14 Responses

1. Soft Skills
   To be honest I have always taken it to be non technical training. i.e. Not IT, or compliance based training (Legal, accounting etc)

2. Soft skills
   In customer service circles, it is just that, all the niceties that go along with customer service.

   ie; builing rapport, use of empathy, listening, communication, positive language, structure etc etc.

   It defininitely isn’t sales skills.

   Regards
   Mark

3. Not hard skills…
   Hi Richard,

   If you think of hard skills as those real, tangible skills that someone needs to do a task, then the soft skills are the intangible.

   For example, IT skills, sales skills, engineering or technical skills, etc; would be hard skills whereas I would consider people skills, interpersonal skills, communication, empathy, awareness, as the soft skills.

   In my opinion, it is the effective use of soft skills, especially by supervisory staff and management, that makes the difference in the workplace.

   I hope this helps.

   Kind regards,

   Colin Hamilton
   Business Improvement Solutions
   email: colin@bis-improve.co.uk
   web: http://www.bis-improve.co.uk

4. Department for Education and Skills report on soft outcomes
   The Department for Education and Skills published a report in August 2000:
   Measuring soft outcomes and distance travelled. This gives more detailed information on soft skills.

   The Research Brief (a summary) can also be accessed at http://www.dfee.gov.uk/research/

   Copies of the full report (RR219) – priced £4.95 – are available by writing to DfEE Publications, PO Box 5050, Sherwood Park, Annesley, Nottingham NG15 0DJ.

   Cheques should be made payable to “DfEE Priced Publications”

   Copies of the Research Brief (RB219) are available from the above address.

   Hope this helps.

   Claire

5. Soft Skills A Descriptor
   Soft Skills are the tools we use day in day out to communicate to others. the Skill in training this is to help delegates focus on how they look and sound, the language they use and emotions behind their communication techniques. Self motivation and behavioural styles will also play a big part .Over the past 6 years I have always found this type of training the most enjoyable.

6. Soft Skills
   While a couple of individuals state that sales skills are not “soft” skills, I would disagree. While there may be steps to selling that can be easily defined, most of these steps are based on soft skills, such as building rapport, communicating, and listening.

   I define soft skills as those that cannot easily be defined in steps by step instructions. I can type out steps on how to enter an order in an order entry database, but I can’t easily type out steps on how to build rapport.

   This does include most of the examples listed by other people.

7. Soft Skills / Wider Key Skills
   The term soft skills, is often mean’t to relate to the key skills that are not tested. I.e. Communication, Application of Number and IT are the Core skills. The Wider Key Skills are Working with Others, Improving own Learning and Performance, and Problem Solving. the levels are from level one to five. Most work-based learners work between level one – three. level one where a Learner needs a lot of support, Level 2 starting to develop on their own, level 3 taking charge of decision making etc. If you want further infor please email me at bpage@keyskills-2000.co.uk

   Hope the above helps

   Barry Page

8. Soft Skills are anything but “soft” enabling staff gain wider a
   Soft Skills, can be the most difficult for delegates to take on board because you are concentrating on “feelings” “emotions” & perceptions etc of the delegates. Subjects that are placed in the “soft skills category are Motivational techniques,Teambuilding,communications etc. Whilst they may appear “easy” topics to deliver, delegates perceptions and understanding let alone interpretation vary, so the Trainer has to be able to respond to the group and utilise good facilitation techniques.

9. Soft = changeable
   I think that I always took the view that it was skills that did not relate to technical understanding.

   However Soft implies that it can be made to change with pressure.

   So soft skills are those which by influence or development can be changed. Typically I can teach you that the earth orbits the sun, and the training I would recieve to understand and know what is a ‘hard’ fact. However the skills I need to actually teach people this fact are the soft skills.

   As an individual you will change the soft skills that you have, because if you are cognitive of the environment you operate in, then you are in a known position,therefore if you are given other methods to help you improve your ability to convince other people of your understanding/knowledge, then you can chose to modify your approach.

   I think typically we think of technical ability as a ‘hard skill’, and interpersonal as ‘soft’, but I think it relates more to the ability to apply a change to an action to achieve a ‘hard’ result.

   Well there’s my interpretation, hope it does not muddy the water.

10. Differences
    Hard skills are the ones you apply to a problem in order to get a solution. Soft skills are the ones you apply to people in order to enable them to arrive at a solution.

    If I may take you back to school days, exam techniques are the hard skills to get you the certificates. Soft skills are the ones that make you feel you can do it in the first place.

    What does it entail? Breaking down the solution into moments of truth and sensitising team members to their own and their colleagues support needs. They are the on-going process needs of successful management by objectives, and where 360 degree review meets business objectives, and a growth industry!

11. Evaluating Soft Skills
    I have to agree with nearly all of the below. Does it also follow then that ‘Soft Skills’ are those that are most difficult to implement as business strategy, evaluate, and calculate the ROI?

    Could Soft skills also therefore be defined as ‘the bit of training’ that makes the FD squirm!

    The aspect of learning which has given training the ‘touchy feely’ label?

    Or the element that has made the difference to all organisations?

12. Soft Skills- Good Manners and Common Sense.
    Soft Skills are to do with managing people properly, and by doing so improve your bottom line performance. There are many aspects to it including communication skills, integrity, motivation skills etc but broadly it is the application of good manners and common sense. Two systems which deal with this specifically are Situational Leadership (Ken Blanchard) and Denison Culture (for Corporate solutions). In UK business, soft skills are probably the weakest quality in management. The framework for the Royal Navy Leadership and Mangement School is Situational Leadership. I would be happy to introduce you if you would like to see the training in action.

13. Soft SKills – Emotional Intelligence
    Coming in late to this conversation has allowed to to view the gathered wisdom We all seem to agree that soft skills are the human face of management (I especially like the manners idea). If you want a view of what are soft skills I would recommend Emotional Intelligence as this covers all the ideas expressed below and gives a foundation for how they can be developed, trained and employed in a variety of settings. Try “Working With Emotional Intelligence” by Daniel Goleman: Bloomsbury. as a starting point.

14. Soft Skills
    Some time ago I gave a workshop on the Soft Skills of Leadership for the International Television Association in NYC..
    These skills include:
    Empathy
    Vision
    Respect
    Listening
    Attitude
    Awareness
    Humor
    That’s the beginning.
    Ann Lurie Berlin
    Business Transformation