- 6 in 10 see managers’ soft skills as reason for teams’ high performance
- 56% think leaders with only hard skills hinder business growth
- 100% want more to be done to balance hard and soft skills in promotion decisions
Managers’ skillsets are a key determining factor in their workers’ career success, according to a new study* by STEM specialists SThree.
The SThree study, “How the STEM world works”, found that 6 in 10 (58%) workers believe high performing teams are headed by leaders with stronger soft skills - such as communication, emotional intelligence and teamwork – over technical ability.
A further 56% think that promoting individuals into leadership positions based on hard skills alone can hinder business growth.
Meanwhile, nearly two thirds (63%) believe teams led by strong leaders are able to innovate more effectively, and 7 in 10 (68%) see ability to inspire and motivate as a more important leadership skill than technical expertise.
Rakesh Patel, Managing Director – UK and Rest of Europe at SThree, said:
“These findings highlight a major shift in the traditionally hard-skill-focused STEM industry, as professionals widely acknowledge the immeasurable value that soft skills can bring.
“It’s a wake-up call for businesses and managers that soft skills must be invested in from the outset of people’s careers – overlooking their importance risks both career and business stagnation.”
All respondents (100%) felt some sort of change was needed within their organisation to better balance soft skills with hard skills in promotion practices, such as mentorship programmes pairing technical experts with experienced leaders (32%), reviews and updates of promotion policies to reflect changing needs (29%), and mentoring of leaders by younger and more junior members of the workforce (26%).
Rakesh added:
“The UK’s STEM industry is full of professionals with immense talent, and so we must make sure that when employees are ready to advance, their managers have the necessary tools to support them.”
SThree surveyed more than 500 STEM professionals in the UK to unveil what the sector wants for a new era of leadership.
STEM workers are professionals in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, such as software engineers, environmental scientists, biomedical researchers and data analysts. Their expertise can be found in a range of industries, and they often drive innovation.
* Study commissioned by SThree Plc and conducted by FT Longitude. The survey of 2,597 respondents took place from July 10th – Aug 11th in five countries – the UK, US, Japan, Germany and Netherlands. 30% of respondents were at companies with more than 500 employees.
