Last week I sat in a busy American Red Cross office, a small tablet in hand, struggling to read the tiny type on a lengthy, required questionnaire before donating blood. Within minutes, an intake nurse called my name and gestured for me to follow her. “Oh, don’t worry about the questionnaire,” she said. “I can have you do it in my office.”
As I got settled in the chair next to her desk, I commented on the unfinished questionnaire. She smiled. “Actually, it’s much easier to fill out here at my computer rather than that tiny tablet. And it’s more efficient to get you started on the rest of the process with me. Whoever dreamed up that tablet system at headquarters was crazy.”
I commended her for going against the established procedures. “Yeah, if you don’t think about a different way to do it, people are clogged at registration, and I have to wait for them,” she said. “The young kids at the front desk, they don’t think about this. They just look at their phones, while the lobby fills up with people, and I have no one to do the real intake with.”
Confidence as a soft skill
This exchange got me thinking about the soft skills that come with experience. It’s easy to name the broad categories, such as critical thinking, leadership, communication, and, in this case, problem-solving. But what do these skills look like in concrete terms? I had just witnessed this.
The Red Cross nurse took a step back from the prescribed process, assessed the situation and came up with a way to solve it that was a win-win, for the donor as well as for her. But, importantly, she also had the confidence to buck the system and do it her way.
The workplace confidence that comes with experience is a rarely touted soft skill. I’m not talking about confidence that is shallow, like braggadocio or boastfulness. True confidence comes from exposure to situations and observations about what works. This may or may not be related to age. For example, a person just out of college may very well have taken advantage of lots of opportunities AND have the self-awareness and observational skills to assess what they’ve seen. And plenty of older people are lacking in workplace confidence.
The rarity of natural self-assurance
Some lucky folks have it as a natural gift. One of the 34 strengths isolated by Clifton Strengthsfinder is called self-assurance. They describe this as an inner compass that gives certainty in decisions. Unfortunately, this natural gift is rare: Self-assurance is the least common strength of all the 34 qualities Strengthsfinder measures.
For the rest of us, we build self-assurance and confidence through accumulated successes. Which means it takes a while. Years.
Becoming aware of these soft skills we possess is helpful in two ways. People who know their strengths understand their own value, especially at work. Which develops confidence. But secondarily, you can’t help others appreciate your value under you understand your own. And sometimes, especially in a youth-favored work environment, it’s important to help others keep top-of-mind what you bring to the table.
What soft skills have you mastered, and how do these show up in your work? Take note, and don’t forget to share.