The Competitive Edge

 

People with good social skills earn more money!

Research documented by the Harvard Business Review has shown that “People who have higher social skills, as measured by the survey, earn more money … than those with poor social skills. There seems to be a positive return to social skills in the labour market, according to the data, and the return is relatively greater when people are in jobs that require more interaction with others.”

This research is of no great surprise, even in our online, social media, AI age.  The soft skills of good interpersonal communication and effective teamwork ie. getting on with your colleagues and connecting well with clients and stakeholders continue to be extremely important.  Much time, effort and training are put into hard skills which, of course, are necessary, but what good is a lawyer if he can’t effectively communicate with his clients? … What good is a manager if she can’t speak with some emotional intelligence to her employees? … What good is a leader who is unable to cast vision to his team?

How we communicate and connect with others can be the sole reason for success or failure in a project, place of employment or promotion opportunity.