The concept of ‘soft skills’ is something I only recently discovered, and, to be fully transparent, had to research before writing this article.
As I did the research, less-than-favorable work experiences from my past came into the forefront of my mind, and I realized just how beneficial it would have been for me if soft skills training had been available when I was still in the workforce.
I then considered the fine line I’d be walking when writing this piece; the line between asking employers to accommodate the needs of their neurodivergent employees through classes that, essentially, teach neurotypical (non-autistic) professional skills, and the critical importance of allowing neurodivergent employees to flourish in the workplace as their true selves.
This is where compromise comes in. Ultimately, I think soft skills training could benefit all employees, not just neurodivergent ones, and I’ll explain why.
What Are Soft Skills?
Soft skills are defined by how well a person works with others. How they communicate, collaborate, adapt to change, and solve problems. In other words, the oft-dreaded ‘people skills’ that send many autistic, anxious, and introverted people running for the proverbial hills.
Soft Skills Are Often a Barrier to Autistic Job-Seekers
When it comes to soft skills versus technical skills, employers say that the former is just as important if not more important than the latter.
The reason this expectation is often a barrier to autistic job seekers is that even if we excel at the technical aspects of our job (and receive praise and commendations for them), we can still be reprimanded, demoted, and even fired for not adhering to typical models of professional communication.
The inability to adhere to these typical models of communication is not a result of personal choice, laziness, rudeness, or insubordination, it is down to a difference in brain wiring.
Let’s take a closer look at five common soft skills that are highly sought-after in the workplace, and discuss why each could present a barrier to your autistic or ADHD employees.
- Teamwork
Teamwork is defined as the ability to work cooperatively, contributing equal effort to the successful completion of a project, meeting, or other collaborative effort. Someone skilled in teamwork is said to be communicative, responsible, and an active listener.
Let’s look at the term ‘active listener’ a bit more closely. Active listening can look very different from one neurotype to the other.
For example, a neurotypical employee may see active listening as giving and maintaining eye contact, listening without interruption, and responding to non-verbal cues throughout the conversation.
An autistic employee, by contrast, may practice active listening by looking away from the face (to be better able to concentrate on the words and their literal message) asking clarifying questions, and delegating tasks based on pattern recognition and the individual skill set of each team member (heedless of social or professional status within the group).
Both are practicing teamwork the way their neurology naturally dictates, but the autistic way may be frustrating and even offensive to the neurotypical if the latter is unaware of how these differences manifest in everyday interactions.
- Problem-solving
Problem-solving is defined as sifting through the chaos of a challenging situation to understand its underlying cause and use critical thinking skills to come up with an effective resolution.
Autistic people often excel at problem-solving due to our heightened pattern-recognition skills and ability to ‘think outside the box’.
However, as our brains move through each possible outcome, we may discover multiple potential pitfalls and express them immediately, inadvertently appearing too blunt and too negative for our suggestions to be used proactively.
This can have us feeling like we’re chasing our tails, so to speak; spinning around in circular conversations where facts are treated like accusations instead of attempts to fix and prevent problems.
- Communication
Communication is defined as effectively communicating needs and meaning in both verbal and written form, emotional intelligence, active listening, and understanding the perspectives of others, as well as correctly giving and responding to non-verbal cues such as body language and tone of voice.
Here’s the problem: Half of these skills are inaccessible to your autistic employees!
To use myself as an example, I’m good at communicating my needs and meaning through the written word, and I’m fairly skilled at doing this verbally.
However, as an autistic person, the way I practice active listening looks very different from how non-autistic people do it, and giving and responding to non-verbal cues such as body language and tone of voice are nearly impossible because my brain does not pick up on them.
- Adaptability
The ability to transition quickly and easily from one task to another, even on short notice, is considered the hallmark of adaptability, and a highly sought-after soft skill in the workplace.
However, like other soft skills, adaptability can be inaccessible to many autistic job-seekers.
Unlike our neurotypical counterparts, our brains function best when we are deeply focused on one task at a time, and a sudden demand on us to snap all of that deep-rooted attention back and move it elsewhere in a matter of moments can cause anxiety, confusion, and sensory overwhelm.
- Critical Thinking
Like problem-solving, critical thinking is one of the soft skills many autistic people have an advantage in since critical thinking is defined as the ability to analyze information to make informed decisions.
However, there can be challenges for autistic people when it comes to critical thinking, and they include:
Becoming so bogged down in the details that it interferes with time management and leads to missed deadlines.
Delivering the information gleaned by analysis in a monologue that is received as judgmental by the neurotypical listener.
The Advantages of Company-Wide Soft Skills Training
Since soft skills are a prerequisite for so many jobs yet they remain inaccessible to large pockets of the population, I recommend offering this training as a part of your onboarding package.
Not only does it keep everyone in your company on the same page in knowing what’s expected of them, it also levels the playing field for neurodivergent people who are not comfortable disclosing their differences or those who are not aware they are neurodivergent.
Furthermore, since many autistic people are explicit learners, meaning they learn best when they are specifically told what’s expected of them rather than ‘picking it up’ from their environment, soft skills training can help fill in gaps they never knew existed.
The Takeaway
It’s important to remember that neurodivergent employees should not be expected to bear the burden of communication alone. Non-autistic employers and co-workers should also work to understand differences in neurology and communication styles so they can meet their autistic counterparts halfway.
As I mentioned above, having soft skills training would have changed the trajectory of my working life. Knowing what they were and how to use them to my advantage while still retaining and celebrating my authentic self, would have given me the psychological safety and employment stability that I’d love to see be available for the next generation of neurodivergent workers as a matter of course.
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