Ann Parfenova
corporate training solution, Course creation · 8 MIN · 26.11.2024
What is soft skill training, and how can you teach it to your employees?
Why is there so much soft skills training? Well, the answer is simple.
85% of job success comes from well-developed soft and people skills. That’s the conclusion from Harvard University, Carnegie Foundation and Stanford Research Center. And 92% of companies said that human capabilities or soft skills matter more than hard skills.
That sounds pretty important. Let's examine these skills and how corporate learning can improve them.
85% of job success comes from well-developed soft and people skills. That’s the conclusion from Harvard University, Carnegie Foundation and Stanford Research Center. And 92% of companies said that human capabilities or soft skills matter more than hard skills.
That sounds pretty important. Let's examine these skills and how corporate learning can improve them.
Source: freepik.com
In this article, we answer a few questions:
What are soft skills?
Soft skills are non-technical abilities related to communication and collaboration.
Basically, they are the skills that make an individual capable of learning new things, adapting to new circumstances, and resolving problems in collaboration with others. Why are they so important?
Basically, they are the skills that make an individual capable of learning new things, adapting to new circumstances, and resolving problems in collaboration with others. Why are they so important?
The main reason is that hard skills are relatively easy to learn. Many textbooks, tutorials, and other resources provide you with knowledge.
In contrast, soft skills are more about personal values, characteristics, experiences, and backgrounds. Teaching a junior employee how to write a line of code or fill out a form is much easier than changing their communication style.
Furthermore, the ability to learn hard skills itself is a soft skill.
In contrast, soft skills are more about personal values, characteristics, experiences, and backgrounds. Teaching a junior employee how to write a line of code or fill out a form is much easier than changing their communication style.
Furthermore, the ability to learn hard skills itself is a soft skill.
Over the last years, another curious take on soft skills has accrued – durable skills.
The main difference with the old term is that durable skills expand the concept of soft skills to various areas necessary for interaction and success in the workplace.
For example, durable skills include metacognition – awareness of your thought process and understanding the pattern behind it, and mindfulness – awareness of the moment without judging and interpretations. The main focus of durable skills is self-cognition and workplace interaction.
You can add compassion, empathy, employee-to-employee trust and kindfulness to the durable skills list.
The main difference with the old term is that durable skills expand the concept of soft skills to various areas necessary for interaction and success in the workplace.
For example, durable skills include metacognition – awareness of your thought process and understanding the pattern behind it, and mindfulness – awareness of the moment without judging and interpretations. The main focus of durable skills is self-cognition and workplace interaction.
You can add compassion, empathy, employee-to-employee trust and kindfulness to the durable skills list.
Which soft skills do you need to teach?
So, which soft skills do your employees need for good performance?
Communication, problem-solving, time management, and critical thinking are the most required skills. Let’s explore what you need to teach to develop these skills.
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Communication
🗣️
- Active listening
- Verbal communication
- Non-verbal communication
- Written communication
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Problem-solving
🕵️
- Negotiation strategies
- Conflict resolutions
- Decision making
- Research skills
-
Time management
⌚
- Planning and organisation
- Execution and focus
- Adaptability
- Self-management
- Efficiency enhancers
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Critical thinking
💡
- Analytical skills
- Reasoning and logic
- Creative thinking
- Self-reflection
- Attention to details
Why do you need to create training?
79% of L&D professionals believe it is more cost-effective to reskill an existing employee than to recruit a new one. Training in soft skills results in a 14.5% increase in employee performance.
Soft skill training can help you increase such business metrics as:
Soft skill training can help you increase such business metrics as:
- Employee productivity: Increasing the quality of teamwork and collaboration drives motivation and workplace culture
- Customer Satisfaction: Improving interpersonal and communication skills ensures better customer interactions.
- Team Performance: Improving conflict resolution and leadership skills boosts teamwork, ensuring better workflows and higher-quality outcomes.
- Operational Efficiency: Upgrading adaptability and time management improves the effectiveness of handling changes or challenges, reducing downtime and inefficiencies.
How to create soft skills training?
In our previous articles, we discussed training creation, including how to manufacture training programs and design training modules. If you need to refresh your knowledge, you can check these articles.
Let’s talk more about soft skills specifics.
First, the main difference between hard and soft skills is the complexity of measuring the last ones and the inability to teach some skills without in-person coaching. You can’t learn how to talk to people by reading a book. But you can save some money by moving learning to an online format. Online degrees, on average, are cheaper than traditional education at $30,545.
However, there are nuances.
It’s harder to maintain attention and keep learners motivated in an online format. The main problems with online learning are low completion and engagement rates. So, what can you do to improve it?
Let’s talk more about soft skills specifics.
First, the main difference between hard and soft skills is the complexity of measuring the last ones and the inability to teach some skills without in-person coaching. You can’t learn how to talk to people by reading a book. But you can save some money by moving learning to an online format. Online degrees, on average, are cheaper than traditional education at $30,545.
However, there are nuances.
It’s harder to maintain attention and keep learners motivated in an online format. The main problems with online learning are low completion and engagement rates. So, what can you do to improve it?
Add value to your training
Your training should be valuable not only for the company but also for the employees. It should resolve employees' personal problems and cover their needs.
