Soft skills vs. hard skills: what they are, their importance and how to develop them

Ensuring the appropriate qualifications is essential both when attracting talent to the company and to assist in the development of employees who are already part of the team. However, for this, it is essential to understand the differences between soft skills and hard skills, as well as how to develop them.

Throughout this article, you will learn more about the theme and you will be able to apply it in your company, ensuring better prepared, more developed and engaged professionals.

What are soft and hard skills?

The first thing we need to understand is the meaning of the term "skill". In the translation from English to Portuguese, "skill" means "ability". In other words, we can divide a professional's skills into two distinct spheres: soft skills and hard skills. 

Hard skills are those more technical skills that can be easily measured. They can be learned by you and identified quickly, often being proven through diplomas and certificates of proficiency. Undergraduate, postgraduate and technical courses, for example, usually prove this type of knowledge. 

Soft skills, on the other hand, are commonly left aside when evaluating an employee, but they shouldn't be. These are the behavioral and social skills, which are more difficult to be metrified in any way and are also more complex to be learned and absorbed, since they depend much more on profile than anything else. Leadership, interpersonal communication, team spirit and proactivity are some soft skills. 

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How to develop in the employee?

Now that you understand the difference between soft and hard skills, it is much easier to understand that, in order to develop them, you need different strategies. 

If you need to develop a hard skill, that is, a technical skill in the professional, offering courses, workshops and training is the best way out. But it is also possible to learn, for example, through videos on YouTube. 

You don't have to stick to real professional or technical courses, all you need is the sharing of this knowledge by someone who understands the subject and the commitment of those on the other side to study and seek to understand the subject (or train, if that is the case) to develop the skill. 

When the subject is soft skills, it is necessary to pay more attention. Promoting behavioral feedbacks and lectures, besides having close leadership monitoring on a daily basis, pointing out what could be improved and what is good, is very important. However, it is necessary to pay attention to the person's profile. 

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For example, professionals who naturally have communication difficulties will hardly become the best speakers in the company, but that does not mean that this soft skill cannot be developed to the necessary point to do a good job. 

A good professional is essentially a set and combination of soft and hard skills. If you want to keep your employees engaged, helping them develop in both spheres is essential!

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