The rise of artificial intelligence stands as a double-edged sword for employers.
While AI promises unprecedented efficiency and transformation, it magnifies the significance of distinctly human qualities – soft skills.
Soft skills are non-technical skills that relate to how you work – skills such as problem-solving, professional writing, teamwork, critical thinking and leadership.
While technical skills constantly change, soft skills remain with you throughout your career.
“The advent of AI tools, like ChatGPT, has transformed the workplace with automation capabilities that overtake mundane and repetitive tasks, but these newfound automation abilities can’t replicate critical soft skills like leadership, teamwork, effective communication and problem-solving with ethical considerations says Durga.
As a result of advancing technologies, these intangible skills are growing in demand – with employers pivoting focus towards skills that amplify effective communication, collaboration, and critical thinking.
AI’s Strengths and Limitations
AI excels at tasks such as data analysis, automating repetitive processes and optimising operational efficiency. According to a McKinsey report, half of today’s work activities could be automated by 2055, but this could happen up to 20 years earlier or later depending on various factors, in addition to other wider economic conditions. However, while AI is highly effective in rational processes, it lacks the human touch necessary for leadership, interpersonal relationships and creative problem-solving. As a result, these soft skills are now what set professionals apart.
Leadership soft skills crucial in the age of AI
Durga points to soft skills as helping individual employees adapt to challenges more easily and lead within their teams.
“They are extremely valuable as they enable employees to solve problems on their own and within a team setting. Without them, projects don’t get off the ground, workers can feel disengaged, and executives, managers and employees struggle to do their jobs.”
When it comes to leadership, Durga points to a number of specific soft skills she says will be crucial in this age of AI.
- Critical thinking: As AI systems automate tasks and analysis, leaders will need to interpret and contextualise results, assess implications and make business-driven decisions.
- Effective Communication: Effective communication is essential to help leaders and teams align on business goals and navigate AI-related changes.
- Innovation: Leaders will need to find ways to foster a culture of innovation and leverage their own creativity to encourage new and novel ideas for complicated challenges.
- Adaptability: Employees today live in a fast-paced digital era that requires the ability to be agile and adaptable to new tech. Leaders should find areas where AI can make teams more efficient and capitalise on new opportunities through tech.
- Leadership and teamwork: WhileAI and ChatGPT can provide information and even insights and recognition, leadership and teamwork are critical for organisations to grow and evolve. With disruptive technology such as AI, it’s critical to prioritise the human component of work and decision-making.
Soft skills can be learned
Since last fall, artificial intelligence — in particular ChatGPT and its recently unveiled successor, GPT-4 — has taken center stage in conversations about the future of business, work, and learning. ChatGPT became the fastest-growing consumer application in history — outpacing Instagram and even TikTok — and Google lost $100 billion in market cap after a botched AI product demonstration raised questions about its ability to compete.
And the good news is, soft skills can be developed, says durga, though they do require an ongoing training process that is personalised to the individual – as well as patience and consistent effort from both employers and employees.
To improve employee soft skills, Durga recommends employers incorporate a range of formats.
- Learning and development: Upskilling and reskilling courses can help employees enhance specific soft skills and apply them to day-to-day practices.
- Mentorship and coaching programs: Pair employees with experienced leaders that provide guidance and support through personal examples and active feedback.
- On-the-job training: Managers can provide constructive feedback on an employee’s skill growth and provide opportunities to grow specific skills, i.e., new projects that require extensive teamwork.
Stand Out in the Age of AI: Why Soft Skills Are Your Career Superpower
According to LinkedIn’s Future of Work report, 72% of executives now place greater value on soft skills than AI-related skills. Echoing this trend, a 2024 report by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) found that over 90% of employers prioritize problem-solving, communication, and teamwork over specific technical proficiencies.
Let’s explore why soft skills have become essential career differentiators—and how early professionals can build them with intention.
What Are Soft Skills, and Why Do They Matter?
Soft skills are interpersonal and emotional capabilities that influence how individuals lead, collaborate, and communicate. These include:
- Communication
- Teamwork and collaboration
- Emotional intelligence
- Adaptability
- Time management
While often undervalued in traditional education settings, these are essential in today’s dynamic, team-based, and remote-first work environments.
Amazon Web Services CEO: I told my own teenager to develop this No. 1 ‘most important skill’ to succeed in the AI age
Critical thinking skills will be most people’s No. 1 biggest key to success in the age of AI, he added.
“You’re going to want to be creative. You’re going to want to be [good at] critical thinking. And you’re going to want to be flexible,” said Garman. “I think the ability to learn new things and adapt is going to be just as important as any particular skill that you learn.”
But AI is no match for human intellect when it comes to using critical thinking and creativity to generate new ideas and make nuanced judgments, research shows. It could be “the most valuable skill of the future” for human workers, particularly those tasked with curating and refining the output of AI tools.
Other important soft skills: Adaptability and communication
Durga highlighted two other important soft skills for both today and the future: the ability to smoothly adapt to new technologies, including AI-based tools and agents, and communicate effectively with colleagues and customers.
Communication is another skill where humans have a leg up over AI — particularly in terms of our ability to pick up on social cues, exhibiting empathy and emotional intelligence, actively listen, and provide insightful feedback, research shows.
A Look Ahead: Human and AI Collaboration
By 2030, as AI and cognitive technologies advance, the most successful professionals will be those who can integrate these technologies into human strategies. Rather than replacing humans, AI will enhance human capabilities. According to the World Economic Forum, over 50% of employees will need reskilling by 2025, with a focus on soft skills to complement technological advancements.
Durga Soft Skills Training Academy provides flexible, relevant programming designed to support professionals in building the interpersonal capabilities that employers value most.