Communication is the link between two people yet we go to inordinate lengths to make it complex and difficult. I have never understood the logic behind this ice-breaker that I hear often: “If you promise not to mind then I have something to say.” Of course, it implies that whatever is to be said is unpleasant. This opening gambit has always surprised me. Why would anyone insist on saying something knowing that it would not be pleasant? Of course, the gambit also permits the speaker to remain on the good side of the listener and criticize him to his heart’s content. The use of psychology in this is beautiful. Very rarely does a recipient ever say: “If there are chances that I may not like what is to be said then I do not want to hear it.” Rather, his curiosity aroused, he insists that he be told and that he is man enough to take any criticism. It is another matter that very few can really maintain their equanimity once they hear the permitted critical evaluation.

The number of people who actively invite criticism, avowing that they wish to improve themselves is also quite many. But it is generally a show of openness that is totally faked. If anyone has ever the kindness to point out their fault, they normally have arguments ready to counter it and their annoyance is complete. On the other hand intelligent people behave as if they have no idea of human nature. We employ servants and then expect them to be as knowledgeable and intelligent or passionately involved in our home or work as we are. Had the servant been a person of this calibre would he be your servant?

I have been against the negative management styles that I see around me, especially the way we counter an argument or statement to show that we are better than the others. Our management style is by scolding for mistakes made. We have some established notions of what is correct and what merits chastisement and we follow up on it with gusto. If we go back in time a little, there was a time that most senior managers came from a similar social status and educational backgrounds and there were not many faults to find with each other. But today people from vastly different economic, cultural and financial backgrounds come together and there is always bound to be something amongst our brethrens that may rub us the wrong way. The mature guy takes it in his stride but most tend to compare the other with their own selves and get irritated. The result is “scolding and flare-ups” all around us. The manager takes the route of righteousness and encloses himself in indignation and the employee gets dejected because he simply never is made to understand the “why” of it. Is it so difficult to understand that we can discuss things and that there is no real need to chastise? I have seen many people who can say their point of view only in anger. They will normally keep quiet and let things slide and then one day they burst in anger and all the dammed up complaints come out in one go in a vehement show of anger. It is so immature, this behaviour. An unpleasant action should be brought to notice and discussed right there and then and as far as possible without anger; this eliminates misunderstandings and stops the incident from being repeated in its track. Of course, if the other side continues to insist on his behaviour then a stronger dose of show of displeasure is called for.

We follow this approach even in the upbringing of our children. I have again never been able to understand this attitude. My daughter is 16 months old and is now everywhere and into everything. I think it is her natural curiosity and she should be allowed to explore. But everyone who sees me with her complains that I am not scolding her enough and that if she is not made to understand the correct ways, she will become uncontrollable and end up totally spoilt. My point of view is that she is too young to understand and that this can come later when I am in a position to explain to her the pros and cons of each action. Right now it is all play for her. More often than not she is aping me. How can I scold her when she has done no real wrong and surely no deliberate mischief? And why, even if I have something to say, why should I scold her? It will only kill her curiosity and stunt her persona. I use the method of distraction when things are getting out of hand and employ her attention elsewhere.

When we pre-empt others in speech or action and try to control them in many other million ways, we are only exercising the primary human tendency to regulate everything around us. We have a very high opinion of ourselves most of the time until disaster strikes and for a while we see our faults and reflect. We are quite certain about our wisdom and abilities and we even prove it and justify ourselves by quoting earlier “greats & gurus” as if we were on par with them while we have nothing to say from our own fount of experience and learning, except perhaps a few biting words and make the world aware of our own merits in comparison to the demerits of the rest of the world!

The solution to these situations is to develop a little charity in our thinking. Kindness and creativity is needed. We need to help the other learn if he is willing. Berating will only create stiff opposition and bad blood. We need friends around us; in it lies our own happiness.

Source: This is taken from an article by Pradeep Maheshwari, called “Meaningful communication comes from kindness and creativity!” found on Tickled by Life.

If you would like to learn more about communication, why not try our Business Communication Course which shall provide you with the skills necessary to be a good communicator.

UK – 5th September, 2008 -  Teachers are split over the merits of Web 2.0 tools in the classroom, according to research conducted for ntl:Telewest Business. Half of teachers questioned believe that Web 2.0 applications, such as Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and Wikipedia are valuable educational tools, yet the rest felt they are a distraction with no real academic benefit.

Tech-savvy parents are the biggest advocates of Web 2.0 in schools and colleges.

This confusion over the advantages of Web 2.0 tools in the classroom can be linked to teachers being in the dark when it comes to next generation applications. A fifth of all teachers polled felt that when it came to Web 2.0 tools, they lacked the knowledge or training to integrate them into their lessons. Another key barrier to their adoption in the classroom proved to be security concerns. Almost a quarter of teachers worry about the amount of personal information that students disclose online and their behaviour when using social networking sites.

Tech-savvy parents are the biggest advocates of Web 2.0 technologies, with two thirds of parents feeling that the tools were useful for engaging and teaching children as they encouraged creativity and helped students to develop their communications skills.

Dave Alderson, Public Sector Specialist, ntl:Telewest Business, said: “Web 2.0 has really crept up on the school system as social networking sites,blogs and YouTube have become a global phenomenon in a relatively short space of time. Many of today’s pupils live and breathe this technology, using applications such as instant messaging, Facebook, MySpace and Wikipedia every day to create content, communicate and collaborate with people worldwide. Whilst security is a valid concern, there are measures that can be put in place to address this.”

“Schools and colleges need to ask themselves if they are living up to the expectations of the digital generation. The interactive and collaborative nature of Web 2.0 tools is ideal for engaging children in the classroom and nurtures the skills and enthusiasm they have developed at home.”

