Forget Soft Skills…Focus on These 10 Power Skills

Power skills have long been overlooked in favor of more technical abilities like computer programming, data analysis, and financial acumen.

But now, it’s time to make room for softer, more human skills like communication and empathy—the type of skills your employees can repackage and repurpose into multiple areas of your organization.

These so-called power skills can be the difference between an adequate and a high-performing hire. We know which we’d prefer!

Our guide defines and provides ten examples of power skills—we’ll also describe why they’re must-haves for your business.

TL;DR—Key Takeaways

• Power skills are the most in-demand soft skills in the modern world of work. They emphasize critical thinking, problem-solving, and active listening over traditional “hard” skills.
• Companies can leverage strategies such as training and development, performance reviews, and technology integration to understand how their employees’ power skills benefit their organization
• Toggl Hire’s skills tests allow you to objectively identify intangible power skills with ease

What are power skills?

Power skills are the most important soft skills in a digital-first workplace. The list is endless but might include attributes like collaboration, communication, and creativity.

Hiring employees with these power skills sets a foundation of productivity, teamwork, and job satisfaction. But overlook them during your recruitment process, and you might suffer from reduced retention, lowered productivity and profitability, and less innovation.

Power skills are closely related to emotional intelligence (EQ). The better EQ you have, the more likely you are to excel at things like conflict management, adaptability, and communication—core power skills in the modern workforce.

While power skills and soft skills tend to be grouped together, think of power skills as 21st-century skills important in digital-first environments, especially in hybrid or remote work. The Project Management Institute splits power skills into two categories. 👇

Essential skills

An essential skill is an ability that’s necessary for executing and learning in the workplace. They’re similar to soft skills. For example, negotiation, problem-solving, and communication could be considered essential skills.

Leadership styles

Power skills in leadership boil down to how you direct, motivate, coach, guide, and manage people. It’s the feeling you instill in your team when you lead them.

For example, your management skills could involve directing your team on what they need to do or coaching them to take their own initiative.

Power skills vs. soft skills: What’s the difference?

You might hear the terms power and soft skills interchangeably. But power skills are really a rebranding of soft skills and an acknowledgement of their importance. Soft skills were perceived as nice-to-haves, but power skills are the realization that these soft skills are now critical.

The term “soft skills” arose in the mid-20th century from the US military. The military realized that training troops to use equipment was only one factor determining their efficacy. The other side of the coin is how the troops were trained. This led them to study these invisible forces—thus, “soft skills” were born.

Since then, there has been a tendency to overlook soft skills in favor of their counterparts, the more measurable technical skills, also known as “hard skills.”

Udemy’s Workplace Learning Trends Report called for the term “power skills” to replace “soft skills,” reflecting their true importance to employee success. Power skills aren’t just luxuries—they’re entirely necessary for employees at every level of an organization in the 21st-century job market.

Questionmark’s Modern Skills report is also invested in the future of power skills, quoting them as the most in-demand skills employees need for success in the modern workplace.

Top 10 power skills

Despite seeming like such simple capabilities, power skills can be hard to find in employees—mainly because they’re hard to evaluate. Usually, you don’t get a good sense of an employee’s power skills until they’ve been in their role for a month or two.

Let’s dive into 10 top power skills examples to look for in your employees, how to identify them, and why they’re so important for organizational success.

1. Effective communication

Someone with effective communication skills is able to convey ideas clearly—both written and verbally—and adapt them to different audiences.

Strong communicators might articulate complex ideas, facilitate smooth team interactions, and hone their communication style depending on their audience. These people skills lead to better collaboration and fewer misunderstandings.

2. Critical thinking

Critical thinking involves analyzing information objectively to form a judgment or decision. Someone with good critical thinking doesn’t let emotion cloud their judgment or opinions.

If presented with evidence to the contrary, they’ll change their minds. They’re good at identifying biases and making informed decisions that drive business growth and innovation.

3. Creativity

Creativity requires you to generate new and innovative ideas, solutions, or products. It goes beyond conventional norms and embraces curiosity, experimentation, and outside-the-box thinking.

Someone creative might connect the dots in ways no one else does, spotting sales opportunities or strategic partnerships that open new avenues for growth. They’re key to competitive advantages.

4. Conflict management

This is one of the most important leadership skills. It involves effectively addressing and resolving disagreements among team members, promoting constructive communication, collaboration, and problem-solving.

Good conflict management involves discretion, making sure all sides of the argument are heard, and mediating solutions. It also involves containing the fire, so to speak, and avoiding gossip that might affect wider team morale..

5. Active listening

Active listening is a vital power skill in the workplace that involves fully engaging with others. It involves showing a real interest in what the speaker is saying. It’s ensuring you’re digesting their thoughts and ideas rather than just waiting for your turn to speak.

6. Empathy

People who understand and share the feelings of others are said to have high empathy. They’re fantastic in customer-facing roles, as they can build rapport quickly and naturally through razor-sharp interpersonal skills. They anticipate and attend to customers’ needs, resolve conflicts effectively, and foster a supportive work environment.

7. Teamwork

Teamwork involves collaborating effectively with others to achieve common goals. Team players know how to share responsibility, support the group, and give credit where it’s due.

Good teamwork leads to a better work ethic, and a more effective organization—with better bottom lines and increased job satisfaction.

8. Problem-solving

Good problem-solvers are analytically minded. They identify issues and systematically resolve them. They’re an asset to any organization, generating creative solutions, implementing effective fixes, and ultimately improving processes.

9. Adaptability

Adaptability refers to candidates’ ability to change course effectively and flexibly when external circumstances require it. Adaptable people take changes in stride, remain open-minded, and are receptive to different ideas and perspectives.

10. Leadership

Leadership involves guiding and motivating others to achieve common goals. Good leaders have good decision-making and mentoring skills, enabling them to move fast and bring out the best in others. They inspire and motivate teams and set clear visions, leading to higher morale and better results.

How to leverage power skills in the workplace

Employees with human-centered skills are an asset to any workforce. But to understand the importance of power skills in your organization, you might want to leverage one (or more) of the following strategies:

• Skills assessments: Regularly measuring power skills allows you to pinpoint your candidates and employees’ strengths and areas for improvement. Toggl Hire’s skills tests are a great place to start for this.
• Training programs: Based on these results, decide what training opportunities to offer. These can be workshops, coaching, mentoring, and hands-on experiences to help employees improve their power skills.
• Technology integration: Encourage employees to leverage technology in their work processes to boost their functionality and overall productivity.
• Performance evaluations: Start evaluating power skills in performance reviews to assess their impact on work and the wider organization.

Internal buy-in for developing power skills is crucial to effectively nurturing your employees. Psychometric tests, 360 reviews, and support for participation in external workshops are all great ways to foster the improvement of your employees’ power skills. Be sure to measure the effectiveness of these strategies to ensure they deliver the desired outcomes.

Find talent with advanced power skills

Power skills are difficult to evaluate during the interview process. To find candidates with the right skills, allow them to prove themselves through in-depth skills assignments, homework assignments, or trial work.

Use Toggl Hire to create unique tests for your candidates and take-home tasks to complete in their own time. With features that help teams evaluate candidates‘ abilities in real-world scenarios, Toggl Hire identifies top talent and provides insights into how these new skills can be nurtured and integrated into a company’s organizational culture.

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