Hard push on soft skills
It's great to know how to use the company's equipment or interpret data, but a positive image and working well with others may do more to land or keep a job.

By Rachel Osterman
Chicago Tribune staff reporter
Published July 5, 2003

Ryan Neary never liked to speak in front of groups. But when his boss said he could use some improvement in the area, Neary got serious.

In a daylong course on giving presentations, the technology analyst learned the importance of relaxing his arms, walking confidently to the lectern and controlling his vocal tones.

With payrolls shrinking, workers like Neary are finding that it's never been more important to command the soft skills--those non-technical abilities such as speaking in front of groups, working in teams and inspiring the confidence of supervisors.

Employees looking for that extra edge are driving demand for training that teaches them how to stand out with personal, as opposed to practical, qualities.

"I have a lot of interaction with different business users," said Neary, who works at Aon Corp. "Trying to articulate and be more confident is important. Public speaking is hard to convey over a resume, but even your body movement and vocal quality are going to play a big role in whether or not they like you."

Neary attended a workshop led by Kirsten D'Aurelio, an actress who helped to launch VoiceScape, a small, presentation skills company that uses the techniques of theater to help people perform in the business world.

On a recent weekday, D'Aurelio instructed her attendees to form a bond with the audience when they give presentations, to make their gestures purposeful and, above all, to relax.

"Channel your adrenaline as a performance enhancer," D'Aurelio instructed.

Before standing before a large group, D'Aurelio suggested, presenters should check their posture, make sure their feet are shoulder-width apart, loosen their knees, distribute their weight equally, and straighten their heads so that they don't tilt to one side.

"These are the little things that can really matter when you're standing up there and whether people decide to be impressed with you," D'Aurelio said.

Labor market experts say the kind of self-presentation skills D'Aurelio emphasizes are just what employers look for.

"A lot of employers think that the soft skills are more important than the hard skills. If someone has the right attitude, comes to work on time, is a good team player--that's more important than knowing how to use the right software," said Wilhelmina Leigh, a senior research associate at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in Washington, D.C.

Soft skills are so important in the workplace, a survey by two University of Massachusetts economists found, that 86 percent of employers considered them to be among their most important hiring criteria.

For Steve Armstrong, vice president of Kelly Services, one of the country's largest temporary employment agencies, that's because a prospective employee's soft skills often better determine whether or not he will fit into the job environment than do his hard, or technical, skills.

"It's had such a huge impact that it's reworked how we go about looking for employees," Armstrong said.

"You really have to play to peoples' soft skills in where you place them," he said. "When someone leaves an organization, how often do you hear people say `they just didn't fit in' or `they just didn't work out.' That's generally speaking to some deficit on the soft-skills side."

A way out of unemployment

Among the unemployed, developing the right communications skills has taken on added urgency.

Ron Taylor, who organizes the Executive Network Group, a local support group for out-of-work executives, invited D'Aurelio to speak to his members.

"The nature of communications and business is something in which you have to be better at than ever," Taylor said. "Good communications can help people get out of unemployment.

"Networking is the way that about 80 percent of employment opportunities come to seasoned managers and executives," he said. "And networking cannot be effective without good communications."

Taylor has become more aware of everyday interpersonal interactions since undergoing training.

"I now answer my phone differently than before. I say, `Good morning, this is Ron Taylor. And I don't use a monotone. It's just a little more congenial."

And the results?

"A couple of times," Taylor said, "people have said `Gee, you have a cheery greeting.'"

Second City plays role

Another major player in the soft skills training field is Second City Communications, an offshoot company of the famous improv comedy club. Second City teaches business people to use the tenets of improvisation to present, collaborate, interview for a job and listen to coworkers.

"The techniques are all about becoming a supremely good listener, finding the right balance of individual and ensemble on stage," said Tom Yorton, president of Second City Communications. "We teach people about finding agreement in ideas. There's a fundamental tenet of improv called `yes, and.' They agree and then they add something."

Jim Walsh, who enrolled in a Second City class after noticing that "the higher management employees tend to be the better speakers," said he learned to use voice tones to generate interest in his audiences.

"Just by the variance in your voice you create interest. In the class you had to count to a hundred and use tempo and volume to create a certain mood," Walsh said.

Practice helps pitches

Denis Maty, CEO of a small technology start-up, signed up for a VoiceScape class when he found that he had to make regular pitches to venture capitalists, "and you just don't get a second chance with them."

Maty learned to control his posture and gestures.

When instructor D'Aurelio told members of the class to relax their facial muscles and sweep the whole audience with their eyes while smiling--all before speaking--Maty had a hard time.

"It seemed like an eternity--like the audience was thinking `Oh my God, when is he going to talk?'" he said.

By the end, "I was able to take a second to focus myself, take a deep breath, and I had my first line memorized so that I came out confident and strong."

Copyright © 2003, Chicago Tribune