According to the study, next generation applications are now an integral part of children’s personal lives:
- 54 per cent of 13 to 18 year-olds use YouTube in their spare time
- Half use social networking sites
- 47 per cent use Wikipedia

When children were asked what Web 2.0 tools would be useful at school:
- 44 per cent stated Wikipedia
- 35 per cent chose instant messaging
- 34 per cent said YouTube

However, less than a fifth of teachers used Wikipedia as a resource in classrooms and only five per cent used YouTube. Even general internet information sites only scored 14 per cent of teachers’ votes, despite the fact that almost a third felt the internet had added the most value to education.

Mr Alderson added: “Our study reveals that there is a Web 2.0 chasm between the tools that children would like to see in the classroom and what teachers are actually using. The key to using these tools effectively though, is having the right infrastructure to deliver them. Schools and colleges need to have a robust Next Generation Network (NGN) in place that can provide sufficient bandwidth and resilience to support media-rich applications and offer the necessary foundation for a collaborative, digital environment.

“Some schools and colleges are in the early stages of adoption and it is only a matter of time before Web 2.0 takes on a more extensive role in the classroom. Whether using YouTube to view the latest videos from around the world in geography, or visiting Facebook sites to collaborate with other students, schools need a provider that can help them plan, design, and implement the technology required to deliver to the digital generation, the interactive education they demand.”

LM Research interviewed 1,500 teachers, parents and students nationwide. The teachers were based at secondary schools, sixth form colleges and Further Education colleges. The parents questioned had children aged 13 to 18 years old and the children surveyed were aged 13 to 18 years old.

Source PublicTechnology.Net, for all you need to know concerning UK Public Sector ICT & e-Government news.

“These results would highlight a need for teachers to expand their understanding of ICT, outside of the standard ECDL Certificate to web-based tools that are freely available today”, said Sean Griffin, Co-Founder of Learn Skills, web-based skills and compliance training company,  “and teachers should set aside some hours of CPD to address this teacher training issue.”

Studies by Stanford Research Institute and the Carnegie Mellon Foundation among Fortune 500 CEOs found that 75% of long term job success depended on people skills and only 25% on technical skills.

This is true at other levels as well. For effective performance in the workplace, companies need their employees to have not only domain knowledge, technical and analytical skills, but also the skills to deal with the external world of clients, customers, vendors, the government and public; and to work in a collaborative manner with their colleagues.

The annual rankings of MBA colleges often place communication and interpersonal skills as the most critical skills needed for success in the corporate world.

Noted academic Prof. Henry Mintzberg while speaking on the importance of soft skills for MBAs, refers to the crucial “soft” skills – leadership, teamwork, communication, and the ability to think “outside the box” of a discipline – that separate the best from the rest in the management world.”

Companies are finding that they have to promote people faster than ever before to meet their growth needs.  At the same time, they are finding that the candidates do not have the necessary skills to make the transition from a technical or functional specialist to a team leader, supervisor or manager.  Companies in the IT, BPO, KPO, Biotech, and Pharmaceuticals industries have found that their people need soft skills to work effectively in cross-functional or project teams, local teams or global teams.

Learn Skills, the web-based skills and compliance training company,  can offer a tailored soft-skills program to benefit companies and address these issues and you can contact us for further information by clicking here.

UK – May 12th, 2008 – The skills survey report from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development reveals that in 45 per cent of public sector organizations there has been a cut in training budgets over the past 12 months. The indications are that the continued post-Gershon squeeze is encouraging employers to reduce the head count and to cut costs across personnel activities.

Voluntary sector organisations continue to spend more per employee per year on training, compared with both the private and public sectors.  With 77 per cent in the sector reporting that funding for training has remained stable or increased, compared with 75 per cent in the private sector and 54 per cent in the public sector.

The report also shows a disconnect between what government is offering employers and what they feel they need from young people coming out of school, college or university.  Literacy and numeracy are still concerns for employers, but also there is a need for the so-called soft-skills.  Two thirds of respondent organisations feel that new employees lack both communication and interpersonal skills and over half report a shortfall in management and leadership skills.

“Learn Skills can offer employers web-based skills and compliance training to address these key concerns, by giving them access to a comprehensive course catalog”, said Sean Griffin, Co-Founder of Learn Skills, “and the Learn Skills platform can deliver both cost savings and consistent quality instruction to all employees and management resulting in increased and enhanced performance.”

Soft skills refer to a very diverse range of abilities such as:

• Self-awareness
• Analytical thinking
• Leadership skills
• Team-building skills
• Flexibility
• Ability to communicate effectively
• Creativity
• Problem-solving skills
• Listening skills
• Diplomacy
• Change-readiness

Many people often refer to ‘soft skills’ as ‘people skills’ or ‘emotional intelligence’. Hard skills are the technical abilities required to do a job or perform a task: essentially they are acquired through training and education programs, like those offered by Learn Skills.

Importance of Soft Skills

According to psychologist Daniel Coleman, a combination of competencies that contribute to a person’s ability to manage his or herself and relate to other people-matters twice as much as IQ or technical skills in job success.

Results of a recent studies on the importance of soft skills indicated that the single most important soft skill for a job candidate to possess was interpersonal skills, followed by written or verbal communication skills and the ability to work under pressure.

A constantly changing work environment – due to technology, customer-driven markets, an knowledge-based economy and globalisation that are currently impacting on the structure of the workplace and leading to an increased reliance on, and demand for, soft skills.

Soft skills are not a replacement for hard- or technical-skills. They are, in many instances, complementary, and serve to unlock the potential for highly effective performance in people qualified with the requisite hard skills.

Learn Skills provides a comprehensive range of soft-skill courses for employees who want to enhance their work performance and improve their employability.

Reference: sitagita.com