During most of the 20^th century employees were hired by the Personnel Department, where they were screened, had their skills tested and their paper work processed. That department has since evolved to Human Resources and when they screen for skills, they are more often including “soft skills”—critical thinking, creativity, communication, conflict resolution, empathy, ability to problem solve and emotional intelligence–capabilities needed to contribute to the organization’s overall corporate culture and goals.  In fact, research from Harvard University shows that 85% of job success comes from soft skills and only 15% from technical skills. 

In what he terms the Human Resources Reset in an article at  www.forbes.com, Edward E. Lawler III, a distinguished professor of business at the University of Southern California Marshall School of business, writes “There is a great need for the emergence of talented HR professionals who understand complex business strategy and are able to use data about people to impact and advance organizational effectiveness.”    At a time when there is such stiff competition for talent, business leaders do not want to make a mistake in hiring.  It costs too much and takes too much time to undo the impact of a bad hire.  As such, companies worldwide are increasingly looking through the lens of soft skills when hiring or promoting for key positions. For instance, Johnson and Johnson found that in divisions around the world, those identified at mid-career as having high leadership potential were far stronger in soft skill competencies than were their less-promising peers.

This makes sense to me.  Every day I see how “soft skills” increase overall performance.  I see how individuals with high Emotional Intelligence form stronger, more productive teams, how individuals who can think critically and who are creative, are more successful in business development, and how individuals who can problem solve and resolve conflict are highly effective at managing risk. I also see the generative nature of teams of individuals with high levels of emotional intelligence.

But how do we get there?  At The Fedcap Group we are rethinking the role of HR and incrementally building a human resource department that strategically develops and refines its plans for recruitment, training, and compensation based on the long-term business goals of the organization.  We are working hard to build human resource management teams that function as integral business partners, helping each of our company leaders understand their talent needs and recruit and retain employees who possess the right combination of soft skills and technical skills.  We are looking for HR professionals who drive talent needs—not simply fill position requests.

This is not a small undertaking. 

We look for HR professionals who understand the relationship between talent and the accomplishment of organizational goals. We look for HR professionals who understand how to assess for soft skills and can teach others to do the same.  We look for HR professionals who understand the dynamics of the teams they are hiring for, who look for gaps and find talent to fill those gaps. 

Our Human Resource Department is increasingly central to our strategic planning and our short and long-term business success.