A Curriculum for Social Skills
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On more than one occasion you've heard me talk about the
deterioration of social skills in the work place, primarily due to the
heightened influence of technology. It is not uncommon to find people who have
basic problems interacting with customers, vendors, or fellow employees. This
fundamental flaw has an adverse effect on teamwork, customer service, and
sales.
I recently had a reader call me to task on this and asked what kind of
curriculum I would recommend to teach proper social skills to younger workers
entering the work force. From my perspective, I can think of three prime areas
to concentrate on:
* Communications - both written and oral. It's not simply a matter of
mastering the media to be used, but more importantly, the content. Text
messaging and the Internet has basically destroyed civil discourse and how to
write an effective business letter which, of course, is critical for customer
service and sales. Beyond this, people need simple speaking skills, such as how
to engage in conversation, the proper way of performing an introduction, how to
make a presentation or conduct a meeting. This includes lessons in persuasion,
negotiation, and rhetorical thought. In addition to writing and speaking,
listening is equally important, after all, it takes two to Tango.
* Ethics - dictates our value system, and is a little more than what is
right and what is wrong. It also includes respect for others as well as
yourself (a "Do unto others..." philosophy). Ethics plays a significant role in
terms of teaching such things as self-worth, dedication, integrity, ambition,
and the value of a dollar. Ethics is an expression of the expected code of
conduct for everyone to adhere to and abide by.
* Common Courtesy - represents basic manners and how to interact with
others. It's a little more than "please" and "thank you", but that's not a bad
place to start. It includes how to invite someone to participate in something,
how to thank someone for a service performed, and how to include others and make
them feel welcome. This also includes how to dress, personal appearances, how
to act and conduct themselves with others ("right" versus "wrong"), etiquette
and protocol, even the importance of being punctual.
Come to think of it, isn't this what parents are supposed to be teaching their
children? Unfortunately, our youth are learning their socialization skills more
from Hollywood, video games, and the Internet, as opposed to their parents,
which, unfortunately, is doing a lousy job of raising our kids. Instead, I
recommend some simple courses to teach these socialization skills, either as a
group or, preferably, some one-on-one coaching such as in a mentoring program
(of which I'm a big believer). And for God's sake, don't give them a DVD or
video on this, have a human-being talk to them instead!
Copyright © 2009 Tim Bryce. All rights reserved.
About the Author
Tim Bryce is the Managing Director of
M. Bryce & Associates
(MBA) of Palm Harbor, Florida and has over 30 years of experience in the
management consulting field. He can be reached at timb001@phmainstreet.com
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Article Published/Sorted/Amended on Scopulus 2009-11-29 22:11:27 in Personal Articles
