The Enduring Power of Durable Skills in the Workplace
While technical skills and work experience open the door to new opportunities, it's your ability to communicate and collaborate that can lead to success
As technology, artificial intelligence, and changing expectations continue to rapidly impact the workplace, durable skills remain timeless qualities.
While technical and work-related experience can open doors to new positions or promotions, your ability to communicate, collaborate, adapt, and lead can determine how far you go in your career. These skills aren’t just nice to have — they are essential for success.
The Rise of Human-Centered Skills in a Tech-Driven World
While education and training programs from degrees to certificates focus more heavily on hard skills, businesses and organizations still seek candidates with additional abilities. According to a Lightcast report, eight of the top 10 most requested skills across all industries are now soft skills.
“Durable skills include a combination of how you use what you know,” it explains, “skills like critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity — as well as character skills like fortitude, growth mindset, and leadership.”
The report notes that 76% of all job postings now ask for at least one durable skill, with almost half requesting three or more (an increase of 13% since 2021). It is clear that human-centered skills are increasingly important in a job market where tech skills evolve quickly, and AI begins to take on routine tasks.
"While AI excels at automating data-driven and repetitive tasks, it fundamentally lacks the human-centric skills that are critical for complex problem-solving and innovation. AI can process vast datasets to identify patterns and generate solutions, but it can't lead a team, negotiate a complex deal, or empathize with a client's needs," says Tim Brown, the academic program director for artificial intelligence at Georgia Tech.
The World Economic Forum echoes Brown's prediction, noting that in the next five years almost 40% of core worker skills will change — anticipating emphases on problem-solving, creativity, and adaptability.
The Potential Impact on Your Career
For individuals seeking advancement in their careers, the payoff for cultivating strong durable skills is great. Research shows that 85% of job success comes from people skills, proving that for those interested in moving into managerial positions, their ability to lead and inspire can be just as valuable as their mastery of technical knowledge.
Employers recognize this, as well. In a recent survey of hiring professionals, more than 90% noted that soft skills are as important as hard skills when evaluating candidates for employment, with communication skills ranking as one of the most important skills an employee or leader can have.
For example, having employees and leaders who are capable communicators is central to organizational success, with 86% of employees and executives citing a lack of effective communication as a main cause of workplace failures. Alternatively, having individuals within the workplace who can ensure ideas and information flow clearly can positively affect productivity, engagement, retention, and trust across teams and businesses.
"Performing organizations in today's industry rely on stakeholder consensus and cross-functional team buy-in to deliver value," says Chris Carter, academic program director for project management at Georgia Tech. "So even if you have the most advanced technical skills, without proper influence, negotiation, and conflict resolution skills, you will not be able to build trust with those stakeholders, and thus, success will ultimately be either short-sighted or limited at best."
How do durable skills like communication look in action? For engineers, it might be an ability to explain project updates to a cross-disciplinary team. For IT professionals, it could be translating complex issues into actionable solutions. For manufacturing supervisors, they can help motivated teams to embrace new changes or safety processes on the factory floor.
"As an industrial hygienist, one of the most essential skills we need to bring to the workplace is being able to communicate complex, scientific information in a way that will be understood and well-received by both the upper management teams that will need to invest in any necessary changes and the workers, who need to be made aware of any potential exposures," says Jenny Houlyrod, the occupational health group manager for Safety, Health, Environmental Services at Georgia Tech. "The only effective way to do this is by building relationships of trust with both groups."
Durable Skills as Part of Lifetime Learning
One of the most rewarding aspects of durable skills is that everyone can learn, practice, and strengthen their abilities in these areas throughout their lifetimes and careers. There are multiple ways to gain and improve these skills, ranging from formal training and workshops to mentorship and personal research.
Soft skills often grow when learners are in environments that challenge them to collaborate or adapt. In a formal setting, this might be in the form of capstone projects or presentations, which are a key part of many of Georgia Tech’s offerings. Whether an individual is enrolling in a degree, certificate program, or a course, the importance of building communication, collaboration, and critical-thinking skills in the classroom is at the forefront of instructors' minds.
"In my class, I tailor the assignments to build this skill set by having students take information and then present how they would communicate it to various groups," Houlyrod explains. "It allows us to discuss what confounding factors might muddy the waters, and then we discuss how to overcome these challenges by enhancing our personal interactions with the different worker groups."
Ensuring these skills are part of an overall curriculum means learners leave with knowledge that will help them navigate their careers and coworkers in the real world — and the opportunity to practice and refine soft skills is invaluable. Professionals returning to education bring varied career experiences, and enrolling in a program or class creates a space to share and learn from those perspectives, gain new approaches, and apply them back on the job.
In fact, a forecast from Dell predicts that in coming years, 85% of the jobs people will hold don’t yet exist, which underscores the importance of being flexible and adaptable, especially as technology advances.
"The real power lies in the partnership: using AI as a powerful tool to augment human capabilities," says Brown. "In this new landscape, professionals who can effectively leverage AI while mastering these durable skills won't just survive; they'll lead the way."
Lifelong learning is more than keeping technical skills current. In fact, the learning cycle itself — gaining knowledge, applying it, and reflecting on it — helps make soft skills truly durable as they grow stronger with use. Continuously developing human skills allows us to connect and lead in a constantly changing world.
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