Strangely, I've seen both positive and negative attitudes be immensely powerful in affecting the mood of a group. Group psychology is a huge topic that I won't dive into here (yay!), but it's amazing how some folks, through negativity, can crush the spirit of a group. It's equally amazing how some instructors with charisma, confidence, and a positive outlook can raise the spirits and eagerness of an entire class just by walking in.
Positive attitude and Enthusiasm are some of the most important soft skills. Itelligence is imporatnt but wouthout enthusiasm nothing would ever get done.
Customer service. If we treat students, staff, faculty, visitors and administration with the concept of they are our customer; we will use the other soft skills to provide the services they require (listen to them, have empathy for them, provide a model, be enthusiastic, motive them, etc.)
Loren,
Enthusiasm is important in a lot of the processes that we do on a daily basis. Without that, you are correct, not much would get done.
In my environment of culinary education the most important one must be motivating others. Our students come in and sometimes don't realize what they are getting into. We must continually motivate them to keep going. They can do it. Nothing comes without effort. Most of my students do love to cook but have watched too much of the food network and don't realize the skills that must be developed and the amount of time that must be put in. I like to think that I do this secondly with a great deal of constructive feedback. Keep them on track they think when they begin they will graduate as Chefs but throughout the course we teach them that not even a graduate of Harvard is immediatly a great lawyer. They can get there but they are just taking the first steps in a lifetime of learning.
In the current financial milieu and with the tendency for organizations to reduce their staff, I think that managing emotions is a very big component. Quite often, members of organizations take the reductions personally, versus looking at the fiduciary responsibilities of the organization. This is not to state that the reductions do not sting, but one must get a grip on and manage their EQ as to not affect the other denizens of the organization or the students in a pejorative fashion.
James
James,
True about the reductions in force. The stigma then is, "Am I next?" How can we get that across to the employees?
There are 3 soft skills and workplace behaviors that are the starting points for all the others. The first on the list that jumped out at me is 'exhibiting ambition.' With this as a starting point - other traits such as being polite, managing time, adapting to changes all become essential. If pursued succefully, other behaviors such as overall mood and motivating others start to happen automatically. You could argue that this one trait alone will be the only characteristic you need to improve yourself.
Improving yourself will only lead to success if it translates to relationships with others. Being 'sincere in wanting others around you to be successful' ultimately improves your working relationship with others creating 'positive relationships' that then benefit every one in the organization and the organization on the whole. This is only achieved by being constructive and willing to accept criticism in a way you can use to improve yourself and working to motivate those around you.
Striving for these '3' skills helps achieve that others without necessarily focusing on the others.
I think being a good listener is one of the most important soft skills an instructor can have. It's the best way to understand the student. Listening carefully makes you answers to questions more effective because you know what is being asked!
I think that the strategy has to be one that keeps the employees in the loop from the beginning. Employees that are not kept in the loop tend to develop their own perspectives. The danger of this is that they tend to share their perspectives with others. I think that this can lead to a negative or virulent perspective in the organization if we do not take the time to inform them.
James
Steven,
Do you do anything else to verify that you have been listening. Do you ever do any listening skills with students to teach them about it?
Wendy you are right. If you have a enjoyable environment for the students to learn they feel more comfortable about being in the enivornment. When you feel comfortable so will the student.
As I read this question many thoughts whipped through my head and I thought a lot about which trait would be the most important. While I feel that many soft skill traits are important, I don’t believe any is more important than integrity. JC Watts, the former Oklahoma Sooner football player and first black person to serve in congress in the state of Oklahoma, once stated that “character is doing the right thing when nobody's looking. There are too many people who think that the only thing that's right is to get by, and the only thing that's wrong is to get caught.“
Unfortunately, people skills or soft skills, are not usually taught in classrooms at any educational level. So many students who end up spending all their time and energies during their school years to maximize their grades do not end up with decent people skills, especially if these soft skills were not developed outside of the classroom. In effect, their development was unbalanced too much towards pure academics. If you asked these students what are soft skills, they wouldn't be able to tell you. Once these individuals enter the workforce, they will soon realize that those with superior people skills will end up moving up the corporate ladder much faster. Their competition will get promoted through the ranks past them. If they are lucky, after a few years of learning the hard way, these individuals will learn to develop much needed soft skills and hopefully, management will notice their improvement in social interactions at the office enough to warrant promotions. However, most folks in this situation will not be so lucky. They are either too set in their ways to change or don’t even recognize their own personal deficiencies. These individuals will have reached a ceiling in their fields relatively quickly in their careers.
It is difficult to explain integrity and it importance. Integrity in the simplest definition means wholeness. I like to think of integrity as a submarine. When a submarine is placed into the water it is imperative that it is water tight. You establish a water tight integrity by going around and being sure all the doors and hatches are secured. If one water tight door is not secured, the submarine will leak. So with this example, integrity means being a whole person. It means having everything right up and down the line. I recall when former President Clinton was in office there was the great debate about, how his private sexual behavior had nothing to do with his public ethics. I disagree it had everything to do with it because your character is indivisible, which is really what integrity means. Integrity means you are one…….it doesn’t mean that you can compartmentalize your life
ATTITUDE... attitude is everything and if you have a negative attitue in the workplace it seems to bring the people around you down and it rubs off on them. Having a poor attitude can limit growth within the company and shut doors for you it can cause you to miss out on promotions raises and experience diciplinary actions... so I thinks on of the most Important soft skills is the Attitude. It's the difference between weather you get the job and weather you keep it.... so pass on your positive attitude.
Scott,
Good quote about doing the right thing when nobody is looking. I think that will resonate with a lot of people.
Philip Campbell
Rochele,
How do you think we can influence attitude? Is it something that is unable to be influenced?
Philip Campbell
I think one of the most important soft skills is self-awareness. when you check in with self in how you are feeling it makes it easier to check in with others. Additionally I believe teamwork is an important soft skill for the workplace. I find it interesting when giving a group project to students how much they hate working together! Yet in any workplace you need to learn to "work and play well with others!"
Dianne,
Group work is always one of the most challenging things to do in a classroom. It is great to see them get over any anxiety or preconceived notions they have about working with others.
Philip Campbell
I believe both are equally contagious however it is more challenging to remove yourself from the negative behaviors as it challenges the other individual to change their behavior. It is most rewarding though.
understanding both sides of conflict and taking a mediator approach allows you to be objective when solving problems
