A few days ago, someone asked me why I focus so much attention on Millennials. Their talent and skill are amazing; their expertise in hard skills has proven to be highly effective in fields ranging from biomedical engineering to telemarketing leading to the important growth of the U.S. economy.
With that said, a prominent challenge Millennials face is that in soft skills. According to Talent Culture, a study by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) found that American Millennials trail their global counterparts in workplace communication causing on-the-job problems link to study here. Not only that, the study found that their lack of soft skills has an adverse impact on the relationships among their colleagues, teammates and managers..
According to monster.com, Millennials have focused so much attention on hard skills that their face-to-face social skills have come up short.
In one of their best practices articles, the job search giant drives home the importance of communication — knowing when and how to ask questions. The article suggests that managers display an understanding of how to be empathetic and follow their emotional cues. The study emphasized managers listening “deeply” with their eyes, ears and heart because that is where real problems, wants and needs will be revealed.
If employers want to boost profits, satisfy shareholders and increase employee morale, it is in their best interest to provide ongoing training to Millennials in soft skills and coach managers on how to listen to them.
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