I wonder how different our workplaces would be if effective communication was part of the curriculum at every primary and secondary school? What if it was reinforced with workplace training for everyone – not just for those working in customer service or human relations?

Traditionally, schools, like workplaces, reward and promote students based on their ‘hard’ technical skills. In secondary school, maths and science subject results are scaled higher, reinforcing the idea that technical skills are more difficult to master and worthier of our praise. Schools also adopt a technical approach to humanities subjects, such as English, with the focus most often on writing and analysing texts. There are educational reasons for this and a focus on literacy is important, but it’s a shame many schools miss the opportunity to develop stronger interpersonal and verbal communication skills. It means we enter the workforce with widely different skills, depending on our innate communication style, influenced most by the way we were raised and our personality.

In the workplace, we follow a similar pattern. Traditionally, employers have hired based on a person’s education, qualifications and experience. They induct new staff in the rules, regulations, processes and procedures of the organisation, rather than the communication and behavioural expectations. Training and development is focused on teaching people the nuts and bolts of how to do their job, rather than how people can work better together and manage themselves through stress.

This focus on the hard skills both in schools and the workplace has been further heightened over the last 30 years thanks to the explosion of the internet and the inclusion of technology in almost every job and industry. Ironically, the increase in connectedness that technology has brought seems to have resulted in a slide in our ability to communicate verbally. People who sit a few metres apart in an open planned office will email each other rather than have a conversation. Even phone calls have become problematic for some, as written communication through instant messaging has become the preferred mode of contact in many offices. We now have a rising tide of people who’ve had limited experience with communication through face-to-face conversation.

The result? Staff and leaders who may be able to complete their work well, use the latest technology, and perform their tasks correctly, but who flounder when communicating with others. People who have what it takes on paper but in practice are undermined by their emotional reactions and are particularly challenged when under pressure.

While you might get away with this lack of soft skills in an entry or officer level position (although expectations around that are changing too), more is becoming expected of our leaders. As your pay grade and level of responsibility goes up, so should your communication skills. It’s a necessity to do your job well.

But the system has let us down. It hasn’t treated the development of communication skills with the respect it deserves. Communication, particularly under pressure, hasn’t been a standard and crucial part of leadership training. And so it has fallen onto us as individuals to work through with whatever skills we have. It’s not an excuse for poor communication, but it is often part of the explanation and highlights why soft skills have become the new hard.

Leah Mether teaches people how to get out of their own way with the development of soft skills (which are really hard). She is a trainer, speaker, coach and author. Find out more at www.leahmether.com.au.