Soft Skills in eLearning
Soft skills is a term used to describe:
"Personal attributes that enable someone to interact effectively and harmoniously with other people."
Soft skills generally are:
It has been said that soft skills are a very tricky topic to teach, most companies don't want to ruffle the feathers of employees that have been doing things a certain way for the last decade or
to come across as patronising (telling your staff to smile at customers may seem pretty obvious), however soft skills are a necessary component when wanting to succeed and it is known that many employees unfortunately lack these basic skills.
Don't worry though, these are skills much like any other and they can be learnt! And also one of the key motivating points for learning these skills is that they improve a person on an individual level, benefiting them greatly when it comes to new job roles or promotions, so for an organisation to encourage soft skill training it is wise to approach it by explaining that these are transferable skills.
eLearning is a popular option when thinking about implementing some soft skill training in your work place. This is because, done well, eLearning is the easiest and most cost effective way of training your staff on these skills, usually because there are ready made, 'Off the Shelf' courses available. But it is important to get it right!
Here are some key points to think about when considering soft skill training using eLearning:
Show the results!
It is quite a challenge making soft skills measurable because these skills are so open-ended, personal and can vary. However like any training or learning it is important to see results and have clear goals. Why are you enforcing soft skill training? Is it to reduce customer complaints? Keep a stressed and argumentative work force calm? Is it to increase employees satisfaction in the first few months?
Whatever your reasons behind encouraging soft skill training, it is important to know why you are doing it and tracking whether the training has helped!
Always keep it blended!
There is no point teaching your staff how to deal with collaborative situations if they are sat in a room on their own for three days taking the training. Like most learning it is important to have real life scenarios, communication and collaboration to succeed. This balanced with the eLearning courses and your on the road to success!
These are a few small but effective points to consider when thinking about incorporating some soft skill training into your employees working life. If you want a happy successful workforce, you need to invest in your staff.
