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Soft Skills Are Not a Soft Option in Today’s Competitive World

Posted on the 09 December 2011 by Combi31 @combi31

Soft Skills are Not a Soft Option in Today’s Competitive World

Take a few moments to consider this: if you could increase the performance of your staff by just 5%, what difference would this make to your company?

It is useful to remember that organisations are not successful, it is the people who work there that are successful. It is people that drive the business forwards, slow it down, or even put in into reverse! Dig into any organisational problem and you are likely to find people. Conflict, stress, misunderstanding, poor communication skills, resistance, low morale and low productivity all have their origins in people and relationship issues. The value of an organisation can be measured by the expertise of its staff and their ability to work together. Thus behind every success in business, is people. Invest in your people, and let them invest in the business.

Research indicates that a typical managers wastes 25% of his/her time to unwarranted conflict, misunderstanding and personality clashes, leading directly to a loss in team performance and productivity. Some 60% of performance issues in a team can be attributed to poor interpersonal skills – or soft skills. Proving that soft skills development is no soft option in today’s competitive world.

Organisations may be using state of the art information technology and yet managing people on outdated people principles which may lead to stifling energy and creativity, and in effect, wasting peoples motivation and valuable resources – possibly, without even realising.

The Winning Relationships programme is a highly practical mix of brief presentations, experiential learning, change, and empowerment. It is skills focused and will leave the participants with real understanding, proven techniques and appreciation of rewarding relationships. People are our working environment; and there is a direct correlation between managing relationships successfully and profit margin.

There can be reduced costs on traditional training as Winning Relationships aligns with and can replace some of the training around performance management and development, diversity, team building, leadership, customer service – internal & external, sales training, the people side of project management and 360 degree feedback.

The results you can expect on an individual level include self motivation, more openness to change, receptive to feedback and taking ownership for their issues, responsibilities and outcomes. Teams will develop a stronger sense of identity, an improved self-belief, greater trust and understanding (of self and others), increased openness and collaboration. The benefits to the individual, team and organization might be seen as faster and smoother operations, more flexibility, more reliability, less stress and cheaper costs through reduced absenteeism and staff turnover, a happier more productive workforce, increased sales and an improved bottom line.

What makes it so special?

It works – and the results are sustained through an integrated programme ensuring consistency of message, models and values.

The emphasis is not on ‘management information’ to be digested but on transformational experiences that make a real difference that people can and will buy in to. The programme has a series of ongoing workshops, fun activities, simple follow-ups and measurement tools. Some of the tools and follow-up sessions can be run by you – the client – if you choose, thus developing a greater sense of ownership and lowering costs. Creating Winning Relationships is important at all – executive, management and operations – in all businesses across the globe. Where ever you find people, you find relationships. Making them Winning Relationships, making your company a Winning Company and a great place to work makes good people sense and therefore good business sense.

Being skilled in relationships is fundamental to business success and impacts directly on productivity, morale and the bottom line.

Soft Skills are Not a Soft Option in Today’s Competitive World

Author: Paul Stevens Article Source: EzineArticles.com

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