The Recruiting News
People Skills More Important Than Technical Skills
(March 1, 2011) Zenger Folkman on Business Leaders: People Skills More Important Than Technical Skills
New data shows increased emphasis on personal development
As business leaders look for ways to motivate their employees, many are choosing to develop their interpersonal skills, rather than improving their technical abilities, a new Zenger Folkman study reveals.
Leadership development and training organization Zenger Folkman analyzed the personal development plans of nearly 11,000 leaders from a variety of industries in North America. They discovered that more than half of leaders chose to improve their interpersonal skills after reviewing their 360-degree feedback.
Skills selected as most important for development include:
- Inspiring and motivating others
- Building better relationships
- Developing direct reports
- Communicating more effectively
"This clearly signals the importance of improving personal relationships on the job," said Jack Zenger, CEO and co-founder of Zenger Folkman. "After being put into leadership positions, people come to realize that relationships are more important to day-to-day success than anything else."
Another 13 percent set the goal of being an example of practicing self-development, believing that regardless of your position in the organization, you can always get better. The only other target for development that came close to these was the 9 percent who elected to place a greater emphasis on obtaining results. Together, these accounted for roughly three-quarters of all the plans for development.
Although most leaders have received technical training and many have been educated in business theory courses about accounting, marketing, manufacturing and finance, few business schools offer enough practical courses on how to more effectively work with colleagues. And with the explosion of social media, e-mail and instant messaging, interpersonal skills are often difficult to develop in today's fast-paced environment.
"Given how much a boss can influence the success or failure of an employee, it's important that leaders develop the skills necessary to get the most out of their direct reports," Zenger said.
"Without strong interpersonal skills, leaders may find that they will fail to achieve organizational aspirations and may even be out of a job."
About Zenger Folkman
As one of the nation's top leadership development firms as ranked by Leadership Excellence and Trainingindustry.com, Zenger Folkman employs evidence-based methods that improve organizations and the people within them.
Register for our Leadership Resource Center: http://www.zengerfolkman.com/login.html.
Permalink . - . Todays Bugler . - . Email this article . - . Readership Feedback
 |
|
| Where Top Candidates Seek Career Opportunities | |
| Call Center | CallCenterJobs.com |
| Drivers / Trucking | JobsInTrucks.com |
| Executive | RiteSite.com |
| General | JustJobs.com |
| Health / Medical | HealthJobsUSA.com |
| IT Contracting & Consulting | Corp-Corp.com |
| Logistics | JobsInLogistics.com |
| Manufacturing | JobsInManufacturing.com |
| Retail | AllRetailJobs.com |
| Security Clearance | USADefenseIndustryJobs.com |
|
|
For more great articles - search our archives: Enjoy the Bugler and review the latest Recruiting Blogs.
Contacting Us:
interbiznet
Mill Valley, CA 94941
415.377.2255
colleen@interbiznet.com
Copyright © 2013 interbiznet. All rights reserved.
Materials written by John Sumser © TwoColorHat. All Rights Reserved.
The Electronic Recruiting News
Sign-up to receive this newsletter in email each day. The interbiznet Bugler
Sign up and receive a concise, daily briefing on recruiting industry news.
ERN | Bugler | Blogs | Candidates | Advertise | HR Jobs |
FEATURES:
FREE
EMAIL NEWSLETTERS:
- BUGLER
(Sign-up)
Industry News
- ERNIE
(Sign-up)
Industry Article
RECENT ARTICLES:
ERN
ARCHIVES
© 2013 interbiznet.
All Rights Reserved.