Industry experts press on the need of upskilling IT employees with soft skills by conducting regular training sessions.
A recent survey conducted on 1250 HRs across industry show 98% of them gives prime importance on soft skills of candidates interviewed for IT positions. Soft skills are judged by personality tests, behavioral or cultural interviews, or written tests. Sixty-six percent of the surveyed HRs admits rejecting an otherwise qualified candidate because of deficient soft skills.
Currently, soft skills development is the most significant barrier for IT professionals to overcome to ensure smooth collaboration on challenging issues. IT professionals need to communicate clearly for others to comprehend correctly and resolve business issues.
HRs sense negativity in hiring a developer who is not collaborative or lack team working capabilities. Technology pros demand soft skills to succeed at their respective job profiles. Seventy-eight percent of respondents confirm evaluation of soft skills as part of IT employees’ regular performance reviews.
Surprisingly, only 59% of survey respondents agree that their organizations facilitate soft skills training to technology employees. In the survey, 71% of respondents confirmed facing a lack of collaboration skills among IT professionals, leading to delayed completion of technology projects, with 43% facing lower-quality outcomes. Firms need to divert their focus on soft skill development among IT professionals. Without them, it is impossible to create the kind of innovation that will help a company achieve its goals.
IT professionals with the right balance of soft skills use their understanding of the business to effectively communicate expertise to propose innovations enabling cost reduction, boost productivity, or push sales. If the IT team lacks on soft skills, firms are likely to stagnate. IT professionals need to develop “soft skills” that cover a wide variety of abilities ranging from writing a clear and concise email to instinctively reading body language. Sixty-two percent of respondents complained of issues that rose because of IT employees’ poor verbal communication skills, out of which 38% reported problems caused by inadequate written communication skills. Forty-four percent of the surveyed group reported facing collaboration problem in a technology project because the IT professionals are lacking in team working skills.
The IT professionals need to possess a consultative mindset for either the external customer or an internal colleague. This also calls for the development of emotional intelligence quotient in the IT professionals so that they have the ability to judge a situation from someone else’s viewpoint. IT professionals need to have the capability to empathize with customers to truly understand their requirements and expectations.
Most organizations are now focusing on putting a system in place to avoid hiring someone lacking soft skills. Experts recommend an incredibly simple step of including the IT people when LOB executives are offered leadership or other soft skills training. HRs are now focusing on the creation of an internal coaching program for all IT professionals to eradicate business issues caused by their lack of soft skills. Embedding soft skills in IT professionals is considered as the most recommended cooperative initiative for all firms to keep their internal-external collaboration and evolution alive.
