issues – listening skills.
Understanding each individuals role in
communication, how to give feedback.
Asking powerful questions to uncover the
real issues.
Outcome. Efficient conflict management. Outcome. Effective relationship
management.
Coaching has become the preferred method of soft skill development. Traditionally
coaching has been delivered through one-on-one in sessions lasting on average 2 hours
held regularly (at least once a month). This has meant that coaching has for the most
part been restricted by cost and availability to C level corporate clients.
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9. In a major survey of coaching practices (American Management Assn, Coaching: A Global Study of
Successful Practices Current Trends and Future possibilities 2008-2018) coaching was utilized by over 50%
of US and international companies and growing rapidly. Coaching was associated with
higher performance and external coaching works best. The study reported that there
was a trend towards the use of phone or Skype as well as web-based technologies
coaching sessions (37% used such combined technologies).
How long does coaching need to continue to be effective?
The longer a coaching program lasts the more highly associated it is with coaching
success. The average duration is 9 months.
What is coaching used for?
The main reason for using coaching was “To improve individual
performance/productivity” with 75% of organizations doing so for this purpose.
“Effective skills development depends on opportunities to practice soft skills with support
and guidance, encouraging reflection and subsequently development orientated
learning”.
The Value and Development of Soft Skills: The Case of Oman. Prof. Taki Abdul Redha Al Abduwani. Intl journal of
Information Technology and Business Management. Vol12, No 1 2012
How to get the best out of coaching?
Coaching is not a quick fix for problems and issues but a long-term improvement and
change process. The quick fix is an attractive proposition, however, the challenge is to
discover solutions that are more effective and last. Coaching is a relatively slow fix.
Significant changes in the way you think, interact and behave can result from your
journey through the coaching process given sufficient time and commitment.
(For more on Slow Fixes” read Carl Honore’s book The Slow Fix)
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10. What can I do to make coaching most valuable?
Be committed to:
• Explore changes in your vision, values, and behaviors.
• Examine how your own behaviors and actions affect your business.
• Work in open exploration with your coaching program.
During the coaching process, take responsibility for your actions and remain aware of
the impact of your behavioral changes on others and the organization as a whole.
You will gain:
• Increased self-awareness of the implications of typical behaviors.
• The ability to learn new skills, build existing competencies and change
behaviors.
• Find ways to put these new learning into practice and make them work for
you.
• The insights required to make best use of available resources including time,
energy and money
What’s the best way to measure coaching success?
The most effective measures of success of coaching would ideally be those that
measure individual productivity and engagement improvements as judged by others.
These have been shown to have the strongest association with coaching success.
(American Management Assn., Coaching: A Global Study of Successful Practices Current Trends and Future possibilities
2008-2018)
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11. Summary
Research has shown that for business performance to improve a combination of hard
and soft skills is required. Soft skills are harder to measure than hard skills but no less
important. Coaching is the most effective means to develop soft skill sets. coaching has
traditionally been restricted to top management within large corporates. New methods of
delivering coaching are extending its availability to a wider audience. There are inherent
difficulties in selecting the “right coach” but the selection criteria are becoming more
sophisticated.
Ileadmybusiness utilizes proven coaching methodologies specifically adapted for online
use in a comprehensive personal development program. Experienced and internationally
qualified coaches are there to support you through the program, deal with any issues
that arise and help you gain maximum value from the process.
! Contact Us
Name: ileadmybusiness
Address: Level 6, Rabobank Tower, 2 Commerce St
Auckland,
New Zealand
Email: info@ileadmybusiness.co.nz
Website: www.ileadmybusiness.co.nz
Tel: +64 21 822 402
More Information
For the latest information about our product and services, please see the following
resources:
http://www.ileadmybusiness.co.nz
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