Soft Skills Training
Soft skills training traditionally referred to training on areas like communication, leadership, influencing and other interpersonal skills but in recent years it has grown to include patience, positive attitude, the emotional quotient and other such skills within its expertise. Technical skills or hard skills are core to the role that an employee plays in the organization, but soft skills are required to use these hard skills effectively and enable the employee to align their professional behavior to the organization. Research shows that are responsible for 90 percent of what empowers people to climb the career ladder.
The Growing Scope of Soft Skills Training
Soft skills are pertinent since we rarely work alone and how we collaborate; interact with those we work with heavily influences, how successful and effective we are at putting our hard to practice. Soft skills development needs feedback from real scenarios and it is a gradual process, but it can be sped up using a Soft training program.
Habits drive an individual’s soft skills; hence, a learning mindset and constant practice is essential to allow the program to be effective. Some of the included in the training are art of presentation, collaboration, confidence, conflict management, empathy and emotional intelligence, influence, loyalty, patience, perseverance, positive attitude, respect for others, sense of humor and sense of responsibility.
Benefits of Soft Skills in Organizational Integration
Many individuals who are technically adept while joining an organization need basic skills training to understand and practice the norms in the company. It helps them settle into the organization quicker and establish interpersonal relations at work that help them work more effectively at the workplace. Based on the business requirements of the organization, the skills training requirement may change.
Customizing Soft Skills Training to Business Needs
A training need analysis will spot the specific soft skill gaps that exits and then an action plan can be devised which includes a training program and a follow up strategy to ensure the practice of the skills learnt. Let us consider an example of an investment banking firm. Here employees in the forefront not only need to be able to be charismatic enough to bring in new clients but also need to have the interpersonal savvy to maintain good relations with the client to build trust and loyalty with the firm.
Case Study: Investment Banking Firm
In these roles, some employees may be extremely good at scoping new clients and this is the primary requirement of the job role but they may not be as effective in maintaining relations with these clients and this is where customized skills training with a focus on client relations will contribute to employee effectiveness and productivity. In this case, the skills program would consist of sessions on effective communication, influence, patience, perseverance and can also include supporting concepts like emotional intelligence, time management that would aid the individuals’ holistic interpersonal skills.
The Impact of Soft Skills on Career and Organizational Growth
Soft skills will enable independent working adults to establish and maintain their networks. It will also allow organizations to align their employees to the best practices in the industry and keep their culture moving forward with consistent growth.
