This Is Why Adding Durable Skills Should Be Your Team’s Top Priority
February 5, 2025
February 5th, 2024 – By Rebecca Taylor, CCO and Co-founder of SkillCycle
Durable skills are capabilities that help employees succeed, regardless of how industries or technologies evolve. Foundational strengths like adaptability, communication, and problem-solving aren’t secondary priorities; they are essential as workplaces change.
Expanding your team’s long-term capabilities involves handling today’s challenges and building a workforce ready for the future. These skills aren’t as basic as they seem. According to the HR resource Training Industry, some people may not yet have a growth mindset regarding durable skills — but those who do reap great rewards.
Nurturing these long-lasting employee skills is one of the best ways to foster innovation, boost resilience, and drive lasting success.
Let’s look at why durable skills are worth more attention than they’re getting and explore:
Durable skills, often called human or soft skills, encompass critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and emotional intelligence. Employees with strong human skills bring flexibility and problem-solving capabilities that allow organizations to pivot quickly and meet new demands.
These types of professional skills highlight the various traits you need to collaborate with others and succeed in the workplace, such as:
Unlike technical skills, which may become obsolete with changing tools or technologies, durable skills remain relevant across roles and industries. They’re the cornerstone of effective workplace teamwork, leadership, and adaptability. They’ll serve your employees and your organization well today and in the future, no matter how your business changes.
For example, an employee adept at collaboration can bridge departmental silos, enhancing communication and efficiency. Similarly, a team member with strong cognitive flexibility can easily navigate complex situations, finding innovative solutions to unexpected challenges.
When hiring and developing employees, applicants should undergo more than a cursory skills assessment. The most valuable strengths desired to build a capable workforce will help teams adapt to change and drive meaningful results.
We’re in an era in which automation and AI are transforming how most organizations conduct their businesses. According to McKinsey, as generative AI leads to the rapid reshaping and creation of roles, durable skills will be a longer-lasting currency.
The need for manual labor (and the required skills for this type of work) will decrease. However, the need for durable skills, such as the ability to collaborate (especially remotely) and solve problems, is rising.
Why? These skills help people succeed in nearly any job. Let’s say you hire a graphic designer who will need a solid set of technical skills. At the same time, they will also need to be able to communicate clearly and effectively. If they run behind on a project and don’t let stakeholders know, they’ll lose trust in your organization’s ability to deliver a successful outcome.
As automation takes over repetitive tasks, employees need competencies that machines can’t replicate, such as empathy, communication, and creative problem-solving. These capabilities enable teams to navigate ambiguity, foster innovation, and maintain strong connections in hybrid or remote environments.
Most importantly, durable skills directly impact business outcomes. Teams with strong foundations in communication and collaboration are more likely to solve problems effectively and spark innovation.
Conversely, a lack of soft skills often leads to high turnover and disengagement, which erodes company performance. Investing in these critical abilities creates a resilient workforce, reduces hiring costs, and strengthens employee loyalty.
Building soft skills within your teams starts with intentional strategies and actionable steps to create a continuous learning culture.
Here are three ideas you can try to foster these competencies in your employees:
1) Create opportunities for practical skill-building
Durable skills develop through practice and application, not theory alone. Provide employees with opportunities to apply their growing proficiency in low-stakes environments before scaling to higher-pressure situations.
For example, organize team challenges or role-playing exercises to simulate scenarios requiring negotiation, problem-solving, or collaboration. These exercises build confidence and create a safe space for experimentation and learning.
2) Invest in coaching and mentorship
Coaching and mentorship programs are powerful tools for developing employee skills. Pair employees with experienced mentors who can model behaviors like adaptability, empathy, and effective communication.
Encourage regular one-on-one coaching sessions to provide personalized feedback and set development goals. This structured guidance helps employees internalize these capabilities and apply them consistently in their roles.
3) Integrate skill development into everyday workflows
Embedding durable skills into day-to-day activities reinforces their importance. Encourage team members to practice active listening during meetings, collaborate across departments on projects, or take initiative in solving cross-functional challenges.
Leaders should model these behaviors by demonstrating emotional intelligence, embracing ambiguity, and offering constructive feedback. This integration makes skill-building a natural part of your team’s work environment rather than an isolated activity.
Prioritizing these approaches will help you create a stronger, more adaptable workforce and better equip it to meet evolving business demands.
Building professional skills in your employees requires intentionality and a long-term vision, especially those intended to hold value over the long term. You can start by incorporating these competency and skills assessments into hiring practices and performance reviews.
For example, interview questions designed to evaluate problem-solving or adaptability can help identify candidates with these traits. Similarly, performance evaluations prioritizing communication, teamwork, and leadership help reinforce the value of durable skills within your organization.
Upskilling programs are another effective strategy. Training in areas like emotional intelligence, critical thinking, and collaboration ensures that employees continue to grow and evolve alongside the organization. When you focus on durable skills, you create a culture of continuous learning that benefits both individuals and the company.
Finally, leaders must champion durable skills by modeling them in their own behavior. This demonstrates their importance and encourages employees to follow suit. When leaders invest in building these capabilities, they foster a workplace culture that values growth, adaptability, and innovation.
Nurturing durable skills in your teams can drive long-term organizational value, foster innovation, and enhance employee engagement. Investing in these capabilities through coaching, upskilling, or integrating them into your hiring practices equips your teams to tackle whatever the future holds. The result? A workforce that isn’t just prepared for change but ready to succeed in it.
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