How important is it to distinguish between designing for hard skills and soft skills training? Many researchers think that it’s critical. The strategies needed to transfer hard skills, such as technical and procedural knowledge, can be quite different than the knowledge needed to develop soft skills, which involve interpersonal and intrapersonal (occurring within the self) communication.
Compounding the issue is the fact that there are many unanswered questions when it comes to the best techniques for designing eLearning for soft skills.
What are soft skills?
Soft skills are the “abilities required in the workplace for professional success” (Georges, 1996). They are competencies needed to communicate, cooperate, and to work productively. Some examples of soft skills include:
- Customer service
- Leadership
- Sales
- Relating well to others
- Time management
- Team cooperation
- Mentoring
- Interviewing
Difficulties with Soft Skills Training
With the advent of collaborative technologies, 21st century workers need competence in soft skills more than ever. Yet, according to business surveys, many new employees lack the necessary soft skills needed for success (James & James, 2004). Soft skills training is challenging because the competencies are often complex, varying from one situation to the next. It becomes impossible to train for all the circumstances that may arise.
Also, people often have an aversion to soft skills training. They may be resistant to changing the way they have always done things, such as how they manage employees or respond to a customer complaint. Training or coaching in soft skills is certainly not a precise science. It needs more time, attention, and energy than one learning event can provide.
According to research, here arethe following strategies that seem most helpful for designing eLearning or blended learning for soft skills.
Strategy 1: Make it Measurable
One of the big issues associated with training in general and soft skills training in particular, is the difficulty in measuring its effectiveness. Although soft skills training can be valuable in ways that are difficult to measure, it is important to demonstrate results with hard metrics. This can help you improve your design and provide solid results to management.
The first strategy, therefore, is to put clear and measurable goals in place by identifying key performance indicators that need improvement. Then ensure that the training focuses on reaching the goals by focusing on the appropriate skills. See some examples of key performance indicators below.
- Reduction in dissatisfied customers who received technical support
- Reduction in staff turnover rates
- Reduction in time spent in meetings
- Reduction in safety incidents
- Increase in satisfaction of new employees in first three months
- Increase in number of times that managers provide positive feedback
- Increase in sales of a specific product line
While anecdotal evidence, observation of performance and surveys of participants have value, measuring key performance indicators have more weight. They enable you to see which soft skills are being applied to the job and whether the training enhances job performance.
Strategy 2: Integrate eLearning Into the Work Environment
Online learning is often designed and developed in isolation, removed from the company or organization. This never makes sense, but is particularly harmful when it comes to soft skills, which often require competencies to improve relating and communicating. Therefore, any soft skills training should be well-integrated with an organization’s needs and with the needs of the team. They should also be aligned with the individual’s career goals.
A blended learning strategy that integrates soft skills training into the workplace environment is best. This means that more than one intervention is needed. When the course is complete, the training should continue. Management and team members will need to support and enhance new and developing skills. Part of a soft skills training plan should include opportunities for additional practice, ongoing discussion, feedback and coaching to support the transfer of newly skills in the workplace environment.
Strategy 3: Single Concept Learning
Another strategy is explained by Stephen Meyer in his article, The Effect of the New E-Learning on Soft Skills Training. Meyer has found success using what he calls single-concept learning or “thin slicing” (Meyer, 2014). Meyer suggests that each eLearning intervention should cover only one isolated concept.
This is the opposite of the traditional fire hose approach to training, where learners are flooded with more information than they can absorb at one time. Rather, single concept learning focuses on one behavior change, one narrow concept and one slim goal.
For example, in typical customer service eLearning, a course would focus on multiple skills and take 30 minutes to an hour to complete. In single-concept eLearning, the experience would focus on one skill, such as using positive language, and would be brief. This eLearning “snack” would demonstrate how to use positive language—rather than negative language—in several situations. To learn more about microlearning, see What is microlearning?
Then the learning experience would be incorporated into a blended learning intervention, such as a mix of managerial coaching and instructor-led training. This provides multiple paths for participants to get the message.
Strategy 4: Focus on Master Skills and Lots of Practice
The final strategy I would like to share is described by trainer, James Georges. It involves distilling soft skills to their essence. Georges states that many soft skills have a common denominator. They essentially involve getting someone to buy-in to you, your idea or your approach. He states that this means “achieving a state of rapport, trust, accord and mutual commitment” (Georges, 1996).
