In general your skills fall into two categories.  First, knowledge specific skills, those that are focused on a function or subject area , for example plumbing, law, medicine or construction.

The other main skill category falls into the leadership classification.  Things like empathy, optimism, self awareness and communication.  Often called the soft skills.

Identifying Managers/Leaders

Many organizations promote to managerial and leadership roles based first on “hard knowledge” and leadership skills are often just an after thought.

Often the new managers, very capable in their knowledge areas, flounder when it comes to managing or leading.  The skill requirements are actually distinctly different.

While  capability in subject matter expertise can complement leadership skills, it will not compensate for their absense.  The results  are often frustration both for the newly appointed leader/manager  and their teams.

My advice to hiring managers/leaders is to always start with validation of the so called soft skills   (unless the role is purely technical/professional).

A qualifier about this would be no role is purely focused on knowledge skills and things like self motivation and ability to communicate clearly are always required to some extent.

Understand the Mix

The mix between leadership and knowledge specific skills can be highly variable and is very much role dependant.  Typically the more senior your role in an organization the higher the requirement for leadership focused capabilities.

If you are in a selection role for vacant or new posotions keep this in mind.  Consider carefully what the mix should be and take this into account when validating the canidates fit to the position.