With that, graditude for fellow students. Help the individual who struggles.
Mood and how they show it through their body language and tone of voice. When my students get frustrated, we all feel them taking it out on the people around them. I struggle every quarter with teaching them to be professional and not let others see their emotions. It is tough, but essential in their future field.
Students seem to see to many things in black and white, and often as a personal offense. Things happen all the time that have absolutely nothing to do with them personally, but still effects them. For example, policy changes or power outages. They take personal offense, and we have to teach them to breath, and let it role off their back. Life isn't fair, and they just don't want to accept that.
I have lost count of how many times I have told a student "it's not about you." I tell them they need to understand that things are going to happen that they don't like, and they have to be flexible enough to move on.
Today, it seems to be personal responsibility. The new generation of learners seems to have a built-in excuse for failure. Thay could not/cannot accomplish this or that due to something completely out of their control, but would like their instructor to forgive and pass them through anyway. This is not something that will translate well to workplace success.
I feel that teaching someone how to accept criticism is very difficult. Mainly because I myself have a difficult time accepting criticism. Probably because I'm a chef and teach culinary. How do I start to help myself and my students???
The most difficult skill I find for the age group I teach is respect not only for others but for themselves.
Stacy,
Very true. Often they get the message too often that they cannot do something. So we are not only trying to teach them skills, but also self-esteem. That is a hard hill to climb.
Philip Campbell
Being a good listener and empathy are right up there. Many of my students communicate in a loud, aggressive manner and I suspect that they have learned that this is the only way to do so.
As a school we are always encouraged to discuss the importance of soft skills especially in a professional setting. The difficulty comes about because some students have to be made aware of what soft skills are and how they can affect our personal and professional lives. I make a point in each class to bring up situations where soft skills can either improve or create a problem. The most difficult soft skill to teach to students is the important skill of maintaining your composure and listen before responding. The student may realize the importance of this skill after awhile but actually putting it into practice is where I see the challenge.
Integrity and empathy while managining emotions
area challange to adjust in a given situation
which involves other people.
Yes, I agree that common sense is the most difficult soft skill to teach. I have met many individuals whose IQ's are in the brilliant/genius range but were unable to have empathy or be able to make appropriate judgements/decisions. Breaking items down in to the most manageable pieces may help students to make practical decisions.
RESPECT--and that encompasses all areas. Ranging from student to student; student to faulty and student to Program/School.I.E-in class on time and prepared; not entering/exiting whenever they wish; NO CELL PHONES/TEXTING; addressing all persons with courtesy and appropriately; follow the chain of command, etc. etc. It is difficult to teach an adult respect when they have not been taught the concept at an early age or at all.
In my opinion, dependability is the most difficult soft skill to teach to students. I believe gone are the days of instilling a good work ethic in our children. This is waning in our society as a whole. The "What's in it for me?" mentality prevails. Just do enough to get by seems to be the attitude. Accountability and willingness to do more is a foreign concept to a lot of students. These, however, are must needed skills to succeed in the workplace. So, how to teach them? Teach by example first. Sometimes, we must be not only teacher, but mentor and parents as well to our students. All of my assignments have deadlines, and I don't accept work late except in extenuating circumstances. I think this practice serves students well in getting them prepared for the real world.
We are technical school that is training for the automotive industry. Teaching the importance of customer service is a challenge. Too many are more interested in themselves and find it difficult to be evaluated on quality and quantity. We use lean six sigma as tools and explain every shop is rated on CSI by industry partners.
John,
What kind of things has your school done with six sigma to explain those concepts to students? Special classes? All of the supplementary material that you can give to students will help them in the long run.
Philip Campbell
We use lean six sigma to improve cycle time - Collision shops are monitored for their average cycle time by insurance companies. When a shop is requested to lower its cycle time, techs need to know how to increase the speed of the job (productivity) and not simply try to work faster, which will create mistakes - waste. Eliminating the 7 waste areas will increase the speed of the job (lean) while working the same speed. Also working at the speed that does not create mistakes (six sigma) - waste.
Conflict Resolution is the most difficult soft skill to teach. Many of our students either avoid conflict completely, or approach someone looking for the answer to the conflict. It is very difficult to get students to think through a problem and rationalize ways to correct the situation. Many times, they want an answer, and do not care how that answer was achieved. Although conflict resolution is the most difficult to teach, it is also the most rewarding to see a student have a light bulb moment and figure out how to resolve their own conflict.
Personal responsibility is difficult to teach. The blame game is a common issue here at my campus. On occasion, I get a student that will accept full responsibility for their actions. Those students seem to be higher achievers in the long run, although they might not be a straight A student. Accepting responsibility for something that has gone wrong goes a long way in my book!
The problem I see with students coming into school is that they don't know what soft skills are. That is were I start. I send them to a computer room to find out what they are and then we go from there.
Teaching students to be team players and positive attitudes and empathy to others students regard less of age or culture.