His approach involves spending a small amount of training time on presenting the knowledge and most of the time on practice. In online learning, this can be done through simulated scenarios or in a synchronous virtual classroom. As an example, you can demonstrate showing someone respect by listening to and acknowledging his or her viewpoint. Once the learner is aware of how to do this, he or she can practice it in a variety of situations, under hostile, pleasant and neutral conditions. In this approach, learners need coaching and feedback with lots of repetition.
According to Georges, the master skills common to many soft skills, such as leading a team, management and sales include the following:
- Open a conversation in a way that elicits open-mindedness
- Articulate goals
- Diagnose another person’s needs and problems by listening effectively and asking good questions
- Demonstrate respect for other person’s views
- Gain respect for your own views (advocating)
- Raise the conversation up the intellectual and emotional ladder in a way that the other person is able to follow you (resolve conflict, form solutions that meet the other person’s needs, negotiate for change)
- Carry the interaction all the way to buy-in (the other person is committed and agrees to take action) (from The Myth of Soft Skills Training)
Conclusion
This article presents four strategies for making soft skills eLearning more effective:
- Make it measurable using key performance indicators
- Integrate learning and practice into the entire work environment
- Focus on one isolated concept at a time
- Focus on gaining competence in a master set of core skills, which require much practice
One learning intervention is insufficient for the transfer of soft skills to the workplace. A blended strategy with lots of practice and feedback is required. What strategies have you found to be effective? Please add them below in the Comments section.
REFERENCES:
- Georges, J. The Myth of Soft Skills Training. Training; Jan 1996; 33(1), 48.
- Laker, D. and Powell, J. The Differences Between Hard and Soft Skills and Their Relative Impact on Training Transfer. Human Resource Development Quarterly; Spring 2011: 22, 1.
- Meyer, S. The Effect of the New E-Learning on Soft Skills Training. T+D, July 2014.
- Yelon, S. L., & Ford, J. K. (1999). Pursuing a multidimensional view of transfer. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 12(3), 58–78.
What an insightful exploration of the complexities surrounding soft skills training! This article does an excellent job of highlighting the distinct challenges in designing effective eLearning for soft skills development and offers practical strategies to address them.
The emphasis on measurability through key performance indicators is particularly noteworthy. By clearly defining goals and metrics, organizations can not only track progress but also refine their training programs to better meet the needs of their teams. Integrating eLearning into the work environment and focusing on single-concept learning are also compelling approaches that foster continuous improvement and application of skills in real-world scenarios.
Moreover, the emphasis on mastering core skills through extensive practice resonates deeply. Soft skills, by their nature, require ongoing refinement and application, and the provided strategies offer a structured approach to achieving proficiency.
Overall, this article serves as a valuable resource for anyone involved in designing or implementing soft skills training programs. It encourages a holistic and iterative approach that recognizes the dynamic nature of interpersonal and intrapersonal competencies.
Hi Heika,
This is a great analogy. Although what you are saying seems intuitive, there is some research now that says mixing it up might even be better. So you can do single concept learning, but perhaps mixing in different situations and different contexts. Then, throwing in another single concept. See the book “Make It Stick” for more on this and my interview with one of the authors: Learning Myths and Misconceptions.
“Single Concept Learning” – love it.
I’ve found this to be the major problem when discussing new training requests with clients and/or taking trainig myself: the wish to cover “everything”.
To a certain extent soft skills Training is similar to sports: to learn a new and complex movement let’s say how to serve in Tennis, coaches typically let you practice parts of this movement in Isolation (throwing the ball, etc). This allows the learner to focus and unlearn/learn one specific move, to practice and repeat it until it reauires less attention to do it.
Only then you move on to the next practice.
To enhance the likelihood of behavioral change, soft skills Training shoudl be exactly the same.
Interesting idea with the feed forward, if I understand it correctly. Thanks, Jan. I think you’ll give people some ideas with this.
e-learning and soft skills, you’ve given yourself quite a challenge. My experience tells me you can create understanding, even new insights through e-learning. The application part is too complex or too lengthy when done with e-learning. I once designed project-based-learning in the middle and used e-learning to have project members provide feedback to each other. We called it feed forward as we asked them to focus on the next project and what should be done differently. It works very well and when self assessments are added, eg we used Belbin profiling as reference, it becomes truely blended learning. The key thing with soft skills is practice, practice, practice.
Thanks Connie. I liked your post very much.
Nicely written. Blended learning also works very well for soft skills trainings – and there are many models to choose from. Here are some of the popular blends that work for workplace learning – http://www.gc-solutions.net/blog/blended-learning-different-combinations-that-work/