Innovation is broadly portrayed as a positive thing, but the very act of disruption can often create as many losers as winners, especially in the immediate aftermath of the disruption where the winners gain a larger share of the pie, and the losers see dwindling returns.

At a firm level, this is usually translated into higher wages for employees at the most innovative firms, with new research from the London School of Economics showing that over 12 years, from 2004-2016, the typical worker in a non-innovative firm in the U.K. was paid around 20% less than their peers at one of the most innovative firms.

The standard thinking suggests that wage inequality tends to increase as technical progress advances, as the march of technology raises the premium on skilled labor, and dulls the negotiating power of unskilled labor as technology increasingly takes the work they used to do.  When the researchers assessed the U.K. market however, things weren’t quite so straightforward.

An innovation premium

The thing is, if this theory is true, then it should apply equally for all high-skilled workers, regardless of whether they work in an innovative firm or not.  To an extent that’s true, and the data doesn’t suggest a huge premium for highly skilled workers at innovative firms, but the situation is very different for low-skilled workers.

To begin with, relatively few low-skilled workers have jobs at the most innovative firms, with the data suggesting just 20% of the workforce at these firms is made up of low-skilled workers, versus 64% in non-innovative firms.  Those low-skilled workers who do work at innovative firms, however, do seem to benefit from an income premium throughout their working life.

When occupation level data was analyzed, it revealed that the most innovative firms placed more emphasis on tasks that required greater interaction between high and low skilled labor.  So even among low-skilled workers, there was still a requirement for the kind of soft skills that make these interactions possible.

The importance of soft skills

The researchers use the example of a maintenance worker, who is able to show considerable initiative and reliability.  These are both qualities that are hard to quantify, yet they are both very valuable in the workplace as they allow that person to complement the work done by those in more higher-skilled roles.  Indeed, often they raise the productivity of those high-skilled individuals.

The high need for a smooth running ship in these highly innovative organizations places a premium on skills that can help ensure this happens, regardless of whether one has so called high or low technical skills.  This enables low skilled workers with exceptional soft skills to achieve a wage premium in the labor market.

So what are the best soft skills for people in traditionally low-skilled professions to try and master?  The professional social networking site LinkedIn has attempted to find out.  They trawled through data from the profiles of people who had been hired in the past year to see what soft skills stood out as in demand in the labor market.  Five skills rose to the top.

The top 5 most in-demand soft skills

To coincide with the research, the company have also provided free access to the courses one can take to brush up on these skills for the remainder of January.

1. Creativity – Companies need people who can creatively approach problems and tasks across all business roles, from software engineering to HR.
   
   Learn creativity in this course—free through January 31:  Banish Your Inner Critic to Unleash Creativity with Denise Jacobs
2. Persuasion –

   Leaders and hiring managers value individuals who can explain the “why.” To advance your career, hone your ability to effectively communicate ideas and persuade your colleagues that it’s in their best interest to follow your lead.

   Learn persuasion in this course—free through January 31: Persuading Others with Dorie Clark

3. Collaboration –  High-functioning teams can accomplish more than any individual—and organisations know it. Learn how your strengths fit with your colleagues to develop the best way to reach a common goal.

   Learn collaboration in this course—free through January 31: Being an Effective Team Member with Daisy Lovelace

4. Adaptability: The only constant in life, and in business, is change. To stand out in 2020, embrace that reality, bring a positive attitude, and maintain open-minded professionalism in stressful situations.

   Learn adaptability in this course—free through January 31: Managing Stress for Positive Change with Heid Hanna

5. Emotional Intelligence: Emotional intelligence is the ability to perceive, evaluate, and respond to your own emotions and the emotions of others. New to the top most in-demand skills list this year, the need for emotional intelligence underscores the importance of how we respond to and interact with our colleagues.

   Learn emotional intelligence in this course—free through January 31: Developing Your Emotional Intelligence with Gemma Leigh Roberts

It’s interesting to compare the results from LinkedIn with those from e-learning company Udemy, who produced their own list of most desirable soft-skills last year.  Interestingly, the only skill that both lists have in common is emotional intelligence, with areas such as time management and stress management noticeably absent from the LinkedIn list.  As Udemy also provide courses on each area, their top skills list is reproduced below.

1. Conflict management – Conflict management is perhaps an unlikely skill to come out on top, but the Udemy team highlight how complex the modern workplace is. They often contain multiple generations, various technologies, different nationaities and cultures, and of course an ever changing marketplace. This places a huge range of priorities, working styles and communication preferences into the workplace, which can result in conflict. Indeed, data suggests that the typical worker spends nearly three hours every week dealing with some kind of conflict.  Dealing with Conflict at Work: Real World Strategies & Tools is the Udemy course to help you develop this skill.
2. Time management – This is perhaps less surprising, especially given the complexity of modern working life.  Being able to manage your time effectively in the face of so many competing demands is vital.  Productivity and Time Management for the Overwhelmed is th Udemy course for this.
3. Stress management – Being able to cope with stress is something I’ve touched upon a few times in the past year or so, as the mental health of employees has become an ever greater focus.  The fallout of excess stress levels is said to cost up to $190 billion a year, so it’s vital that organizations handle it better.  Stress Management: 40+ easy ways to deal with stress is the Udemy offering on this.
4. Communication skills – This is perhaps not that surprising as written and verbal communication is now such a big part of modern work.  It is made even more so with the huge diversity in the modern workforce.  Udemy offer a range of courses in this area, including 7 Scientifically Proven Steps to Increase Your Influence, Cross-Cultural Communication: How To Flex Your Style, Life Progression Project,  Acumen Presents: Kim Scott on Radical Candor.
5. Company culture – The 5th skill is more for HR managers to consider than front line staff, but revolves around the importance of building the right culture at the company.  This has been shown by numerous studies to be hugely important to company success, and Building a Culture of Freedom & Responsibility is Udemy’s course to help you do just that.
6. Customer service – Whilst this skill obviously has the biggest value for those in direct, customer-facing roles, in reality most of us have customers of some sort, whether internally or with suppliers.  It’s probably a skill we can all brush up on therefore, although Udemy’s 5 Essential Soft Skills for Every Customer-Facing Team course is clearly aimed at those on the front line.
7. Emotional intelligence – Now this is something of a surprise, as emotional intelligence is something that has cropped up in a huge number of studies in recent years, so I’m surprised to see it as low as 7th in this ranking.  This could be due to the difficulty in providing a course to teach it of course, but for those who wish to try, Udemy offer a 21 Day Crash Course in Emotional Intelligence.
8. Personal productivity – Being able to get the most from your working day is crucial given the growing demands placed upon us.  Udemy’s Modern Productivity: Superhuman Focus in a Distracted World course provides a clear focus on focus, and helps us to block out the numerous distractions vying for our attention.
9. Storytelling – This is perhaps a less heralded skill, but I’ve worked with numerous technical teams, and their ability to communicate what they do to lay audiences is vital for digital transformation to occur, so storytelling is perhaps an underrated skill to possess.  Storytelling for Business is the course offered by Udemy to help.
10. Change management – The final skill in the list revolves around change, which numerous studies have shown is ever-present, yet equally often flunked.  Being able to change effectively is therefore a skill that will rarely go out of demand.  The Ultimate Disruption Playbook is Udemy’s offering to assist you.

There has been no shortage of concern about the plight of low-skilled workers in the face of growing economic and technological threats to their livelihood.  The LSE analysis suggests that soft skills could be a great way to stand out from the pack and ensure you continue to thrive, even if your technical skills are not in high demand.  Hopefully between the LinkedIn and Udemy lists you will have a degree of direction into the areas that you should focus on.