Lec 4. Strengthening Soft Skills by Dr. BMK

by Dr BMK Perera Director/Career Guidance Unit University of Peradeniya

Soft skills are also referred to as

• • • • •

Employability skills Key skills Core skills Interpersonal skills Transferable skills Fallows, 2002

Soft skills defined … •

Skills, abilities and traits that pertain to personality, attitude and behavior Moss and Tilly, 1996

Soft skills: The two domains

Examples of Interpersonal (interactive) soft skills … •

Team work

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Relationship-building

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Adaptability

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Written and oral communication

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Friendliness

•

Attire

•

Grooming

Examples of Intrapersonal (motivational) soft skills • • • • • • • • • •

Planning/ organizing Taking initiative Problem solving Showing enthusiasm Stress tolerance Dependability Creative thinking and innovation Time management Willingness to learn Coachability

Importance •

Employers criticize university output as having their heads full of theories, concepts and principles but graduates are often ill-equipped to deal with real life situations

•

‘Soft skills are a lot harder to teach in the world of work‘ Wall Street Journal Article, 2002

Importance

(continued)

• Companies are going global, and often,

technical experts are called upon to do a variety of non-technical tasks requiring soft skills • Currently, people management skills are placed higher than strategic management skills and process management • Source: BMW Presentation made at University of Rhode Island, 2002 Effective_engineer

Predictors of success in the world of work IQ

Predicts < 30% of a person’s success

Predicts >70% of a person’s success

EQ

Soft skills domain

AQ Relates to resilience

Targeting soft skills •

Inclusion of career guidance in academic program

•

Outward bound training (Experiential learning)

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Debates/ public speaking competitions/ Toastmasters Club

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Strengthening of student societies

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Competitions for projects displaying innovative thinking and team work

•

Mentoring programs within and outside the system (limited numbers)

Targeting soft skills in academic programs • Lectures/ workshops on campus • • • • • • • •

Time management Stress management Conflict resolution/ negotiation/ mediation Effective presentations Assertive behavior Understanding teamwork Covey’s 7 habits of effective people CV writing and interview facing (in the last year)

Embedded model

Highest level of integration

Integrated model

Skills taught within a given discipline, specialty or faculty

Learning Centre model

Centralized support service providing generic skills, operating outside curriculum/ Can offer ‘Bolted on’ courses

Osmosis model

(Expect students to acquire soft skills while following their academic programs

Targeting soft skills in Outward bound Training • Popular with the corporate sector • Historically used for training survival skills to

seamen in 1941 • • • • •

Highly participative Interactive Simulates real life situations Adaptable to needs of the learner Excellent for changing attitudes and developing team spirit

Targeting soft skills in Outward bound Training • MIT, Sloan Center, Sloan School for

Management example

• Provided by outside organization (off the campus) • Used to build camaraderie • Students set personal goals • Decide on extracurricular activities to engage in • Develop academic operating norms for the semester (Develop a team charter) • A lot of physical activities

Way to develop the proposal… Intervention 1

Intervention 2

First, select a set of soft skills to target

Intervention 3

Equifinality

-Identify concrete needs for university or faculty Determine possible overlaps -Augment teaching with programs where needed

Soft skill 1 First, select an activity/ intervention

Soft skill 2

Soft skill 3

Irrespective of the approach there is a need to look at; • Cost, time and feasibility issues • Degree of change possible

• Relevance to the university

Workshops for Student Society Leaders