The end of soft skills.

In his January 2025 article for TrainingZone, learning strategist Robin Hoyle made a bold call: it’s time to stop referring to communication, collaboration, and empathy as “soft skills.” These aren’t soft, he argues. They’re hard skills.

Hoyle makes a clear case: these are not vague, unmeasurable traits. They are behaviours: observable, teachable, and tied directly to performance. The label “soft” has long allowed organisations to overlook, undervalue, or assume these skills as “nice to have”.

Mindboost’s reflections

At Mindboost, we couldn’t agree more: so-called soft skills are not just important, they’re the lifeblood of any thriving organisation. Communication, collaboration, leadership, empathy. These are the behaviours that drive culture, performance, and change. Like Hoyle, we believe it’s time to stop treating them as optional extras and start treating them as critical capabilities that can, and should, be developed with intention.

That’s why our approach to learning design has always centred on people, not just content. We create emotionally intelligent digital learning experiences that spark reflection, prompt real action, and leave a lasting impression. Because when you connect with people emotionally, you move them, and that’s where real behaviour change begins.

But emotion alone isn’t enough. If these skills truly matter, we must also be prepared to measure them, honestly and meaningfully. That means going beyond completion rates to understand how people are actually showing up at work. Are they communicating more effectively? Building trust? Adapting to change?

Why now?

This shift has never felt more urgent. Not just because the world of work is changing, but because learning teams are being asked to prove their impact. With tighter budgets, sharper scrutiny, and growing demands for measurable outcomes, L&D can’t rely on good intentions alone.

At the same time, we operate in a world where more is possible. More data, deeper insights, and better tools to design learning that truly sticks. And while AI and automation handle many technical tasks, the complex, relational parts of work, the conversations, collaboration, and trust-building remain firmly human. These are not “nice-to-have” skills. They are not “soft”. They’re the ones holding everything together.

Some things to watch out for

Reframing soft skills as hard skills isn’t without its challenges. One potential pitfall is oversimplifying deeply complex human behaviours. Skills like empathy, communication, and leadership don’t follow a one-size-fits-all formula. They shift with context, culture, and individual differences.

Trying to pin them down too rigidly risks losing the nuance that makes these skills so valuable. What looks like effective communication in one team might not translate the same way in another. So while measurement matters, we must hold space for the complexity and human variability at the heart of these skills.

So where do we go from here?

If the learning industry embraces this reframing, the future is full of potential. It means learning that focuses on real, observable behaviours, not just abstract concepts. It means recognising communication, collaboration, and adaptability as core elements of performance, rather than personality traits. And yes, it means measuring impact but doing so with care and insight.

We need experiences that reflect how people truly learn and grow. Through emotion, reflection, feedback, encouragement, practice and autonomy. Because these skills aren’t “soft”, they’re foundational. If we want to build organisations that are more inclusive, resilient, and adaptable, we have to stop treating them as optional extras.