Soft Skills: A Case for Higher Education and Workplace Training

In an interview, Ronnie Ellen Kramer, president of educational training and consulting firm Communication Dynamics Inc, and Tim Hill, president of professional education at Blackboard Inc, urged learning professionals to get serious about soft skills training. Kramer says that higher education institutions are committed to hard skills training because their courses are designed to teach students a particular craft. Soft skills proficiency is imperative, too, because an employer has a limited worker asset if employees lack these behaviors. Even if soft skills weren't effectively taught in an employees undergraduate education, companies can integrate activities within their training programs, says Hill. Additionally, coaching and mentoring can help to introduce and hone soft skills. Many young professionals can learn simply by modeling these behaviors.