There is nothing “ soft” about a police interrogation in Line of
Duty. It’s intense and systematic . There is no shouting, verbal abuse
or threats of violence. The aim is to get the individual to talk, to
give an account that can be tested out against the evidence. Any
inconsistencies will be probed. To do this effectively the
officer must demonstrate empathy to gain the suspects confidence, must
be able to read their body language, needs to ask the right questions
and understand how their behaviour effects others.
It always seemed incongruous to me that the toughest, most
determined, steely, challenging, uncompromising , least likely to let
you get away with anything manager was considered to be demonstrating
“soft skills”. It seems totally inappropriate to me refer to these
people skills as soft skills just because those who use them most
effectively do so without raising their voice or acting all angry. An
effective negotiator, persuasive speaker or systematic interrogator
needs to have empathy and be good at reading body language, they need
to be able to establish a rapport but this does not make them or their
skills soft. So when I read an article arguing that so called ,”soft
skills” should be referred to as ,”Power skills” I was in total agreement.
One of the most influential managers I worked for had so called soft
skills by the bucket load. And they used them very effectively to
innovate, to develop partnerships, to influence and negotiate both
inside and outside the organisation.These are the actions of some one
using a range of skills to obtain and exercise power. To get their own
way. This individual was a champion of best practice and ruthless at
rooting out bad practice. If like me you had witnessed this manager
conduct an investigation into serious misconduct, been present at the
interviews, sat in on the systematic interrogation of the employee
subject of the allegations and subsequent presentation to the
disciplinary panel you would not refer to soft skills .
Don’t devalue these skills or the people who possess them by
referring to them as “soft skills” but instead recognise them for what
they are ,”power skills”.
Blair Mcpherson former Director author and blogger www.blairmcpherson.co.uk