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I’ve always been an advocate for focusing on non-technical skills as an essential quality when it comes to hiring employees. As it turns out, these kinds of skills (often called “soft skills”) are also what the tech giant Google values most in the recruitment process.

In a fascinating Washington Post article, this is outlined in some detail. Quoting the article:

The seven top characteristics of success at Google are all soft skills: being a good coach; communicating and listening well; possessing insights into others (including others different values and points of view); having empathy toward and being supportive of one’s colleagues; being a good critical thinker and problem solver; and being able to make connections across complex ideas.Those traits sound more like what one gains as an English or theater major than as a programmer.

Yes, exactly! And aren’t those just the kinds of employees that tend to work for arts organizations? So, if you’re hiring the same way as Google (notoriously one of the hardest Corporations to get a job at), then the secret to managerial success appears not to be the people alone, but the leadership of them.

It’s clear to me that those organizations whose leadership prizes communication, openness, transparency, coaching, and empathy amongst employees (and across departments) tend to be more successful in the long run. We see this every day across our industry, and I hope that as we move through 2018, more organizations will place an increased value on these fundamentals qualities. 

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