What exactly are these soft skills?
Let’s call them soft skills…for now.
In my very first newsletter not too long ago, I told you all how I agonised over not knowing which skills I would need to get into L&D, or more specifically, learning design.
I was extremely confused about the skills (soft and hard), that were required in L&D.
Hell, if I'm completely honest, I didn't even know what soft and hard skills referred to exactly!
Yikes!
I certainly had a lot to learn.
And in this edition of, "The Saturday Designers Club", I'd like to discuss what I have learned about these soft and hard skills everyone keeps talking about. I look at some definitions, as always, and provide an example of how I have used it in the workplace.
Once again, this is a topic we will explore in more detail in future newsletters.
What are soft skills?
"Soft skills—also known as “people skills” or “interpersonal skills”—are a set of personal attributes and abilities that allow individuals to effectively interact with others in a professional setting. At their core, these include the ability to collaborate effectively, manage time and communicate with clarity, among others."
I often hear the tennis great, Chris Evert, use the word "intangibles" when asking about a players’ mental toughness, ability to problem-solve, or analyse their opponent’s play on that day.
And that is exactly what soft skills are, the things you can't see or touch, the "intangibles". The things you cannot measure or collect specific data on.
You possess them, these “intangibles! Of course you do! And if not, let’s get into it together.
You got skills!
Here are some soft skills I have found to be crucial within learning and development, but more specifically to learning design.
Training Needs Analysis
Problem-solving
Communication
Project Management
Planning and organising
Training Needs Analysis
“Training Needs Analysis (TNA) is a systematic process used by organizations to identify the gaps between the current skills, knowledge, and abilities of their employees and the skills required for optimal job performance.”
In the organisations I’ve worked in, the importance of a TNA has proved extremely valuable within the scope of L&D, and learning design (among others). It helps assess if the requirements from L&D match up to the overall business goals.
For example, if the business goal is to increase customer satisfaction, it would be best to focus on learning programs/solutions to that end. It would not be a good idea to create learning that focuses on product features.
Problem-solving
“In cognitive psychology, the term 'problem-solving' refers to the mental process that people go through to discover, analyze, and solve problems. A problem exists when there is a goal that we want to achieve but the process by which we will achieve it is not obvious to us.”
This definition of problem-solving I found fits in so well with learning design. And takes a look back at the TNA.
Once you have discovered what the problem is, based on the TNA. The goal now becomes how to solve the problem.
Communication
The Oxford Dictionary defines communication as “the imparting or exchanging of information by speaking, writing, or using some other medium.”
As a learning designer, you would use the medium of speaking and writing. Another medium would be to communicate “what you want the learner to know, do, or understand” post the training, via your learning solution.
For example, once you have found a solution (by problem-solving), for the problem established in the TNA, you will need to communicate the solution.
Communicating the solution takes many steps, and one of them is project management, which is the skill below.
Project Management
Project management is “the practice of using knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to complete a series of tasks to deliver value and achieve a desired outcome”.
As indicated previously, your skills in communication, problem-solving, and being able to analyse, will help you effectively manage your design project.
There are several project management tools that you can use to ensure you’re tracking your tasks within the project, but more on that in a later newsletter.
For now, know that working on several projects at once is something you may and will encounter, and therefore project management is crucial.
Planning and organising
In this LinkedIn article, “How good are you at planning and organising?”, Loren Kutsko, defines this skill as "establishing courses of action to ensure that work is completed effectively."
Planning and organising would then be making sure that there is a plan/structure/process/tasks in place to get the work done.
For example, establishing tasks, who will do them, what are the deadlines, and/or what are the risks involved are part of planning and organising. These actions are the blocks that help you manage a project.
The Expendibles…no wait…The Intangibles
Like Chris Evert said, these are the “intangibles” I found to be most useful as a learning designer.
They are skills that help me manage my time and day. I use them to effectively work with people, and various teams and stakeholders.
Someone could be an incredible designer, and be brilliant at Storyline 360. That same designer could be not so brilliant at communication, and therefore may create a break in the process.
In the exact same way, a tennis player who possesses incredible power in their ground strokes, is amazing. However, the same player may not be able to exercise control of said power, and often over-hit the ball.
Do you see how things could not work out so well in both of those scenarios?
I wanted to illustrate and show that one is not useful or helpful without the other. You may have guessed it, the other piece of the puzzle is the technical skills.
Speaking of which, in next week’s edition of “The Saturday Designers Club”, I will be talking about hard skills. I will take a closer look and examine some of the skills that you can see. These are skills that can be measured and/or quantified.
See you next Saturday.
References:
LearnUpon Blog. (n.d.). Adult Learning Theory: The Principles Every eLearning Designer Must Know. Retrieved April 5, 2024, from https://www.learnupon.com/blog/adult-learning-theory/
Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) - Office of Educational Improvement (OEI). (n.d.). Cognitive Load Theory. Retrieved April 5, 2024, from https://www.mcw.edu/-/media/MCW/Education/Academic-Affairs/OEI/Faculty-Quick-Guides/Cognitive-Load-Theory.pdf
Educational Technology. (n.d.). Constructivist Learning Theory. Retrieved April 5, 2024, from https://educationaltechnology.net/constructivist-learning-theory/
EdTech Review. (n.d.). What is the Behavioral Learning Theory and Its Types? Retrieved April 5, 2024, from https://www.edtechreview.in/dictionary/what-is-the-behavioural-learning-theory-and-its-types/
