How to Balance Hard Skills and Soft Skills Training

• When you run a business or work in human resource management, you know that developing your employees and improving their skills and expertise is going to be helpful for you in the long run. However, what is often missed when developing lower-level staff and administrative professionals is that training should not only focus on “hard skills,” such as computer software packages or technical qualifications; soft skills are important, too, for all levels of employees.

  For many years, it has seemed that employers around the world focus on providing these people skills only to those at a higher level in the company: managers, supervisors and others who make decisions. The employees who work within the other parts of the business, such as PAs and administrative staff, are given more technical skills training.

  This is one of the biggest mistakes that you can make; in fact, ensuring that all staff members receive access to soft skills training is vital in HR planning. All employees can improve their performance, interact better inside and outside the organization, and develop skills for promotion and succession planning.

  Not only will soft skills training help when it comes to succession planning, but it will also improve motivation across the entire organization and create a more harmonized, cooperative working environment.

  Which soft skills training courses are key?

  Now that you know that soft skills training can be hugely beneficial across your company, you likely want to know more about which courses may be a good idea to plan.

  Soft skills are essentially people skills, methods and strategies that we can use to have better, more positive interactions with those around us. However, they can also teach us about our approaches to work.

  Some of the most worthwhile courses to offer in your workplace include:

  ·         Communication Skills

  ·         Leadership Skills

  ·         Time Management

  ·         Team-Working

  ·         Problem-Solving

  ·         Change Management

  Soft skills can benefit each and every employee in your business. You should offer them across the organization and encourage staff to attend them.

  We shouldn’t forget about hard skills, though, right?

  Of course not. While soft skills training teaches employees how to cope, deal and react in a situation, hard skills training gives them all the vital knowledge and skills that they need to actually get the job done.

  Many popular hard skills courses include:

  ·         Languages

  ·         Computer Programming

  ·         Data Analysis

  ·         Mathematics

  ·         Microsoft Office Training

  Not every type of hard skill course is suitable for every employee, and you should ensure that the right staff have the right access to training courses. That said, if you have employees who show an interest in a training course outside of their job role, you should not stop them from learning more to develop themselves.

  If you have employees embarking on administrative careers, why not offer them a more modern, competency-focused form of administrative and PA courses that cover a wide range of soft skills? You’ll develop staff that are not only qualified to perform their roles but also can come together to create a harmonised office, too.

  Your business will thank you for it in the long run – as will your employees.

  BY JOAN TANNER