Reimagining the C-suite: Strong social skills become increasingly important

The redefinition of the American workplace in the wake of the pandemic has reached the C-suite. Industry expertise and financial savvy, while still important, no longer are enough.

“So much has changed during the past two decades that companies can no longer assume that leaders with traditional managerial pedigrees will succeed in the C-suite,” according to a Harvard Business Review report.

In part, that’s due to the range of groups and individuals executives must deal with these days — executives must be people who can work ”with constituents ranging from sovereign governments to influential NGOs; and who can rapidly and effectively apply their skills in a new company, in what may be an unfamiliar industry and often with colleagues in the C-suite whom they didn’t previously know,” the report says.

The study revealed how the role of the C-suite has changed. Previously, expertise in finance and operations was expected. But now, along with those skills, comes the need for so-called soft skills — social skills. In fact, the report’s authors write, companies searching for new executives prioritize that qualification.

Researchers analyzed data from nearly 5,000 job descriptions compiled by Russell Reynolds. They identified two factors driving the change:

Firm size and complexity. The focus on social skills is especially evident in large firms. Additionally, among firms of similar size, the demand for social skills is greater at publicly listed multinational enterprises and those that are involved in mergers and acquisitions, the report said. These patterns are consistent with the view that in larger and more complex organizations, top managers increasingly are expected to coordinate disparate and specialized knowledge, match the organization’s problems with people who can solve them and effectively orchestrate internal communication.

Information-processing technologies. Increasingly, in every part of the organization, when companies automate routine tasks, their competitiveness hinges on capabilities that computer systems simply don’t have, such as judgment, creativity and perception.

In technologically intensive firms, the report said, where automation is widespread, leaders have to align a heterogeneous workforce, respond to unexpected events and manage conflict in the decision-making process, all of which are best done by managers with strong social skills.

Given the critical role that social skills play in leadership success today, the report said companies will need to refocus on the following areas as they hire and cultivate new leaders:

Systematically building social skills. Companies today better appreciate the importance of social skills in executive performance, but they have made little progress in devising processes for evaluating a candidate’s proficiency in those skills and determining aptitude for further growth.

Finding innovative ways to assess social skills. The criteria that companies traditionally have used to size up candidates for C-suite positions — such as work history, technical qualifications and career trajectory — are of limited value in assessing social skills. Companies will need to create new tools if they are to establish an objective basis for evaluating and comparing people’s abilities in this realm, the report said.

Emphasizing social skills development at all levels. Companies that rely on outside hiring to find executives with superior social skills are playing a dangerous game, the report suggested. For one thing, competition for such people will become fierce. For another, it’s inherently risky to put an outsider — even someone carefully vetted — in a senior role. Companies thus will benefit from a “grow-your-own” approach that allows internal up-and-comers to hone and demonstrate a range of interpersonal abilities.

Assessing the collective social skills in the C-suite. Increasingly, boards of directors and company executives will need to develop and evaluate the social skills of not only individual leaders but the C-suite as a whole. Weakness or ineptitude on the part of any one person on the team will have a systems effect on the group, especially the CEO.

“In the years ahead, some companies may focus on trying to better identify and hire leaders with ‘the right stuff,’” the report concluded. “Others may pay more attention to executive training and retention. But no matter what approach they adopt, it’s clear that to succeed in an increasingly challenging business environment, they’ll have to profoundly rethink their current practices.”