People skills matter more than the technical skills

The higher you grow in the organization, people skills matter more than the technical skills. This is the conclusion reached by Dale Carnegie about 70 years ago based on years of research, teaching and personal experience. It is still true based on my 15 years experience in high tech industry and my research through various readings and friends at other companies. I highly recommend Dale’s book “How to win friends and influence people” to everyone.

People typically start in a company in a technical role. I am using the word technical to cover engineers, finance analysts, IT analysts, operations folks and even sales folks. As years go by the folks who do a great job in these individual role move up to become team leaders, department leaders, divisional leaders and ultimately the C level officers in the company. When we notice the highly successful leaders, they have got there based on people skills and less on technical skills.

Contented heart
A leader who is contented in his career and life has a higher chance of passing that on to his people and his family. People get inspired around these leaders. There are leaders who are not satisfied with their career and life. They spread misery to their team. This is of such importance that i decided to list it on top.

People power
There is no leader who is an expert in every thing, even though some leaders think they are. The good ones therefore hire a team of experts in the respective areas and create an environment and vision to lead them to collective success. Great leaders do not micro manage but hire self driven people and get out of their way.

Organization beliefs and values
People come from various background and belief system into an organization. Letting them some how figure out a way to work together is setting them up to lower level of success. This i believe is one of the reasons why when organizations apply for International Organization for Standardization (ISO) certification, they require organizations to specify the organization’s values and beliefs and display it within the company. The problem is that most organizations have these values and beliefs statements more to cross off on a check list. However, successful leaders make the beliefs and values as the connecting factor for their people to come together as one company. It sets expectations on what is right and what is wrong irrespective of their position in the company. The leaders often refer to it in their communication to the team and they themselves serve as role models for the organization values and beliefs.

Building your succession
There are managers who control all key decisions and don’t develop their next level. This is great for job security but bad for the company and the manager. The manager gets stuck in the same place as he is indispensable. If the manager leaves, the company may need to bring some one from outside instead of giving a career path for the next in line. Great managers build their next level and build transparency such that when the manager finds some thing else to do, their next in line can grow to take his / her role.

Bold vision and appreciation
Most people spend a good portion of their life at work. They want it to be time worth spent and not just for a pay check. A bold vision inspires them and makes them feel they are on a mission worth their time. Every one craves for appreciation. Great leaders have a big heart to to be lavish and genuine in their appreciation. When you hire self driven people, they will take things farther on their own. Praising them for what they do is like getting their batteries recharged to scale even higher mounts for the company.

Don’t take me wrong, technical skills are important. However, the higher you grow in the organization, people skills are what is critical for success. Hope you found this valuable. I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

by Nirmal Chandrasekaran, October 25, 2014