Help Young Talent Develop a Professional Mindset

Build the emotional intelligence you need to stand out early in your career

There is a chasm between what business leaders expect from recent graduates, and what these new hires have to offer. In a survey of 450 business leaders and 450 employees new to the workforce based in India, the US, and China, a massive 76% of business leaders reported that entry-level workers and recent grads are not ready for their jobs.

In most cases, these hires are intelligent, ambitious, and technically savvy; they have proven their ability to accomplish the work. They’re committed and passionate about rising through the ranks. So what are these new professionals missing?

Simple – they’re lacking soft skills. These are the traits and behaviours that characterise our relationships with others. Specifically, these new grads are not ascribing enough value to emotional intelligence (EI) in the workplace.

We know that these qualities are necessary for strong motivation, sustained focus, and productive collaboration. As organisational structures evolve and globalisation speeds up, these soft skills are going to be more crucial than ever before.

Now, here’s the rub. Most new graduates and hires don’t realise how much leaders value these skills.

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The Facts

Consider these statistics about recent graduates in the workforce:

69% believe that people skills get in the way of doing their jobs well.

70% believe that their technical skills are more valuable than their people skills.

While business leaders and HR directors report the opposite:

90% believe that employees with strong people skills deliver a better commercial impact.

85% see technical skills as the basic necessity for new hires, while soft skills are what sets them apart.

91% believe that employees with refined people skills advance faster.

When organisations conduct inquiries into the skills that make certain employees stars, they generally find that EI-based competencies matter more than those based on technical and reasoning skills. It’s evident that a strong intellect and relevant experience are basic capacities – what someone needs to land a job. But they’re not what makes that person soar.

For example, Claudio Fernández-Aráoz, a global hiring expert, did a study of top-level leaders who were dismissed from their jobs. He concluded that the majority were hired for their intelligence and hard experience, but ended up being fired for their lack of EI.

These qualities manifest themselves in various ways.

Here are some characteristics of a person with a robust cache of soft skills:

They collaborate well in a team

As a business leader once told a consultant at McKinsey, “I have never fired an engineer for bad engineering, but I have fired an engineer for a lack of teamwork.”

They are adaptable

The ability to adjust to change signifies good self-management.

They interact easily with dissimilar people

An emotionally intelligent person will be able to bridge gaps with ease and will generally have smooth interactions with co-workers, customers, and clients from different groups or cultures.

They are able to reason under pressure

This requires a mix of self-awareness, focus, and quick stress recovery, which puts the brain in an optimal state in difficult circumstances.

They are a lucid and compelling communicator

An effective communicator is a great listener and has the ability to understand how another person thinks. This is an aspect of cognitive empathy.

The Solution

So how do you equip recent grads with these skills?

Promote self-regulation

Self-regulation is a fundamental aspect of EI. If you learn to manage your emotions, you will recover quickly from stress. This means that when you feel a strong emotion surface, you’re aware of it, you can name it, and let it pass without reacting instantly. Doing so allows you to re-focus with a nimbler mind and relaxed body; and a state of relaxed alertness is optimal for performance.

For this, I strongly encourage an emotional self-management method, like a daily session of meditation. This helps in a few ways: first, it resets your brain so you are triggered less easily and less often by other people; second, it trains your brain to recover quickly; third, it gives you a tool you can use immediately in moments of high stress.

Teach Time Management

Offer your new employees very specific methods for time management. A professional workspace is a unique environment and it’s crucial they don’t become too scattered.

Here’s a tip I like. When you’re interrupted, practice asking yourself: Can this wait? Can I put it aside? You’ll find that the answer is almost always – YES. Then communicating this with goodwill is a great training practice. Because leaders need to have the capacity to decide what matters now, and then make that clear to those involved.

Create a feedback culture

It’s important that new recruits feel comfortable in a feedback culture, where they’re able to give and receive feedback. (This must, of course, include both the positive and the negative.) Hay Group recommends that you start building self-awareness in your recent grads from the get-go; give them feedback on their interview performance.

Set up a mentor program

The best part about having a mentor is hearing about the mistakes they made along the way. This is a great opportunity for new grads to hear interesting career stories, make connections, and practice face-to-face communication. This will also give them a chance to see another aspect of the organisation, offering a bigger picture perspective.

Train them

The best news here is that EI can be taught. It’s been shown that interpersonal skills, stress management and even empathy can be learnt and deliver quick results. In their Journey development program for new young hires, Hay Group offers tips, feedback and exercises to do just that.

Not only will these soft skills boost performance and potential at work, but they improve relationships and levels of contentment outside of work.

Remember that self-discipline, resilience, empathy, collaboration, and communication skills are all EI-based competencies that distinguish star performers from average. An organisation that underscores the importance of EI in their new recruits will attract the type of talent that knows how to stay engaged, adapt, and excel much more quickly than employees with expertise alone.