People skills the new IT 9:26am 14.05.08

A former undercover cop predicts that human skills will be the next sought-after business training. Steve Longford, now managing director of security advisory firm New Intelligence, says the ability to ‘read’ people will be incredibly valuable to businesses.

“Over the past 20 years, computer training has been the largest sector in business training. We argue that the computer training era is over,” Longford says. “What's emerging now is the need to train people in human skills. People matter again. It's coming back to people needs.”
 
Longford sets out five key areas in human skills:
1. Reading people
2. Gauging emotions
3. Gathering rapport and building trust
4. Ability to persuade
5. Decision-making