Soft Skills Drive Employee Engagement, Hard Skills Drive Organizational Performance

Gary Harpst • November 9, 2018

From the new landmark research study recently released from Six Disciplines, and detailed in this 30-page research paper, “ 7 Key Findings About What Employees Say Drives Performance and Engagement “, survey results find that soft skills drive employee engagement, while hard skills drive organizational performance.

a graphic showing engagement drivers and performance others

‘Soft’ skills refers to more intangible factors and behaviors, like attitude and relationship. ‘Hard’ skills is more about
identifiable systems and processes that individuals and teams use to get things done.

Interestingly, ‘Openness and Honesty’ appears on both soft and hard skill lists. They are the “oxygen” of both
communication and collaboration.

The sheer breadth of these two lists of soft and hard skills shows why frontline leadership is such a challenging role.

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