When we hear the expression soft skills we may be drawn to think about ‘being kind’ or ‘nice’ or ‘pink and fluffy’!
Or we may be more informed and recognise that usually when speaking of ‘soft skills’ managers are referring to subjects such as:
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Communication |
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Team work |
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Leadership |
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Customer care |
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Coaching |
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Presentation skills |
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Selling skills |
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Negotiating skills |
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Interview skills |
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People skills |
I read recently that 85 percent of financial success comes from people skills and only 15 percent from knowledge. So what do we mean when we talk about people skills?
I am impressed by Daniel Goleman , Richard Boyatzis and Annie Mckee for their brilliant thoughts in the book The New Leaders, and would like to offer you some quotes from the book. So here is some food for thought:
Food for thought
“The fundamental task of leaders, we argue, is to prime good feeling in those we lead. That occurs when a leader creates resonance – a reservoir of positivity that frees the best in people. At its root, then the primal job of leadership is emotional.”
“Great leadership works through emotion”
“Leaders who spread bad moods are simply bad for business – and those who pass along good moods help drive a business’s success. “ (Referring to how companies lose good employees)
“For every 1 percent in the service climate there’s a 2 percent increase in revenue”
Emotional Intelligence
The authors give their thoughts on emotional intelligence describing managers with high emotional intelligence as those who create resonance within their teams and conversely managers with low emotional intelligence creating dissonance. The discordant leader creates dissonance in the team, which they describe as an unpleasant, harsh sound in both musical and human terms and they make the link with disharmony that kills team working and success. On the other hand they describe resonance in leadership as the leader who creates harmony, people being on the same wavelength, and leadership that fosters positive emotions. You may recognise some of these situations in your team or in teams you have encountered during your business life.
The authors discuss the competencies related to emotional intelligence based around self awareness and self management describing skills and behaviour such as self control, transparency, adaptability and optimism.
Initial reactions
When designing courses to help organisations train their managers to be better ‘people managers’ I have designed bespoke courses for all of the ‘soft skills mentioned so far in this document and I have also designed courses based on what I call ‘initial reactions’ – first reaction to an employee’s request, need or behaviour that affects how they perceive the way we see and value them as people.
I usually begin with praise. I never cease to be amazed at how many managers believe that employees do not need to be praised for ‘doing their job’, when you consider that a plethora of employee surveys will tell you that employees seek praise from their employers. Perhaps it is the ‘child’ in us that creates this need. So when manager s suggest that we only praise people for doing over and above what is expected of them I do suggest an alternative formula:
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Praise the employee for doing the job well
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Reward the employee for performing over and above what is expected. |
As well as practising praise (and you may be amazed at how some people found this difficult to do) we go on to learn and practise how to respond positively to employee requests, especially when we are busy.
I recall one course where delegates were participating in a simulated factory activity and the manager was under pressure to achieve . While the pressure was on a member of staff came in to say that she had received a call from school and needed to attend to her child urgently. We replayed the manager’s reaction to this request on the video, and at the moment of request, we paused the video to observe the manager’s panic stricken face with eyes focussed on his wrist watch and finger touching the watch, giving a clear message that this was not a good time to pester him about domestic needs. On many occasions I have observed that managers give clear signals to their employees that the job is more important than the employee’s needs. You can be sure that the employee will recognise this and whatever the outcome will remember how this felt when you need his or her support.
“People will forget what you said, they will forget what you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel”
During our soft skills courses we help managers to learn how to react positively to employee requests, how to praise effectively and how to correct appropriately, making employees feel valued and treated fairly. Managers return to work and put the learning into practice immediately because – It’s easy when you know how!
Double your financial success through soft skills training
Remember that for every 1 percent in the service climate there’s a 2 percent increase in revenue. That means that for every 100 percent service climate there’s a 200 percent increase in revenue
Now is a good time to train your managers to get that extra 100 percent positive service climate and gain that extra 200 percent financial success. If you multiply that by every employee then start thinking’ increased profit’
Click here to increase your profit through soft skills training
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How good are your 'people' skills? 
