How can you help a future leader balance their technical expertise with developing soft skills?

Examine yourself by answering the "WHO AM I?", "WHAT AM I DOING RIGHT?", "WHICH AREAS DO I NEED TO IMPROVE IN?". These questions will help you understand who you truly are and the first step to balance technical expertise and interpersonal skills. Ask for feedback from your peers in areas you need to improve in. Always practice the art of active listening, controlling your emotions, and how you resolve conflict matters most. Don't be too rigid to adapt to change.

Balancing technical expertise with soft skills starts with a thorough assessment of needs. Understanding what areas need development is crucial for any future leader. Assessing needs helps identify specific areas where a leader excels and where they need improvement. This self-awareness is the foundation for personal and professional growth. Utilize various tools and techniques to make the assessment comprehensive. Psychometric tests, skills inventories, and SWOT analyses can all contribute to a well-rounded understanding of the leader’s capabilities.

To help future leaders balance technical skills with soft skills. 1. Provide coaching on communication, emotional intelligence, and teamwork. 2. Use workshops, role-playing, and real-world examples. 3. Show how to manage and inspire teams effectively. 4. Offer ongoing feedback and support. 5. Ensure growth in both technical and soft skills. 6. Develop a well-rounded leadership style for a positive work environment.

Emotional intelligence is the first best thing to learn going from technical into leadership role. It doesn’t only govern you the self-awareness you need to know what skills you need to develop, it also adds to your social awareness and being connected to your colleagues on a humane level.

Observe and gather information: conduct direct observation, gather feedback from performance reviews, self-assessments, and 360-degree feedback. Analyze the specific technical skills needed for their future role and identify areas for improvement in soft skills based on feedback. Prioritize development based on strategic alignment, urgency, and impact. Tailor development opportunities to the leader's learning style and time constraints. Identify specific desired behaviors instead of just broad skill areas. Offer concrete tools, training programs, or coaching opportunities to address specific skill gaps. You can create a personalized development plan that helps future leaders excel in both technical expertise and soft skills

Setting clear and achievable goals is essential for balancing technical expertise with soft skills. Goals provide direction, motivation, and a measure of progress. Goals act as a roadmap for development. They help future leaders focus their efforts, allocate resources efficiently, and stay motivated. Clear goals also make it easier to track progress and celebrate achievements, which can boost confidence and morale. Set goals that address both technical and soft skills. For example, a technical goal might be to master a new software tool, while a soft skill goal could be to improve team collaboration. Balancing these goals ensures comprehensive development.

The future belongs to leaders who can orchestrate a symphony of talent. To cultivate this harmony in an aspiring leader, we must weave technical prowess with the silken threads of soft skills. Here's the key: craft SMART goals that expose them to real-world scenarios. Imagine a leader aiming to enhance communication. A time-bound objective could be leading a cross-functional team meeting within three months, actively soliciting diverse viewpoints, and fostering a solution collaboratively. This "learning by leading" approach, measured by team member feedback and project outcomes, strengthens technical expertise and the ability to inspire and navigate human dynamics.

All work can be broken down into technical work (the doing), people work (leading) and planning / scheduling (what's coming next). Start by being clear about what percentage of your time you're spending on each of these categories and then identify what percentage of time you want to be spending on each category in the future.

Continuous learning ensures that leaders stay relevant, adapt to new challenges, and seize opportunities for growth. It also promotes a culture of curiosity and innovation, which can drive personal and organizational success. Continuous learning should encompass both technical and soft skills. Encourage leaders to diversify their learning by exploring courses and resources that address areas like emotional intelligence, communication, and leadership, alongside their technical expertise.

Introduce a future leader to a Learning Journey. that combines technical training with soft skills workshops, ensuring both areas are developed simultaneously. Encourage participation in 'Experiential Learning Projects,' where they lead cross-functional teams on real-world challenges. This sharpens their technical skills and enhances communication, collaboration, and leadership abilities. Create a 'Soft Skills Shadow Program' where they can observe and learn from leaders known for their interpersonal skills. This hands-on exposure provides practical insights that traditional learning methods might miss.

Continuous Learning is a part of self-development. Building technical skills is important as it helps an individual navigate through the challenges that arise while doing the job but in order to develop soft skills along the way, we should network. Networking helps us learn the new trends in the industry, build relations, seek out mentors who can help us in all ways possible. Soft skills are not skills that can be acquired by attending a session, but they must be practiced daily so that they become a part of our routine. To become future leaders, we can start by being buddy mentors to our peers especially the ones who are younger and fresh in the industry.

Developing both technical expertise and soft skills requires consistent practice. Daily practice helps reinforce learning, build habits, and turn new skills into second nature. Daily practice ensures that new skills are not only learned but also retained and refined. It helps in building muscle memory, making it easier to apply these skills in real-world situations. Regular practice also keeps leaders engaged and motivated in their development journey.

Regular reflection is a crucial component of balancing technical expertise with developing soft skills. Reflection helps leaders understand their progress, learn from experiences, and plan future actions. It allows leaders to critically analyze their experiences, understand what works and what doesn’t, and make informed decisions about their development. It also promotes self-awareness, which is key to personal and professional growth. Reflecting on both successes and failures provides valuable insights and learning opportunities.

Build their intuition through self-reflection. Technical expertise often comes with a level of being guarded emotionally. It overcompensates for the lack of connection with others. To balance technical expertise with developing soft skills, interact with people with intention. Determine why you are interacting and what you hope to gain from the interaction, and reflect on if that is what happened. If you do not get the desired results, adjust your tone, timing, and dialogue. Ensure that the adjustments you make are to improve your soft skills and not to seek approval from others. The desire is to increase your influence.

You really need to have a really good connection with your team to be able to identify their strengths and accordingly we can empower them so that it gives you some self confidence and it will make them curious about learning more skills because they know they will get a platform where all their strengths are recognised, valued and appreciated. This makes their own personality shine, they don't follow anyone, hence they don't become something they are not, which breaks the cycle of toxicity and micro-management and we get great leaders.

In my opinion as a leader it is very important to help a future leader balance their technical expertise with developing soft skills by empowering them to take on roles that require both. We as leaders need to encourage them to lead cross-functional projects where they can apply their technical knowledge while also honing skills like communication, empathy, and teamwork. Also give them the platform to mentor and coach others, so that they can improvise their ability to listen, give constructive feedback, and inspire their team. Support their growth by offering resources such as leadership training programs and workshops focused on soft skills development. Review their progress by providing guidance and feedback.