Marc, your accountant for 15 years, is looking for a new job! He’s applying for the position of digital project manager, which has just become available in the company… Why not offer him this opportunity for retraining? You decide to give him a chance, and that a solid training in digital tools will do the trick. Not so sure! It’s true that you’ll be providing him with technical know-how, and Marc already possesses many skills and professional qualities, but what about his soft skills ? Creativity, team spirit, communication… all those ” skills soft skills” he may be lacking if he is to excel in his new job?
How do you develop soft skills?
To develop soft skills, you need to establish a diagnosis, organize role-playing exercises, choose the right training materials and regularly assess progress. We detail each of these steps and tools in this article.
Establish a soft skills diagnosis
Before entrusting him with the job, it’s essential to assess the skills skills your candidate already possesses. You can ask Marc to take personality tests, known as “cognitive aptitude” tests.
Even if you’ve known him for 15 years and he has the main skills professional skills required, Marc may also have emotional qualities (curiosity, imagination, empathy… ) which were not particularly prominent in his previous accounting role, but which will prove invaluable in his new position. The aim of the psychometric tests is therefore to pick up on weak signals relating to personality traits that may be buried and worth developing, and to add them to Marc’s list of personal skills .
Organize a simulation
Suggesting that Marc take on a practical case study, in the presence of HR staff and any digital colleagues he may have, can prove highly relevant. The exercise will not only allow us to assess Marc's skills technical skills, but also his interactions with others and his cognitive abilities in a work situation. It's also a great opportunity to challenge him, based on a concrete situation. The simulation helps to identify the soft skills of candidates and employees.
Setting up workshops to develop soft skills
Once the soft skills to be developed have been identified, training is particularly effective: according to MIT, the ROI of soft skills training is 250%. Of course, it's easier to learn Excel than empathy, but training courses and workshops dedicated to developing soft skills do exist.
If you find, for example, that Marc is capitalizing on his rational mind for his new job, but that acquiring a little creativity would be beneficial to him, why not offer him one of the fun workshops on the theme of “how to develop my creativity”…?
How does a soft skills workshop work?
A soft skills development workshop usually includes 3 sessions on the same topic. For example, "How can I develop my creativity on a daily basis?" Each workshop must have a specific, measurable objective. Here's how this workshop can be formulated:
“ Unleash your creative potential to innovate every day! “
OBJECTIVES: At the end of this workshop, participants will be able to strengthen their skill creative skills by implementing a personal approach that enables them to stimulate their imagination, explore new ideas and integrate creative techniques into their daily lives to solve problems and innovate effectively.
More technical training courses – dedicated to digital, for example – can also be mixed with modules promoting team agility, thus killing two birds with one stone.
Finally, you can also punctuate the year with moments that combine learning, relaxation and team cohesion… Seminars, hackathons, workshops, MOCCs and other cultural or artistic activities have proved their worth… There’s nothing like a meditation session or a cooking class to help develop employees’ skills softness!
To propose a framework and specific equipment
The implementation of flexible work spaces encourages the development of soft skills. Indeed, you offer your employees the possibility to choose the framework and the work mode that correspond to them. Of course, it is not a question of offering a remote or a roof top office on demand, but taking into account the sensitivities (to noise pollution, for example) of each person and individual preferences, favors creativity and productivity. Moreover, specific computer tools such as Slack, Trello or Zenkit, which are very intuitive and conducive to interaction and collaborative work, are also excellent for developing soft skills!
Evaluate their progress regularly
What will be true for Marc will be true for all the employees… A “human” management is crucial for your employees to grow and develop. Listening, dialogue and availability are all managerial qualities that encourage team members to develop their own soft skills.
In the register of particularly virtuous practices, let us note for example:
- Establish a collaborative decision-making process: structured debates and the designation of a rapporteur/leader in charge of processing, synthesizing and deciding thus allows the integration of all the stakeholders in a decision or the launching of a project.
- Systematize feedback: a debriefing on mistakes and successes is also valuable. This allows you to work together on solutions, areas for improvement, etc.
- Knowing how to show recognition: valuing good practices, whether individually or collectively, is of course also crucial to developing employees’ soft skills…
Immersive training is being adopted by many clients and is relevant to skills . Read our page dedicated to“Metaverse Opportunities for Training“.
