It is frequently noticed that soft skills training is being kicked into second place behind hard skills, and often this is simply because of the difficulties facing managers in terms of assessing the impact of soft skills training. But just because soft skills are a little harder to deal with when it comes to assessing the impact any training has on the business as a whole and its bottom line in particular, this doesn’t mean that soft skills training should be relegated to second place behind qualifications and hard skills which come with university seals.
Our communication skills courses demonstrate the range of departments within a business that need to ensure effective communication, yet this is a skill never covered within university courses, and rarely offered support within the work sector unless specific soft skills training is outsourced. Soft skills can be said to cover interpersonal skills such as confidence, assertiveness, discipline, empathy, teamwork, leadership, motivation and such like. We offer courses in all these areas, and many businesses have found that the art of negotiation has proved to be highly effective in encouraging employees to engage, rather than take a passive approach to business communications. Have a look at our business skills and negotiation courses.
These skills can easily be overlooked or ignored, with the assumption that if one or two people lack in certain departments, they’ll be supported by those who do have strong interpersonal skills, and that everyone is likely to have at least one area of interpersonal skill in which they shine. However, this is where the issues lie – with the assessment of any ROI from soft skills training and the assumption that any team can be made to work even if the interpersonal skills are unbalanced and uncoordinated. Think of a boat crossing a large lake. At least a couple of people will need to row, someone will need to navigate and someone will need to steer and coordinate the rowers. This is a simple team, and unless the crews are happy remaining in the middle of the lake, they’ll need to work together.
If they don’t work together, they won’t get very far, or at least, they won’t get there as quickly. In such a situation the effectiveness of soft skills training is likely to be directed at how quickly and how efficiently they get to the shoreline. This is the crucial factor in assessing soft skills training ROI: set needs criteria before any training is booked, and then use those needs criteria as the basis for on-going assessment. At Speak-First.com we offer a range of support opportunities for managers to get to grips with this idea of identifying needs criteria and assessment criteria.
As far as the concept of group diversity compensating for a low level of soft skills amongst some members is concerned, no team will ever work if a rower has to support the navigator, or the navigator has to sit with the rower instead of looking at the map and compass. Soft skills training must be suited to the needs of the business every bit as much as being suited to the needs of those individuals within the business.
As far as the concept of group diversity compensating for a low level of soft skills amongst some members is concerned, no team will ever work if a rower has to support the navigator, or the navigator has to sit with the rower instead of looking at the map and compass. Soft skills training must be suited to the needs of the business every bit as much as being suited to the needs of those individuals within the business. For more information please visit http://www.speak-first.com/.
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