Modern business and industry have been the by-products of intensive research and innovation. Our products today range from a needle to a spacecraft and they are very competitive because of the multiple players who have acquired technical know-how and human skills to create these complex products.
The Second World War was one of the most chaotic and destructive war ever fought. Although the ramifications of this conflict were so massive that it took decades for countries to rebuild and reconstruct. But as they say, every dark cloud has a silver lining even this could not hold innovation to come out and show itself.
Modern rocket propulsion systems owe their existence to the missile research that Germany and Britain so intensely did to outdo the enemy. Modern aviation owes its present class and stealth to fighter aircraft made in World War 2 and the constant technical upgrade they went for.
The American Navy discovered new ways of improving the accuracy of their torpedos by using algorithms and critical path methods to shorten the trajectory of their deadly missiles.
German V-2 Rockets for the first time used liquid hydrogen to travel long distances and destroy targets in England.
Post World War 2 great research went into the mass production of aircraft that could be used to travel across the Atlantic Ocean nonstop with a commercial payload. They kept improving and soon there was Jet technology that could fly at twice the speed of sound.
The world shrunk and distances didn’t matter anymore.
The industry adopted management systems in manufacturing and marketing. A lot of thinkers wrote books on streamlining shop floors with human training and retraining. Briefing and Debriefing methods which were used in the war were being used in board rooms. The worker had to now become intelligent instead of being a mere factory worker.
The Need Arose
The era of the modern industry had started and the call was now for skill sets that would match job profiles. It was increasingly felt that training people on the job was a very time and cost consuming alternative and that it was now a better option to hire people who had spent time studying machines and management. This was definitely a better option because the expertise needed to handle these monsters like engines and plants required a complete understanding of how they worked.
A little more into competitive businesses worldwide companies had now become overly ambitious to explore international markets and mark their presence there. This was the time the human factor became absolutely necessary to expand commercial activity and thus came the concept of training them in soft skills.
Skills such as active listening, collaboration, presenting ideas and communicating with colleagues were all highly valued in the modern workplace. Strong soft skills ensured a productive, collaborative and healthy work environment, all crucial attributes for organizations in an increasingly competitive world.
Several studies reveal that a high proportion of staff fail within the first 18 months of starting a new job. One study found that figure to be 46 per cent of 20,000 new hires in America.
When you look at the reasons why, 89 per cent of those who failed did so due to a cultural misalignment or attitudinal reasons, rather than technical expertise learnt from the best engineering colleges.
Companies need to have a great culture, which is essential to keeping people in the building. Each company’s culture and mission will be unique, and you need to make sure you have values that you stand by. Secondly – you need to have a recruitment strategy that is aimed at finding the right people for the organization rather than the right skill set at every opportunity, from graduate roles through to senior management.
- Attitude
- Communication (both listening, speaking and writing skills)
- Work ethic
- Teamwork
- Leadership qualities
- Time management
- Decision making
- Conflict resolution
- Critical thinking
- Networking
- Empathy
- Problem-solving
are some of the most in-demand soft skills today.
Soft skills are unquantifiable professional attributes that are acquired with constant practice and some innate personality qualities. Some of these skills can be built in over a period of time but some are without doubt inherent and personality sensitive.
Engineers will never lose importance in society; they are sacred to the cause of the economic engine constantly running. Nevertheless, today they shall be segregated on how they react and behave at the workplace because innovation brings with it new challenges of handling it.
Those who work right and sync with uncertainties with the help of soft and hard skills are the ones who will stay and survive regardless of the engineering college in Rajasthan or India they graduated from.
