Soft Skills

Description

Today’s business is all about people. It is about communication, relationships and about presenting yourself, your organisation and your ideas in the most positive and impactful way. Soft skills – leadership, team building, communication, decision making, time management, stress management, interview skills etc. - allow us to effectively and efficiently use our technical skills and knowledge. They improve the way we interact with our bosses, co-workers and customers/clients. That is why a strong soft skills set is considered to be very important. This book provides practical guidelines to develop soft skills, and will be useful to all who intend to succeed in their chosen profession – particularly the final year graduate/post-graduate students.

About the author

Mr. Man Mohan Joshi, M.A., M.Ed., Cert.EA, Dip.HRD, has over 40 years’ teaching, training and administrative experience. He has worked as Principal of large and reputed schools in India, Kuwait and Sultanate of Oman.

For his work on Innovative Practices in Value Education he was awarded by the National Council of Educational Research and Training, India.

He is also the recipient of the Best Teacher Award from the Govt. of Tamilnadu, India, as well as the Central Board of Secondary Education, India.

He has presented papers at various national and international conferences under the auspices of UNESCO. He has also conducted various workshops for teachers, students, parents and administrators. The topics covered a wide area viz., Leadership and Team Building, Value Education, Administration Skills, Choosing a Career, Effective Decision Making in School Administration, Effective Communication Skills, Interpersonal Relationships, Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation, Skills in Dealing with Managers, Secretarial Skills.

Currently he is working as Consultant in Arabian Institute for financial and Administrative Studies, Sultanate of Oman, and also conducts workshops for teachers, educational administrators, managers, supervisors and marketing personnel.

He can be contacted through e-mail: manmohan.joshi@gmail.com

Content

1. Soft skills 
   
   1. Introduction 
      
   2. What are soft skills? 
      
   3. Need for soft skills 
      
2. Personality development 
   
   1. What is personality? 
      
   2. Types of personality 
      
   3. Personality development 
      
   4. Elements of personality development 
      
   5. SWOT analysis 
      
   6. Goal setting 
      
   7. Creativity 
      
   8. Human values 
      
3. Communication skills 
   
   1. Introduction 
      
   2. Meaning 
      
   3. Purpose of communication 
      
   4. Process of communication 
      
   5. Key elements of communication 
      
   6. Characteristics of effective communication 
      
   7. Tools of communication 
      
   8. Verbal communication 
      
   9. Listening skills 
      
   10. Speaking skills 
       
   11. Non-verbal communication 
       
   12. Dealing with conflict 
       
   13. Barriers to communication 
       
   14. Overcoming barriers 
       
4. Interpersonal relationships 
   
   1. Introduction 
      
   2. Importance of interpersonal relationship skills 
      
   3. Types of interpersonal relationships 
      
   4. Uses of interpersonal relationship skills 
      
   5. Factors affecting interpersonal relationships 
      
   6. How to accommodate different styles 
      
   7. Consequences of interpersonal relationships 
      
5. Team building 
   
   1. Introduction 
      
   2. Importance of human relations 
      
   3. What is a team? 
      
   4. Understanding behaviour 
      
   5. Comfort zones 
      
   6. Stepping stones to assertiveness 
      
   7. Getting to win/win 
      
   8. Assertiveness building blocks 
      
   9. Characteristics of high performance teams 
      
   10. Self-questionnaire 
       
6. Leadership 
   
   1. Introduction 
      
   2. Meaning of leadership 
      
   3. Importance of leadership 
      
   4. Leadership relationship 
      
   5. Approaches to leadership 
      
   6. Task, team and individual functions 
      
   7. Functions and responsibilities of leadership 
      
   8. Styles of leadership 
      
7. Time management 
   
   1. Introduction 
      
   2. How do you manage time? 
      
8. Presentation skills 
   
   1. Introduction 
      
   2. Process 
      
   3. Examples of presentation language 
      
9. Managing stress 
   
   1. Introduction 
      
   2. What is stress? 
      
   3. Recognizing stress 
      
   4. Acknowledging stress 
      
   5. Common signs of stress 
      
   6. Tackling the problem 
      
10. Thinking skills 
    
    1. Introduction 
       
    2. Core thinking skills 
       
    3. Categories of thinking 
       
11. Problem solving 
    
    1. Introduction 
       
    2. Need for problem solving 
       
    3. Skills for problem solving 
       
    4. Process of problem solving 
       
    5. Stages of problem solving 
       
    6. Methods of problem solving 
       
12. Decision making 
    
    1. Introduction 
       
    2. Features 
       
    3. Scope 
       
    4. Purpose 
       
    5. Types 
       
    6. Process 
       
13. Employment communication 
    
    1. Introduction 
       
    2. Wrting CV (curriculum vitae) 
       
    3. Interview 
       
14. Workplace etiquette 
    
    1. Introductions 
       
    2. Behaviour at work 
       
    3. Personal etiquette 
       
    4. Using office utilities and resources 
       
    5. Travel etiquette