Not everyone is going to be a technical genius. It can feel burdensome in today’s job search to feel like you’re falling behind on the technical side. And as businesses become more digital it can feel like the things you’re good at aren’t as valued.
I spent the first 15 years of my career in IT disliking 80% of the job and loving the other 20%. I was working in IT, but I didn’t feel like there was a clear path for me and my skills set. However, after leaning into the things I was good at and enjoyed – meetings, talking to people, bridging the gap between colleagues and most importantly listening, I started to see the value in what’s considered a “soft skill” in technology.
Embracing Human Connection in IT
IT is about fixing problems. It’s a no-brainer that you’d need technical minded employees who have a vast understanding of software and hardware. You, of course, want experts in cloud and data management on your team. But in today’s digital-driven world, just fixing the problems that arise is no longer good enough. Users expect better digital experiences and that means taking a more proactive approach to finding and fixing issues.
This is where soft skills can play a huge role. I found my niche by stepping outside of the technical viewpoint and into a human one. If we want to improve our user’s digital experiences, we need to understand our users.
Introducing surveys is a good place to start. Directly asking users how their experiences are going is the best way to understand the voice of the user, what do the users want and how we can improve on it. Tools like ServiceNow have survey capabilities built in, which offers a simple way to begin your user experience strategy. While surveys can help address the tactical issues users are experiencing, they aren’t the end-all-be-all.
Creating a Value Add
Better experiences are built from more than just problem solving. It’s vital that at every touchpoint there is a value add for the user. The goal is to make using technology as seamless as possible for the user and allowing them to work the most efficiently and effectively that they can. A recent study found that 64% of respondents said that when IT issues prevent an employee from doing their job there is a perceived impact to employee well-being. Work stress that employees’ experience should never come from the software or hardware that is there to help them do their jobs. Each member of the team should be finding opportunities to add value to their user and furthermore they should be able to understand what value they are adding – which goes back to understanding what their users need.
If this happens at every touch point than what we will see is a shift from a user’s perspective of more value being derived from their own IT departments.
Using Data to Enhance Experience
At Tokio Marine we are able to leverage a tool that measures the users “digital employee experience” called a DEX Score. It measures an employee’s ability to get things done by interacting with the IT environment in an enjoyable and effective manner. So, for example, we can obtain hard data from our users’ devices that gives us a better picture of how their experience with the device and software tools are going. Combined with a survey we can dig into those technical experiences, making sure our users have the right headphones, their screen is big enough for them or ask if there is anything else they need.
While that is crucial from a technology standpoint, it’s important not to forget that human element. Once we know their devices are working and that they have what they need from an IT standpoint, it’s important to drill down further and understand things like if the service they received was good or were they happy with their experience.
We’ve also found that language within a survey can be so powerful. We researched what language would be most impactful to our users and by changing the standard survey language to be a lot softer the user feels more positive about the experience.
We live in a digital world. While technology isn’t slowing down and the use of AI becomes more ubiquitous the need for soft skills will not go away. There will always be a need for those of us who are more comfortable having a conversating than coding. However, it will take a mindset change and a keen eye to where those skills will provide the most value. Approach every situation by asking the question, “how would I like to be treated,” and then learn how to implement that throughout the business. While the term “soft skill” may be misleading – it’s never been more valuable than it is today.
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