#TLDR: Simply learning a new soft skill through online or in-person training is insufficient for you to benefit! Find out what else is needed to turn your learning into a powerful stepping stone for your professional growth.
Acquisition of a skill ≠ Ability to apply the skill ≠ Demonstration of application ≠ Tangible outcomes that help your colleagues and your business
Acquisition of a skill: We acquire new skills by reading, listening, or watching. If we talk about soft skills, this typically entails completing an in-person/online course, reading a good book, or taking an online assessment.
Ability to apply the skill: Once we acquire (know/understand) a new skill, we must also build the ability to apply that skill in real life. For soft skills, this typically means having a plan of action where you can utilize your new skill (e.g., if you did a DiSC profile recently, then knowing with whom to be assertive and with whom to be persuasive, provided you know their DiSC profiles)
Demonstration of application: Your newly acquired skill and thoughtfully developed action plan will only be helpful if you implement it. Continuing with our DiSC example, this would imply using your action plan in the next tense team conflict of a critical project. One can also choose a low-impact situation, e.g., Monday morning quarter-backing coffee chat in the office, but it won't matter much, right?
Tangible outcomes that help your colleagues and the business: This is what we all want, the reason we embark on skill development, right? However, this is also the most distant and difficult outcome of soft skill development. For our DiSC example, your key stakeholders will only notice your efforts in the acquisition, planning, and implementation if they see and feel that your DiSC approach resolved the conflict and helped move the team forward.
When was the last time you enhanced your soft skills, built intentional plans to implement them, applied those plans in critical real-life situations, and asked your key stakeholders if they felt the positive impact directly attributable to your recent learning? Did you close the gap between learning and benefit realization, going beyond the certificate/CEUs?
At #PBJAM, we see this as a critical hurdle for most modern organizations (and professionals!) to overcome to reap the benefits of soft skill development. This is where companies and individuals hesitate to commit their time and money to soft skill development. Let's close the gap with #PBJAM! Let's unleash the power of science and soft skills to propel you to new professional heights.
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