Developing Gen Z talent: Why are soft skills so important?

Zuha Husain is Senior Instructional Designer at the mthree Academy in India. She recently built a self-paced eLearning Soft Skills course to serve our Alumni community worldwide. In this blog, Zuha explains how her course helps our clients integrate new talent into teams within large global organizations by training Alumni in soft skills ready for day one of the placement.

> Soft skills are more important than ever

In the post-COVID-19 world companies need emotionally intelligent workers with a range of 'soft' skills to help them navigate through uncertain and challenging times. However, the word ‘soft’ has the potential to underestimate the time and difficulty it can take to learn and master the important interpersonal competencies we all need to work well with other people.

These soft skill competencies include:

• Autonomy and responsibility
• Proactive communication and collaboration
• Emotional intelligence and empathy
• Time management and problem solving
• Adaptability and motivation to upskill

> Team success hinges on employee engagement

The research is clear: Managers account for over 70% of the variance in team engagement. In other words, managers are responsible for the engagement of their team members. The buck stops with them. There are no quick fixes when it comes to human relationships.

With traditional hiring strategies and graduate programs, it is essential that managers effectively interact with, and develop, each new team member over time within the working environment.

But when an employer needs to hire people urgently, the interpersonal skills of the new talent are as important on day one, as their technical skills. The good news is programs which focus on training ahead of starting a role, such as mthree’s Hire Train Deploy model, provide hiring managers with people who are ready to hit the ground running.

We supply Alumni who are already effective communicators, have a growth mindset, foster collaboration and professionalism, and can develop creative and critical thinking skill sets.

> Preparing for current and future workforce challenges requires a partner with tech expertise

The mthree Academy has the flexibility and capability to help clients fulfil their business transformation projects from wherever they are in their digital tech adoption. (See more on how we futureproof workforces.)

The Academy is led by practitioners who all have industry experience in the subjects they teach. We offer hybrid learning modalities from full-time instructor led technical training, to assisted self-paced study, and online self-study in a huge range of topics - including soft skills.

The most intensive technical training takes place before an Alumni is placed with the client. Then when the Alumni are working in our client’s team they have access to a variety of continual learning and engagement activities. Alumni also have access to LinkedIn Learning and are encouraged to keep learning.

> About the soft skills training course

My soft skills training course is a place for Alumni to learn about themselves and the people around them. I designed it with an in-depth focus on the needs of our clients to serve our learner’s community worldwide.

Immersive learning is a hugely effective and engaging way for our learners to develop their knowledge. We use the Bodyswaps VR platform for Alumni to practice power skills such as body language and interview techniques.

The tool is designed to create realistic interactions for practicing communication skills in a variety of contexts. It is also great fun to use and our Alumni love it!

The Soft Skills self-paced eLearning training program includes content with a duration of almost 10 hours across a broad spectrum of topics. It ensures our Alumni receive the same high-quality training wherever they are in the world.

By the end of this course, participants are able to:

- Demonstrate essential communication skills in a professional environment including personal effectiveness, collaboration, negotiation, assertiveness, and appropriate use of communication technologies.
- Explain the benefits of embracing a growth mindset and learning agility.
- Emphasize the importance of cultural and social awareness in the workplace.
- Develop leadership qualities, networking etiquette, and team management skills.
- Adapt to different collaboration styles and overcome barriers that hinder effective collaboration.
- Discuss various reasons for conflict and strategies for conflict management.
- Enhance remote work effectiveness through appropriate strategies.
- Demonstrate brainstorming techniques, creative thinking, and problem-solving skills.
- Practice public speaking, presentation skills, active listening, and inclusive leadership with Bodyswaps.

If you would like more information about the training we provide, contact [email protected]