Insights from Ragan’s Communications Benchmark Report on the competencies that guide professional comms development.
Early on in Season 2 of the subversive and dry reality-comedy show “The Rehearsal”, writer, director and star Nathan Fielder claims that most issues with commercial aviation—including an increasingly alarming accident record—can be attributed to poor communication.
The season opens with Fielder analyzing cockpit voice recordings from aviation accidents to identify a recurring issue: co-pilots often hesitate to challenge captains, even when errors are evident. He attributes this reluctance to hierarchical structures and a lack of assertiveness, placing an outsized importance on effective communication and the courage to speak up in high-pressure situations. Fielder also suggests that enhancing interpersonal communication skills among pilots could lead to safer flights.
While Fielder and the FAA didn’t mince words about the legitimacy of his methods and work, “The Rehearsal” brings attention to communication issues in high-stakes environments and offers a timely reminder in the importance of crisis training.
It’s also a reminder that soft skills can influence decision-making in high-pressure environments, and that experiential learning is a powerful approach to conditioning those soft skills.
Essential behavioral skills
The 2025 Ragan Communications Benchmark Report, which surveyed over 900 comms leaders across the world, offers a more detailed look at what those soft skills are. It found that communicators need to develop a set up professional and behavioral competencies to truly be a strategic advisor and partner to the business.
While strategic communications planning was the top skill noted as critical for success in the comms profession (74%), relationship building was a close second (61%) followed by project management (39%) and emotional intelligence (38%).
The shared weight of importance ascribed to both practical strategic planning and relational, emotionally aware communication here can’t be understated.
“These competencies can guide communicators as they target development experiences for themselves, as well as hiring and promoting team members,” the report reads.
Asked next what specializations communicators need to future-proof their roles in the evolving professional landscape, it’s no surprise that AI was top (46%) followed by crisis and issue management (41%).
But just as “The Rehearsal” suggests, our research found that these specializations will require soft skills training to be executed effectively.
“Qualitatively, a few respondents noted that what’s needed for the future is less specialization, but rather generalists with a breadth of knowledge who can dive in deep when needed,” the report continues.
“These communicators would have the people skills and understanding of stakeholder groups and would be able to operate at both a strategic and tactical level as needed.”
Innate and learned soft skills
While these findings illuminate how people skills help communicators become strategic leaders, they also raise a question: Can relationship building and emotional intelligence really be learned?
Traits like empathy, compassion and honesty are considered innate aspects of someone’s personality but they don’t guarantee effective comms skills. Harnessing these traits effectively still requires practice and guidance.
Ragan Training offers lessons on cultivating soft skills like active listening, non-verbal communication and adaptability through a mix of practical instruction, experiential prompts and case studies. Our manager comms fundamentals course unpacks the core tenets of active listening, while our course on executive presence places a focus non-verbal communication as a core leadership competency.
Our upcoming courses also include soft skill-focused lessons on healthy boundary setting, the neuroscience of negotiation, team coaching and much more.
Adaptability is the through-line of all soft skills training because it acts as a bridge empowers communicators to understand how tactics ladder up to strategy, and how to iterate on those strategies when the time calls for it.
Continued education isn’t intended to be a complete replacement for lived experience, tabletop training and hands-on mentorship, but a supplemental tool for leaders to sustain the professional growth and development of their teams between the next crisis or change.
Ragan Training publishes weekly learning modules on the hard and soft skills communicators need to drive strategic success in these unprecedented times. Sign up today!
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