Marc, your accountant for 15 years, wants to change jobs! He is running for the position of digital project manager who has just become available in the company... And why not offer him this opportunity to retrain? You decide to give him a chance and that a solid training in digital tools will do the trick. Careful, not so sure! Of course, you will thus provide him with technical know-how and Marc already has many skills and professional qualities, but what about Soft Skills ? Creativity, sense of teamwork, communication... All these “soft skills” that may be lacking for him to excel in his new job?
How to develop soft skills?
To develop soft skills, it is a question of establishing a diagnosis, organizing scenarios, choosing the appropriate training materials and regularly evaluating their progress. We detail each of the steps and tools in this article.
Establishing a soft skills diagnosis
Before entrusting him with the position, it is essential to assess the skills that your candidate already has. You can suggest that Marc take personality tests, called “cognitive aptitude” tests.
Even if you have known him for 15 years and he has the main professional skills required, Marc may have emotional qualities (curiosity, imagination, empathy...) that were not particularly significant in the exercise of his accounting function, but which will prove to be valuable in his new position. The objective of psychometric tests is therefore to capture the weak signals relating to personality traits that may be buried and interesting to develop and to include them in Marc's list of personal skills.
Organize a scenario
Suggesting Marc to work on a practical case, in the presence of HR employees and his possible digital colleagues, can be very relevant. The exercise will not only assess Marc's technical skills, but also his interactions with others and his cognitive abilities in a work situation. It is also a superb opportunity to challenge him, based on a concrete situation. Situational analysis makes it possible to identify the soft skills of candidates and employees.
Set up workshops adapted to the development of soft skills
Once the soft skills to be developed have been perfectly identified, the use of training is particularly effective: according to MIT, the ROI of soft skills training is 250%. It is of course easier to learn to use Excel than empathy, but training and workshops dedicated to the development of soft skills do exist.
If you find, for example, that Marc capitalizes on his rational mind for his new position but that acquiring a little creativity would be beneficial for him, why not offer him one of the very fun workshops on the theme: “how to develop my creativity”...?
How does a soft skills workshop take place?
A soft skills development workshop usually includes 3 sessions on the same subject. For example, “Develop my creativity on a daily basis?” Each workshop should have a specific and measurable objective, here is how this workshop can be formulated:
” Unleash your creative potential to innovate every day! ”
GOALS: At the end of this workshop, participants will be able to strengthen their creative skills by implementing a personal approach that allows them to stimulate their imagination, explore new ideas and integrate creative techniques into their daily lives to solve problems and innovate effectively.
More technical training courses — dedicated to digital technology, for example — can also be mixed with modules that promote team agility, thus killing two birds with one stone.
Finally, you can also punctuate the year with moments that combine learning, moments of relaxation and team building... Seminars, hackathons, workshops, MOCCs and other cultural or artistic activities have proven their worth... Nothing like a meditation session or a cooking class to contribute to the development of the soft skills of employees!
Propose a specific framework and equipment
The establishment of flexible workspaces promotes the development of soft skills. Indeed, you thus offer your employees the possibility of choosing the environment and the way of working that suits them. Of course, there is no question of offering remote control or a roof top office on request, but taking into account everyone's sensitivities (to noise pollution, for example) and individual preferences, promotes creativity and productivity. In addition, specific IT tools such as Slack, Trello or Zenkit software, which are very intuitive and vectors of interactions and collaborative work, are also excellent for the development of soft skills!
Regularly assess their progress
What will be true for Marc will be true for all employees... “Human” management is crucial for your employees to grow and develop. Listening, dialogue and availability will be managerial qualities that push team members to develop their own soft skills.
In the register of particularly virtuous practices, let us note for example:
- Establishing a collaborative decision-making process: structured debates and the appointment of a rapporteur/leader in charge of processing, summarizing and deciding thus makes it possible to integrate all stakeholders in a decision or the launch of a project.
- Systematize feedback feedback: a debrief relating to mistakes as well as successes is also valuable. This makes it possible to work jointly on solutions, areas for improvement, etc.
- Knowing how to show recognition: the valorization of good practices, whether individually or collectively, is of course also essential to develop the soft skills of employees...
Immersive training is adopted by many customers and is proving to be relevant for behavioral skills. Read our page dedicated to”Metaverse opportunities for training“.
