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| Newsletter August 2008 - The Hard Stuff About Soft Skills Workshops |
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All of us know the hard core, technical skills of our work are vitally important to our success. If we want to advance our careers and our businesses, we keep ourselves up to date. We do courses and training on latest advancements. We read the latest articles in journals. We follow the trends.
One of the greatest challenges for many companies today is the manager who has been promoted to a leadership position because of excellent technical skills. That same manager, however, is losing talented people because he/she does not have the people skills to motivate and empower them or to engage their commitment and loyalty. Soft
skills have been seen to be just that - "soft". They have been
characterised as being "warm and fuzzy", "touchy/feely". In fact, they
are the opposite. Many people find them very hard, difficult and
challenging and that's why they shy away from addressing their needs in
this area. This introductory workshop has been designed for these people. It makes a strong business case for why we must take soft skills seriously. As
well, it will help the participants to take the first steps in
overcoming the hard stuff about soft skills. It will provide them with
an approach that they can take to further develop and enhance their
people skills, interpersonal and communication skills. 
Maree Harris |
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Workshops In Geelong and Ballarat The Hard Stuff About Soft Skills - And Why We Need To Take Them Seriously! Maree Harris PhD As professionals, our training, technical knowledge and skills are highly valued by our clients. Over recent years, however, the skills that enable us to motivate, empower, engage and build great teams, for example, have become more and more valuable. This workshop will discuss why soft skills have become so important in recent times and why we must embrace them. It will also address what we need to do as individuals and organizations to develop, improve and enhance these soft skills. Geelong Workshop. Friday, October 3, 2008. Royal Geelong Yacht Club, Eastern Beach Rd, Geelong. 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. Early Bird: $167.20 (includ. GST) by 17th September, 2008. Full Fee: $193.60 (includ. GST) BOOK ONLINE Download Registration Form Ballarat Workshop. Wednesday, October 8, 2008. BEST Community Development Conference Centre, 28 Victoria Street, Ballarat. 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. Early Bird: $167.20 (includ. GST) by 25th September, 2008. Full Fee: $193.60 (includ. GST) BOOK ONLINE Download Registration Form Fee includes brewed coffee on arrival from 8.30 a.m., morning tea and notes. The Hard Stuff About Soft Skills - And Why We Have To Take Them Seriously! Tony Harrington, in 2006, as CEO of PriceWaterhouseCoopers in Australia, made an important comment, when accepting the BRW Client Choice Award for best large accounting firm. He said: “We are hearing from clients that it is not good enough just to be technically proficient. It was good enough 10 years ago and it still is in some professional service firms, but at PWCs you have to be technically proficient and people oriented. The people skills have become just as important.” This is true not just for accountants. In recent times, it has become increasingly important for all professional service firms. In fact, it has become important for all organizations and businesses who want to provide excellent service to their clients. These are also the skills that organizations need to attract and retain talented people. What are soft skills? Soft skills are the people skills, interpersonal skills and communication skills that enable us
So who should attend this workshop?
When we do not have good technical skills, we can be trained to develop them. Developing good soft skills is not as easy. How well we communicate and interact with others is very connected to who we are as a person. It has been affected by our upbringing, our socialization, where we fit in our family, our personality, our previous life experiences both personally and professionally, how other people have communicated with us, the people who have shaped our lives, our education, age, sex, race and culture. The workshop will not explore these issues, but it will assist you to discover the significant influences on your career growth and development. Self-awareness then becomes the first soft skill that both individuals and organizations need to develop. Everything grows from there. The workshop will focus on why self-awareness is so important and why all good leadership and management courses now include it. It will also talk about what happens in our work if we do not have it and how both individuals and organisations can develop or enhance it. It will show how self-awareness highlights the strengths we have to build our professional selves and our organizations, as well as what, within ourselves, is likely to challenge and threaten our professional success. The workshop will also highlight other key soft skills and talk about why they are important and what we need to do to develop or enhance them in ourselves. Further workshops will be held in the future on the development of these soft skills. Richard Barrett, whose approach has been a significant influence on the development of the ANZ bank’s Breakout program of cultural transformation, has written and spoken extensively on the importance of the “soft stuff”. What has been labeled the “soft stuff” by diehard scientific management theorists is about to become the next arena for corporate change. In the next century, the soft stuff will join ranks with the hard stuff in management theories. Managers and leaders will have to become comfortable discussing their values and behaviours……. - Liberating the Corporate Soul (1998) That was 1998. Ten years on it is happening and if we are not part of it we are risking much. |
In
recent years, however, soft skills have become equally important to our
success. These are the people skills, interpersonal and communication
skills we also need to be successful in our work.