A study by MIT Sloan found that a 12-month soft skills training in five different factories yielded a 250% ROI in just eight months. Corporate soft skills training is as important as hard skills training because it nurtures skills like decision-making and problem-solving. This further helps employees become more productive, solve complex tasks efficiently, and be more involved in their work and workplace.
In fact, according to Stanford Research Institute International, 75% of the long-term success in a job is determined based on the mastery of soft skills, and only 25% of that success comes from technical training and skills. This makes it fairly clear that soft skills training at the workplace is no longer a choice.
We have put together some of the best ways you can conduct soft skills training for your employees. Read carefully.
Bring in a Professional Soft Skills Trainer
A certified soft skills trainer is a subject matter expert when it comes to teaching soft skills like business communication, body language, conflict resolution, goal setting, team management, public speaking, etc. They have a specialized training process that also consists of comprehensive training material for more structured learning for employees. Moreover, when you bring in a professional trainer, you do not have to worry about how to train soft skills. From training activities to assessments, the trainer would take care of everything and also ensure that you see tangible results.
Conduct Live Interactive Workshops
Workshops usually have an action-oriented purpose and an expected set of outcomes. Therefore, if you’re looking to train your employees with a goal of developing certain skills that you can measure the outcome against, you can consider live workshops.
The workshops may consist of role-playing scenarios to let prepare employees for the challenges in the real world. For example, a supervisor from the leadership team can play out the role of an unsatisfied customer and employees can tackle the situation using the lessons they learn in the workshop. The trainer can offer guidance and point them in the right direction.
Create a Professional Development Program
A learning and development program should be a part of your organisational culture so that employees can grow up to their potential. So, encourage learning in a fun and interesting way through a business soft skills training program focused on the professional development of employees. You can include activities and games to encourage employees to participate. You can also give away awards to the best performers to keep employees excited throughout the professional development program.
Offer an Online Learning Option
With several workplaces continuing the culture of working from home, it is only practical to train your staff online. You can simply buy some readymade online soft skills training courses from a platform like Udemy, Coursera, LinkedIn, etc. But the only problem is that these courses may lack interaction between the trainer and the employee. You can also help your employees sign up for an online soft skills training course by a training institute where the soft skills trainers can address the questions of the participants and also ensure interactive learning through games and activities.
Create a Learning Environment
One of the best ways to conduct corporate soft skills training is to encourage learning with other people. According to research, there is a significant link between having fun at the workplace and informal learning. So, you can take advantage of this by assigning projects that require the group members to collaborate and work. This will encourage social and observational learning.
For example, you can assign a peer-based activity to employees where they must discuss how to develop soft skills. They can ask questions, share stories, and help each other out. You can also create an online forum where employees can share their experiences to stir a conversation around the necessary soft skills required in a workplace setting.
Even though you can easily find courses and soft skills training material online, the question is how to train soft skills. Make sure that the professional conducting training has significant training experience or certification. If not, you can always hire a professional trainer. Just make sure to first understand which mode of learning best suits your staff. Get everyone on board and communicate how important their participation is.