For example, the company wants to launch a course on communication with clients to reduce the complaints rates. But do employees care about this metric? Not really. However, they are interested in promotions, professional growth, benefits, and reducing work stress. So, you can use these drivers to adapt training to employees’ needs. Link real KPIs and rewards with your training.
Make training effective
As mentioned earlier, you can’t learn how to communicate effectively with people just by reading a book. Your employees are not naïve; if they undergo communication training without any real-life practice, they are unlikely to engage with the material or retain what they learn.
Therefore, it’s important to be mindful of what you teach and the methods you use. You can choose from various formats, including asynchronous online courses with videos and simulations, online workshops, coaching and mentoring sessions, and corporate forums featuring popular questions and discussions. Consider what you want to teach and determine which format would be the most effective.
Therefore, it’s important to be mindful of what you teach and the methods you use. You can choose from various formats, including asynchronous online courses with videos and simulations, online workshops, coaching and mentoring sessions, and corporate forums featuring popular questions and discussions. Consider what you want to teach and determine which format would be the most effective.
Include real-life applications
Many soft skills require practice with other people. Social learning, webinars, and real-time practice can cover this need. Many education platforms provide tools to organise these types of learning. For example, Seturon has team tasks and peer-to-peer blocks. You can check these features by the link https://app.seturon.io/signup.
Keep in mind that some skills require offline work.
Create time-spaced learning
Time-spaced learning leads to a 27.9% increase in performance, highlighting its effectiveness in knowledge transfer and behaviour change.
Try to remind employees about the skills and knowledge they gained during the training. You can send mailings, share giveaways, and post recaps. There are many different ways to keep knowledge fresh.
Try to remind employees about the skills and knowledge they gained during the training. You can send mailings, share giveaways, and post recaps. There are many different ways to keep knowledge fresh.
Which types of soft skills training can you create?
You’ll find many different recommendations and lists if you Google this question. But let’s take a brief look at the main ones:
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1. Communication training
- Public speaking and presentation skills.
- Active listening.
- Email and business writing.
- Negotiation skills.
- Non-verbal communication (body language, tone of voice).
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2. Leadership and management training
- Decision-making and strategic thinking.
- Team management and delegation.
- Conflict resolution.
- Motivating teams.
- Change management.
- Risk management.
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3. Interpersonal skills training
- Team collaboration.
- Empathy and emotional intelligence (EQ).
- Networking skills.
- Diversity awareness.
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4. Problem-solving and critical thinking training
- Analytical thinking.
- Decision-making frameworks.
- Creative problem-solving.
- Adaptability to change.
- Research techniques and analysis.
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5. Time management and productivity training
- Prioritisation.
- Goal setting.
- Work-life balance.
- Time management techniques.
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6. Customer service training
- Handling demanding customers.
- Conflict resolution in service.
- Customer satisfaction and retention Strategies.
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7. Creativity and innovation training
- Brainstorming techniques.
- Design thinking.
- Creative leadership.
How to evaluate soft skills?
How can you assess something that isn’t measurable? That’s the tricky part.
Even if communication is hard to measure by itself, there are some indicators: customer impression after the interaction with employees, feedback from colleagues and supervisors, customer satisfaction with the service, etc.
Which tools can help you evaluate soft skills?
Even if communication is hard to measure by itself, there are some indicators: customer impression after the interaction with employees, feedback from colleagues and supervisors, customer satisfaction with the service, etc.
Which tools can help you evaluate soft skills?
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👀
Self-assessment: Questionnaires and surveys help employees assess their skills and reflect on them. -
📝
KPIs: Well-formulated KPIs can significantly help assess performance and track changes after training.
These KPIs should be linked to specific business metrics and should avoid being multifactorial. For example, revenue growth is a broad metric; it would be difficult to determine if the increase is due to employee training or simply market changes that made your product more valuable.
However, suppose you have encountered issues because your employees struggled to communicate information about the product. In that case, you can measure success by monitoring the rates of complaints and the number of questions to the support team regarding that product. -
🔁
360-Degree Feedback: The tool assesses employees using feedback from various sources.- Supervisors or managers.
- Peers or colleagues.
- Subordinates (for leaders).
- Customers or clients.
- Self.
FAQ
The most commonly needed soft skills include:
- Communication: Active listening, verbal and non-verbal communication, and negotiation.
- Problem-solving: Decision-making, conflict resolution, and adaptability.
- Time Management: Goal setting, prioritisation, and self-management.
- Critical Thinking: Analytical thinking, creativity, and attention to detail.
- Leadership: Motivating teams, managing change, and strategic decision-making.
Soft skills training can drive improvements across multiple business metrics, such as:
- Employee Productivity: Better teamwork and collaboration.
- Customer Satisfaction: Enhanced interpersonal communication skills.
- Team Performance: Improved conflict resolution and leadership.
- Operational Efficiency: Strengthened adaptability and time management.
Sustaining the benefits of soft skills training requires:
- Ongoing Practice: Use time-spaced learning techniques and refresher courses.
- Supportive Culture: Foster an environment where soft skills are valued and applied.
- Regular Feedback: Continuously assess and guide employees to improve their skills.
- Incentivized Development: Reward progress in applying soft skills in the workplace.
- Ann ParfenovaLearning experience designerWith 7 years in Learning Experience Design, I’ve crafted 90+ interactive courses that prove learning can be fun! From gamified simulations to educational games, I’m all about making education exciting and engaging. Let’s make learning an adventure!
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