You better watch out, you better not cry, because Santa Claus is actively listening when you do! What does it take to get around the world in one night? To run a workshop of elves in the North Pole, and master a herd of enchanted reindeer? We asked Santa Claus to take the HiringBranch assessment, and it turns out it’s not just magic that makes this holiday happen, it’s a combination of serious soft skills.
A Living Legend and a Natural-born Leader
If there’s one soft skill that shines above all the rest within Mr. Kringle, it’s leadership! Santa Claus is in charge of the largest gift operation in the whole world, and it all comes to life seamlessly thanks to his undeniable leadership skills.
Leadership is the ability to manage and/or help people in a group and motivate them towards a common goal. Dr. Alan Zimmerman, CSP, says:
“Good leaders like Santa create an environment that brings out the best in others. And those behaviors are almost entirely related to their soft skills or people skills… Santa is known for being a jolly old fellow. So everyone is glad to have him around. But Santa’s no pushover either. He’s close enough to his people to know who’s naughty and nice. That’s the kind of tone every leader should set.”
Santa Claus is a natural leader with a vision for what needs to be done and a passion for his craft that inspires his diverse team. He directs a workshop of devoted elves, trains a herd of magical reindeer, and coordinates with families around the world leading up to the Christmas holiday.
Running a Workshop Means Mastering Multitasking
When it comes to getting multiple, competing projects completed on tight deadlines, Santa sets the bar high. He has an exceptional ability to handle multiple tasks at once, all of which are necessary to ensure Christmas goes off without a hitch.
Multitasking is defined as “putting your focus on more than one task at once, whether at exactly the same time or through repeatedly switching back and forth between tasks.” For nearly every day leading up to Christmas throughout the year, Santa Claus has to switch back and forth between his gift list and the toy workshop, while also project managing all his personnel, monitoring supplies, keeping his sleigh tuned up, feeding the reindeer and much more. Imagine just stocking the fire and shovelling snow year-round in the North Pole! Yet, Kris Kringle makes multitasking look easy.
Hearing From Children Everywhere Requires Active Listening
With millions of children who want to talk to Santa each year, he has to have a superior ability for active listening. Santa Claus lends an ear to everyone, makes sure he gets each present right, and takes the time to ask questions when needed.
Active listening isn’t just about hearing the person in front of you, it’s also about attuning to that person’s feelings, reading their body language, and building the active, non-competitive conversation into a two-way interaction, explains Harvard Business Review. Motivational speaker, Harry Flaris, unpacks Santa’s active listening skills in the following excerpt from LinkedIn:
“Santa asks a great deal of open ended questions and intently listens for the answers to correctly fulfill the wants and needs of every person. Santa does not check his smartphone while interacting with people whether in person or remote, as he wants to give them his full attention to make sure they know he truly values and understands their desires of what they believe will make life a bit easier.”
Asking questions is a great way to demonstrate active listening. Flaris takes it one step further, articulating how Santa asks open ended questions, creating that true two-way interaction with everyone he speaks to.
Bringing Joy to the Hearts of People Requires Empathy
Empathy is “the ability to sense other people’s emotions, coupled with the ability to imagine what someone else might be thinking or feeling,” says Berkely University’s Greater Good Science Center. Santa Claus makes us all feel like he understands our hopes and dreams and genuinely cares.
In leading with empathy, Santa Claus creates a work culture everyone wants to be part of. EVP and Global Chief Ethics Officer for the U.S. Bank, Katie Lawler says on LinkedIn “Empathy usually isn’t considered a core competency when it comes to performance management for leaders, but I think it should be. When we help leaders cultivate and practice empathy, we’re helping our organizations strengthen their ethical cultures.”
Santa has so much of this soft skill that one year he even went bald to empathize with sick kids undergoing cancer treatment. Santa is so good at feeling the feelings of others and responding to them with acts of kindness and generosity, that it can inspire a ripple of additional good deeds in others. It's reported that just looking at images of Christmas can cause people to feel happier!
Putting a Bow on Santa’s Soft Skills
Tidings of comfort and joy, are just some of the good feelings Santa Claus brings as he exudes an ideal combination of soft skills. From leadership to active listening, multi-tasking, and empathy, Santa Claus doesn’t just have these soft skills, he has mastered them! So whether you believe in the magic of the season or not, everyone can take a page from Santa’s book of soft skills.
Santa’s Bonus Soft Skills List
We’re making a list, and we’re checking it twice! We may have missed a few, so here are some bonus soft skills that Santa Claus has been known to possess:
- Storytelling
- Integrity
- Loyalty
- Positive language
- Problem-solving
- Building rapport
- Communication
- Teamwork
Are there any soft skills you would add to the list? Reach out and let us know!
Image Credits
Feature Image: Unsplash/Tim Mossholder
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