A topic that has gained a lot of attention in higher education circles lately is the importance of so-called “soft” skills.
Students who graduate from college need to be well versed in their field of study, to be sure, but they also need to be good communicators, possess a degree of emotional intelligence that helps them interact well and collaborate with others, and be agile to adapt to changing situations. The current situation around COVID-19 illustrates why these skills are so essential.
We have all seen examples of clear, concise communication, and frantic, rambling communication regarding COVID-19 in the last few weeks. When we teach communication skills, both oral and written, we ask students to consider not just what they want to say, but to whom they need to say it. Who is the audience? What information does that audience need? What is the best methods to communicate a particular message to a particular audience? Despite my personal fondness for email, for example, I realize there may be times when a face-to-face conversation or a phone call will work better.
I often hear people complain about grammar and punctuation issues in writing. We’ve seen the examples as to why punctuation is so important: the difference between “Let’s eat grandma” and “Let’s eat, grandma” is dramatic if we take punctuation seriously!
Most writing teachers, especially at the college level, will tell you that these technical bits are the last thing we look at when helping students improve their writing. We start with the main argument (is it clear and logical?), and then we move on to organization of ideas and quality of expression. If the writer is unclear on what they wish to say, the organization, grammar, and everything else will often follow suit.
In addition to communicating well, students also get opportunities to practice empathy and social skills needed to succeed in the world. Historically, college students have hated group work! Some are just used to working independently where they control the pace and the level of detail in a project. Others have too often been put in a position of carrying their groupmates through a project by “doing all the work.” Certainly, we see examples of this in the workplace as well. However, if we look at athletic teams, we see how even folks who may not have anything in common off the field find a way to work together as a unit when they share a common goal.
More and more I am seeing students begrudgingly accept the reality of group work and the understanding that they need to learn these skills. Teams are like micro-ecosystems in which each individual plays an important part in the survival of the entire community. We see this scenario play out time and time again.
In our current health crisis, the doctors can treat the illness, but we need the epidemiologists to tell us how it spreads, and policy experts to take that knowledge and put guidelines in place. Everyone has their role, especially when a situation is changing rapidly.
And the rapidly developing situation of COVID-19 demonstrates why nimbleness is so crucially important. Adaptive leadership skills help us roll with the punches and react to a constantly changing environment. As UH temporarily places courses online, our students are going to be challenged in the coming weeks to be adaptive, to trust in their abilities, and pick themselves up if they stumble.
We will be there to help them because college is the time when they get to test drive these skills. The cliché “Do not waste a crisis” is instructive here. We can use this moment as an opportunity to teach this skill of adaptability as we try to model it ourselves.
Creativity, adaptability, understanding, communication, resilience, confidence, collaboration — these undergird everything we do as we navigate the world. Yes, we need to ensure that our students know their course content, but they also need to acquire these survival skills to succeed and so do our institutions and leaders. COVID-19 provides a learning experience for us all.
Bonnie D. Irwin is chancellor of the University of Hawaii at Hilo.
