There’s nothing soft about “soft” skills. At Mentorloop we prefer “human skills”, or even just “skills”. In a remote, online world, essential human skills like communication, negotiation, creativity, and critical thinking are at a premium, especially for those early on in their careers. And these skills can’t just be learned from a manual – they must be practiced.
This recent article in the AFR highlights that the workplace of 2025 will focus on in-demand skills that artificial intelligence (AI) simply cannot replicate. Often referred to as soft skills, they are vital for successfully navigating a rapidly changing professional environment. As technology continues to advance, these irreplaceable skills only become more imperative.
Additionally, when it comes to the fight for top talent, in the age of automation, the engaged organization wins. The next era of success will not be won by bits and bytes alone, it will be the soft skills within an organisation that help it attract, inspire and connect the brightest minds that drive success.
Knowing this, the big question becomes: “What is the most effective way to acquire and refine these skills?” The answer isn’t conventional training, but lies in social learning—particularly mentoring. Let’s explore why.
Why Human Skills Are the Most In Demand Skills
As AI augments or replaces many technical tasks, employers are increasingly seeking employees with strengths in empathy, adaptability, effective communication, and self-awareness. Those with excellent problem solving and critical thinking skills are also in demand, as are those who have a growth mindset.
While AI is adept at processing data, automating repetitive tasks, and executing predefined algorithms, it fundamentally lacks emotional intelligence, creativity, and ethical reasoning—qualities that only humans can provide. As a result, while AI enhances efficiency, it cannot fully replace the human element in many crucial aspects of work.
As workplaces become more dispersed, collaboration becomes heavily dependent on how well team members communicate. And as organizations seek to innovate, they simply cannot rely on AI to do their problem solving and critical thinking for them. The advancements we’re seeing in AI are marvelous, but it’s still a way off the genius of human creativity and connection.
Engaging with customers and partners also relies on human skills. Building trust, understanding everyone’s needs, and maintaining loyalty are all things that require an authentic human touch. These skills are especially crucial at the top. Leaders now need to be more skilled at inspiring and guiding teams through uncertainty and change, which relies heavily on emotional intelligence, self-awareness, and a growth mindset.
Soft skills are not only critical for business success but also for fostering resilience and adaptability within teams. And yes, these skills have always been important, but now the robots are coming. As AI gets increasingly adept at handling technical tasks, human skills or soft skills remain irreplaceable
Emerging Priorities: Personal Wellbeing, Sustainability, Ethics
The increased premium placed on human skills reflects the evolving workplace, consumer expectations, and societal landscape.
Pacing to Avoid Burnout
Those who are good at pacing are able to maintain a steady, productive, and sustainable work rhythm to avoid burnout. It means knowing how to best prioritize tasks, set clear boundaries, and recognize the need for breaks to maintain mental and physical wellbeing.
This skill has gained importance as work-life boundaries blur in the modern hybrid work environment. Mastering pacing ensures that professionals can deliver consistent results over the long term without succumbing to the exhaustion of an “always-on” culture.
Planetary Compassion
Having planetary compassion means understanding the environmental and societal impact of work and acting responsibly.
With younger generations increasingly prioritizing ethical and sustainable practices, both as employees and consumers, organizations need to adapt. And with new regulations that require large companies to include climate-related information in their annual reports, companies that fail to demonstrate planetary compassion not only risk losing top talent and alienating purpose-driven customers, they risk falling short on paper as well.
Leaders equipped with this skill are better positioned to align business strategies with environmental goals, ensuring long-term success while contributing positively to global challenges such as climate change and social equity.
Ethical AI
Ethical AI use involves ensuring fairness, transparency, and accountability in how AI tools are developed and applied. This includes avoiding bias in algorithms, safeguarding data privacy, and ensuring AI outputs align with societal and organizational values.
Experimenting with AI tools to enhance efficiency while adhering to these ethical standards is a key competency for 2025, as companies increasingly seek professionals who can navigate the complex intersection of technology and ethics—an area that will only grow in importance in 2025 and beyond.
Mentoring: The Best Way to Learn In Demand Skills
Social learning—especially through mentoring—is the most effective way to develop the critical skills employers demand.
While online courses and resources can introduce concepts, soft skills can only be honed with practice – and mentoring is unmatched in helping individuals master these and gain tacit knowledge. Podcasts, books, and courses can share theory and examples (which are all useful) but only mentoring can give guidance that is personalized to an individual’s circumstance or experience and in a way that is immediately applicable in their world.
Mentoring as a Strategic Advantage
For companies, mentoring helps develop the human-centric skills needed to drive innovation, resilience, and ethical leadership. For individuals, mentoring is an opportunity to thrive in a world where human skills are the ultimate differentiators.
Mentoring, especially when in it’s formalised, structured form, has a plethora of benefits for the mentees, mentors, program coordinators, organizations, and even society! Truly, everyone wins here.
Learn more about the benefits of mentoring programs
By investing in mentoring, we can prepare for the challenges of 2025 while creating more compassionate, sustainable, and effective workplaces.
Explore how easily you can start a mentoring program to develop your teams’ competence in the most in demand skills for 2025 and beyond—book a demo with one of our mentoring experts today!
