An important of your plan for 2020 should include writing your learning and development plan which should include a skills development plan.
Most companies provide on-the-job training. This may be a mixture of both technical/hard skills and soft skills. However, sometimes while a Company will provide a technical training programme, the soft skills element of the training are often left as the employee’s responsibility and the employee is required to take the initiative.
01. What are Soft Skills?
Soft skills relate to how you interact with others. Examples include communication skills, interpersonal skills and leadership skills. Soft skills can be developed with practice and dedicated effort and doing so will make you more of an asset to your employer. This is why it is important to include soft skills in your learning and development plan.
02. What Soft Skills does your Employer want?
There are many soft skills that can enhance your career performance and progression prospects. Each of these has its own attributes and value and may have multiple benefits.
- Identify what soft skills are required for the job you have (and the job you want).
- Identify what soft skills would like to have (and to develop)?
- Identify what soft skills you need to work on.
- Identify what soft skills training your employer offers.
03. Develop Your Soft Skills by Engaging in Self Reflection
Self-reflection is all about taking a deep look at yourself and being honest about what’s going well and what to improve. Use your Career Journal and the prompts to reflect on your Soft Skills and the skills you might like to develop further as part of your career development plan. Specifically – what do you want to include in your Learning & Development Plan.
04. Write a Skill Development Plan for the Soft Skills you want to develop.
You can’t develop soft skills overnight – think of the process as a lifelong learning opportunity. Once you have identified the soft skills that you want to work on and develop make a conscious effort to enhance those skills and write a skill development plan for how you are going to do it.
05. Spend More Time Building Relationships and Practising your Soft Skills
The only real way to make progress is to practice and to put the Skills Development Concepts into action. Since soft skills are interpersonal, that means you need to devote more time to being around people and nurturing the connections you have with them. This will, in turn, improve your soft skills. Make sure your Skill Development Plan includes action points for practising and putting into practice what you have learnt.