Workshop

The Soft Skills Gap – Do You Have One?

When your workforce has lots of technical skills but an absence of soft skills, you have a soft skills gap. Soft skills are what accompany the hard skills, and help your organization use its technical expertise to full advantage.

If you’re really good at getting clients, and not so good at retaining them, chances are you have a soft skills gap.
If you have lots of staff turnover and have to keep retraining people, chances are you have a soft skills gap.
When you have lots of managers but no real leaders – that’s a soft skills gap.

In fact, whenever you are unable to capitalize on the wealth of knowledge, experience and proficiency within your team, then you should be assessing the level of communication and interpersonal skills that are present in your organization.

The workplace has evolved an interpersonal dynamic that can’t be ignored. The acts of listening, presenting ideas, resolving conflict, and fostering an open and honest work environment all come down to knowing how to build and maintain relationships with people. It’s those relationships that allow people to participate fully in team projects, show appreciation for others, and enlist support for their projects.

It’s important for you to recognize the vital role soft skills play within your team and not only work on developing them within yourself, but encourage their development throughout the organization. Areas to examine and evaluate include:

Change Management

Problem Solving and Decision Making

Time Management

Change Management

Today more than ever business environments are rapidly changing, requiring your company to continuously adapt. If environmental complexities including customer demands, regulatory requirements, and competition are not adequately addressed, businesses run a high risk of failure.
Change is natural and can be very positive. Staying competitive in these challenging economic times requires change. Managing change means managing people’s fears which can be unpredictable.
This workshop is based on “Who Moved My Cheese?,” written by Spencer Johnson, M.D., is a #1 best selling story of four characters living in a maze. Each one faces unexpected change when they discover their cheese has disappeared. Each one adapts to change in the maze differently. One doesn’t adapt at all. Metaphorically, the maze represents our organizations and communities and the cheese represents our careers, relationships, wealth, etc. This timeless allegory reveals profound truths to individuals and organizations dealing with change. Moral: Don’t get upset by change. Adapt for long term success.

Duration

2 Days

Problem Solving and Decision Making

Every organization requires an individual to contribute with innovative ideas, to solve different types of problems and to take efficient effective decisions. Yet these are not skills that we are effectively taught in school or college or even in organizations. It is expected that we will gain these skills through experience. Experience however can be a rather expensive teacher. This interactive workshop is focused on three interrelated areas of creativity, problem solving and decision making. Delegates will understand how to apply creativity techniques to generate options, strategies for how to solve problems in a step by step manner, and how to choose between different options to get optimum results.

Duration

2 Days

Time Management

In a fast paced environment business people can often find themselves juggling a wide range of tasks and having to prioritize their workload on a daily basis. IBS workshop on time management is focused on enabling an individual to become more effective and efficient at managing themselves and influencing others in relation to handling of time. The workshop provides delegates with knowledge on the application of strategic elements of time management as well as the tactical elements focused on achieving day to day activities. The workshop will show how integrating the strategic and tactical elements of time management will make those attending both more effective and efficient. It will also advise on the utilization of software tools that can practically assist with integrating strategic and tactical elements of time management. Follow up mentoring and coaching sessions over three weeks after completion of workshop will focus on turning what has been learned into habits.

Duration

2 Days