— and that with which they are already
comfortable — and to learn new skills.
For soft skills development programs to
be successful, the organization cannot
simply expect employees who attend
soft skills courses to participate in a
seminar and walk out a changed person.
Rather, the culture of the organization
must support and embrace any newly
acquired soft skills, complete with regular, frequent reinforcement.
This is probably the greatest challenge of sending employees off to training conducted by a vendor. When that
employee returns to the workplace, the
only thing that has changed is his or
her awareness of the new skill — and
hopefully knowing how to apply it. However, if the employee does not embrace
the new skill, the employee’s manager
does not encourage and reinforce it,
and/or the culture does not demand
it for the employee to be successful,
the new skill likely will not stick. Just
as companies would not throw money
into a tangible investment and not have
a planned follow-up, they should not
throw money at employee development,
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especially in soft skills training, and not
have any planned follow-up. Managers
need to see to it that soft skills learned
by employees who participate in development programs are transferred to the
job.
External or Internal Training? Sending employees to external training on an ad-hoc basis can result in other
challenges. For example, you send one
employee to one vendor for conflict resolution skills development, and another
employee to another vendor to acquire
the same skills. Because of the plethora
of models and theories that inform a
soft skills development topic such as
conflict resolution, coupled with differences in instructional design and
facilitation, the possibility of learning
inconsistent and possibly even incompatible skills exists — even when two
employees attend comparable programs.
It is more effective to bring a soft
skills trainer to the employer’s offices
to work with the organization’s management team on the design of a program
that will best meet the organization’s
and employees’ needs and one that is
consistent with the desired outcomes
of such a development program. Alternatively, soft skills trainers are part of
the association’s staff, as is the case
at Rotary International. It ensures that
those who are training soft skills understand Rotary’s culture and how best to
apply the skills on the job at the organization. Either way, the chief business
reason for onsite soft skills training is
that it enables customized training content that is relevant to the organization
and its staff so that learning is consistent across the organization.
This approach often is more cost-
effective because the organization is
able to put more employees through the
program, the instructor better under-
stands the environment and culture
in which the skills will be used, and
program participants share the same
experience. Beyond acquiring a new
skill together, employees are provided
an opportunity to engage and work with
one another in a learning environment.
This provides the opportunity to incor-
porate action learning, or accomplishing
real work in the context of a learning
program.
In Conclusion
Disregarding the importance of soft
skills in employee development is a
mistake and a disservice to an association, its employees, its donors, and its
constituents. Associations need to think
like for-profits when it comes to investing in people. After all, people accomplish missions — not desks, chairs, or
computers. If associations are willing to
invest and reinvest in those capital
items, they also must invest in the people who use them. While the benefits
may not be immediately noticeable or
even measurable, soft skills development can result in happier, more productive employees, reduced turnover, a
better, more effective and efficient
workforce, and an association that delivers top-notch service to those it serves
and on whom it relies.
Kristopher J. Newbauer, Ed.M., SPHR, CPLP, CPT,
is director of HR learning and organization development for Rotary International and serves on the
International Association for Continuing Education
and Training’s board of directors. He may be
reached at
kristopher.newbauer@rotary.org.
