How techies can broaden their soft skills

Tips on improving your soft skills from the author of 'The IT Careers Builder's Toolkit'

Last time, we mentioned that now more than ever, employers are asking for soft skills and business knowledge of their tech hires. Jeremy W. Hill, senior national accounts manager at national staffing company Sapphire, says: "In year's past, it was more common to have requirements for just a 'heads-down techie' with X skill set. Though our clients still do request specific certifications and skills, we are seeing an increase in requests for individuals with multiple proficiencies." What are these soft skills and how do you improve yours?

According to Hill: "Soft skills are also called 'people skills' or 'client-facing skills.' They refer to an individual’s ability to work well with others. There are various components that comprise soft skills. Some are innate such as optimism, friendliness and whether or not someone has an outgoing nature, while others are skills that can be taught or improved upon, such as developing effective communication, organization, and social graces."

It's an unfortunate reality that techies are often viewed by their non-techie peers as lacking in the soft skills department. According to Matthew Moran, a business and technology consultant, and author of "The IT Careers Builder's Toolkit", tech pros who immerse themselves in intense technology training often overlook developing their relationship-building skills, though employers value those skills as much as technical know-how. IT pros who lack the ability to adequately describe to their business colleagues how projects are progressing are viewed with mistrust by their business counterparts who may think that they have something to hide, Moran adds. Moran says he often cites findings from a 1999 KPMG study - findings that are as true today - that business leaders say IT pros can't verbalize what they are doing that means anything to them.

To continue reading, register here and become an Insider. You'll get free access to premium content from CIO, Computerworld, CSO, InfoWorld, and Network World. See more Insider content or sign in.

Last time, we mentioned that now more than ever, employers are asking for soft skills and business knowledge of their tech hires. Jeremy W. Hill, senior national accounts manager at national staffing company Sapphire, says: "In year's past, it was more common to have requirements for just a 'heads-down techie' with X skill set. Though our clients still do request specific certifications and skills, we are seeing an increase in requests for individuals with multiple proficiencies." What are these soft skills and how do you improve yours?

According to Hill: "Soft skills are also called 'people skills' or 'client-facing skills.' They refer to an individual’s ability to work well with others. There are various components that comprise soft skills. Some are innate such as optimism, friendliness and whether or not someone has an outgoing nature, while others are skills that can be taught or improved upon, such as developing effective communication, organization, and social graces."

It's an unfortunate reality that techies are often viewed by their non-techie peers as lacking in the soft skills department. According to Matthew Moran, a business and technology consultant, and author of "The IT Careers Builder's Toolkit", tech pros who immerse themselves in intense technology training often overlook developing their relationship-building skills, though employers value those skills as much as technical know-how. IT pros who lack the ability to adequately describe to their business colleagues how projects are progressing are viewed with mistrust by their business counterparts who may think that they have something to hide, Moran adds. Moran says he often cites findings from a 1999 KPMG study - findings that are as true today - that business leaders say IT pros can't verbalize what they are doing that means anything to them.

Moran suggests the following four ways to help IT and the business improve their relationships:

* Departmental immersion - Companies could align a techie with each business unit, ensuring that the techie is totally immersed in that business unit day-to-day. This would allow the technology expert to fully understand how technology is used in business and what works and what doesn't. Although this would require much effort upfront, the results could be tremendous.

* Beware of jargon - The moment you find yourself explaining something to the rest of the business in sentences loaded with jargon and acronyms - stop. Talk to them about what your doing in layman terms. Better still - don't explain why you're using a particular technology to solve this problem but instead explain how your work will benefit the business bottom line.

* The three-point limit - Regardless how many points you want to get across, only discuss three of them, says Moran. The other points can be offshoots from the primary three.

* Respect from the business manager - Communications is a two-way street and business professionals are doing a disservice to their IT counterparts by not talking to them about the bigger picture. Instead of talking to IT about the technologies that could be improved, business managers should discuss their business challenges and encourage both parties to work together to create solutions.