Human Skills and Inclusive Leadership

As mentioned before, most women do not identify with the term entrepreneurs, they aspire to be changemakers.

Who is  a Changemaker?

A Changemaker is someone who is taking creative action to solve a social problem. This person is able to inspire others, able to adapt to the changes and become the change they want to see happen. Changemakers are inquisitive, open-minded and resourceful. These set of skills are essential to excel as a leader and entrepreneur. It is important to focus on soft skills/human skills training and development as much as you do on traditional hard skills.

Human Skills

Often called soft skills or interpersonal skills. The term soft skills was created by the U.S. Army in 1960’s. It was used to refer to the skills that do not require the use of machinery. The military included many important activities within this category, the social skills necessary to lead groups, motivate soldiers, and win wars were encompassed by skills they had not yet catalogued or fully studied (Wikipedia, 2021).

Why Human Skills matter?

Human skills are classified as a combination of personality traits, behaviors, and social attitudes that allow people to communicate effectively, collaborate, and manage conflict. Problem solving, delegating, motivating, and team building are all much easier if you have good skills. Knowing how to get along with people – and displaying a positive attitude are crucial for success. It also helps during the hiring process.

Developing human skills is a learning curve as it cannot be learned from books and blackboards. They come from continual reflection and a personal wish to improve ourselves.

Types of Soft Skills

Here is a list of what is considered essential traits:

1. Communication: Social skills, Storytelling, Listening, etc.
2. Critical thinking: Adaptability, Flexibility, Problem-solving, etc.
3. Leadership: Conflict resolution, Delegation, Managing difficult conversations, etc
4. Positive Attitude: Confidence, Friendliness, Respectfulness, etc
5. Teamwork: Collaboration, Social skills, Emotional intelligence, etc
6. Work ethic: Business ethics, Organization, Strategic planning

Inclusive Leadership

Inclusive leadership is emerging as a unique and critical capability helping organizations adapt to diverse customers, markets, ideas and talent. Inclusion is not only a nice to have, it enhances performance.

Inclusive leaders share this signature traits, based on a research conducted by HBR (Harvard Business Review) in 2019:

1. Visible commitment: They articulate authentic commitment to diversity, challenge the status quo, hold others accountable, and make diversity and inclusion a personal priority.
2. Humility: They are modest about capabilities, admit mistakes, and create the space for others to contribute.
3. Awareness of bias: They show awareness of personal blind spots, as well as flaws in the system, and work hard to ensure a meritocracy.
4. Empathy and perspective taking: understanding others deeply and leaving them feeling heard
5. Curiosity about others: They demonstrate an open mindset and deep curiosity about others, listen without judgment, and seek with empathy to understand those around them.
6. Cultural intelligence: They are attentive to others’ cultures and adapt as required.
7. Effective collaboration: They empower others, pay attention to diversity of thinking and psychological safety, and focus on team cohesion.

Interactive Activity

I’m curious to know your thoughts on soft skills and inclusive leadership. Here is a brief questionnaire where you can share your experience.

Your participation is completely voluntary! Please note that your responses will help me gather more insights about my research topic and will not be used for any other purposes.

Thank you

Thank you for exploring my exhibit. If you would like to connect and discuss my research further, please connect with me at leslie.espinosa@student.ocadu.ca