Professional Soft Skills Resolution for 2010
Posted in Hot Topics and New Bits, People-Skills, Soft Skills on Dec 31st, 2009
Your Professional Soft Skills Resolution 2010
Professional Soft Skills Resolution
Here’s a resolution that one leader made:
“I resolve to improve how I communicate with my teams, customers, and colleagues.”
Keeping this resolution:
Speak positively not negatively and forward not back.
Almost every negative statement you make can be reworded to say positively what needs to change rather than just what is wrong. Monitor your statements for one day. You will be amazed at how often you state what is wrong rather than how to make it better. This change in your communication actually breeds better morale, rapport, and results!
Identify your natural listening style and adapt to your team members.
Every soft skills blog reinforces the value of active listening. Yet to be a great listener, silence is not the automatic winner. It is a myth that silence is what everyone wants. Learn to spot asynchronous and synchronous listening needs and listen with that style. The WOW of rapport occurs with this step.
Speak with and require all to speak with respect for diversity.
Learn what your social style is (Amiable, Analytic, Expressive, or Driver) and have each team member learn theirs. If you want major ROI on your soft skills resolution this one step of communicating with respect for differences is the magic bullet.
Increase and improve your face-to-face contact.
Yes we are technologically connected with email. Yet if you look across the generations, face-to-face contact does bring better understanding among and about people. Technology can help you with this as well — SKYPE and VideoConferencing to name only two. A recent study showed that among distanced teams, videoconferencing produced better teamwork and work results over teleconferenced meetings. Even if your team is primarily comprised of GEN Y, you can help them to learn better face-to-face skills with this commitment in your resolution.
What is your professional soft skills resolution and how will you keep it?
Would love to read yours in the comments section below.
In her workshops and training, Kate Nasser develops your professional soft skills to improve your connections with diverse people. In her new training DVD “Customer Service USA – What They Expect From Coast to Coast and Everywhere In Between” Kate illustrates the soft skills you need to meet diverse customers’ needs. Email her for info on this new training DVD.
