* Readers react to the need for soft skills in their companies
Last month, I wrote about the findings of a Robert Half Technology study on soft skills, such as project management, leadership and communication (see editorial link below). Only 53% of CIOs surveyed said their companies offered IT staff formal training in these areas.
“I confirm with the Robert Half survey. Our company, a technology outsourcing firm, does not seem to value business skills,” writes one reader, a 15-year network manager veteran.
A year and a half ago, he earned a degree in business and humanities because he thought the formal education would greatly enhance his technical background. Although he didn’t get a raise, he did move to a managerial role because of the combination of his business savvy and technical knowledge.
He notes that the lack of commitment to business proficiency hurts his company and customers: “We seem to be a company of salespeople and technicians, but very little in the middle.”
Reader Randy Shonk notes it’s not just a lack of soft skills that’s required, but also people skills across cultures. Shonk is responsible for building IT organizations and joint ventures outside the United States.
“The skills that need developing are generally not well-taught in U.S. firms and usually not well understood either – thus the reason so many companies/managers continue to have problems abroad,” he says.
Noting that he is an American who was trained in U.S. companies, “I continue to be amazed by how little Americans know about other people, yet we expect others to conform to our way of thinking of doing while we understand so little about the people’s soft needs in other lands,” he says.
