If you read the last blog post on the POW Phrase of the Week "soft skills" and if you were intrigued by improving your own soft skill set, take heart—and take advantage: KiKi Productions, Inc. Communications Coaching is offering a spring sale now through May 30th on all workshops.
Here's what you get:
- In-depth teaching of The 3 Keys to Communication & how they can help each team member grow individually to benefit the group
- Custom content to meet your group's particular goals
- Interactivity to enhance the learning process
- Strategic insight on meeting future goals
- A printed copy of the e-workbook Speak Your Truth: How to Say What You Mean to Get What You Want for every member of your team.
Custom content includes any soft skills training your team needs. From conflict resolution to time management to goal-setting & accountability to more, you choose the right content for your team's needs. Not sure what content will work best for your team? No need to worry. Each workshop also comes with a free consultation to assess your team's challenges, as well as how your team members best learn.
Right now through May 30th, all this can be yours at a 20% discount. Contact me, kealah@kikiproductionsinc.com or phone 708-955-5131.
© KiKi Productions, Inc. 2012
Apr 3, 2012
WOW Word of the Week: SOFT SKILLS
Summary: Do you have the soft skills it takes to compete—and win—in today's business world? Find out what soft skills are and how to get them today.
This week's WOW is really a POW—a Phrase of the Week: soft skills.
According to its Wikipedia definition, soft skills refers to a specific set of abilities that are often innate, but can be learned.
Let me repeat that: these skills can be learned. They just may take more time to learn than your traditional hard job skills.
What's the difference between "hard skills" and "soft skills"? Great question! So glad you asked.
Hard skills are things like typing, data input, computer programming, computer program usage, even memorizing sales scripts. They're the day-to-day duties you list in your résumé that help you land the job—or the ones you learned and practiced while on the job. Soft skills, by contrast, are things like crafting an appropriate email message that resonates with your client; training others to use company-wide computer and data systems; and incorporating the bottom line points of a sales script into your own, authentic language. They are the little extra flourishes you put in your résumé's objective or cover letter to ensure you land the job (and get along with your co-workers and employers)—things like "people person," "great listener" and "works well on a team." Here's more:
1. "Soft skills are personal attributes that enhance an individual's interactions, job performance and career prospects" and are "broadly applicable both in and outside the work place." (Wikipedia)
2. "Screening or training for" these types of skills "can yield significant return on investment for an organization." Studies have proven this to be true. (Wikipedia et. al.)
3. It's been suggested they're more important long-term than hard skills, or the occupational skill sets that can be more readily taught and learned—and even remembered by rote. (Wikipedia, KiKi Productions Inc. Communications Coaching et. al.)
4. Whereas "hard skills" are typically related to one's IQ, soft skills relate to your EQ, or your emotional intelligence quotient. (Wiki, KiKi)
5. Some of the top soft skills that employers look for can be found in this article. (AOL Jobs)
Here are a list of soft skills that I teach my clients daily:
communication skills
conflict resolution
creative problem solving
strategic thinking/enhanced focus
icebreakers/cold calling
sales closing
rapport building
team building/team goal setting
personal goal setting & achievement
time management/effective appointment setting
Join me in the campaign to add this fabulous phrase, soft skills, to the dictionary—or at least the open/slang dictionary at Merriam-Webster.com. Click the link, submit the phrase and credit the article or blog entry of your choice!
And to add some much-needed soft skills to your own repertoire and résumé—or to improve your soft skill set—consider working with a coach like me or other communications coaches. Google the search term or check out my website to begin your journey to personal and professional improvement.
© KiKi Productions, Inc. 2012
This week's WOW is really a POW—a Phrase of the Week: soft skills.
According to its Wikipedia definition, soft skills refers to a specific set of abilities that are often innate, but can be learned.
Let me repeat that: these skills can be learned. They just may take more time to learn than your traditional hard job skills.
What's the difference between "hard skills" and "soft skills"? Great question! So glad you asked.
Hard skills are things like typing, data input, computer programming, computer program usage, even memorizing sales scripts. They're the day-to-day duties you list in your résumé that help you land the job—or the ones you learned and practiced while on the job. Soft skills, by contrast, are things like crafting an appropriate email message that resonates with your client; training others to use company-wide computer and data systems; and incorporating the bottom line points of a sales script into your own, authentic language. They are the little extra flourishes you put in your résumé's objective or cover letter to ensure you land the job (and get along with your co-workers and employers)—things like "people person," "great listener" and "works well on a team." Here's more:
1. "Soft skills are personal attributes that enhance an individual's interactions, job performance and career prospects" and are "broadly applicable both in and outside the work place." (Wikipedia)
2. "Screening or training for" these types of skills "can yield significant return on investment for an organization." Studies have proven this to be true. (Wikipedia et. al.)
3. It's been suggested they're more important long-term than hard skills, or the occupational skill sets that can be more readily taught and learned—and even remembered by rote. (Wikipedia, KiKi Productions Inc. Communications Coaching et. al.)
4. Whereas "hard skills" are typically related to one's IQ, soft skills relate to your EQ, or your emotional intelligence quotient. (Wiki, KiKi)
5. Some of the top soft skills that employers look for can be found in this article. (AOL Jobs)
Here are a list of soft skills that I teach my clients daily:
communication skills
conflict resolution
creative problem solving
strategic thinking/enhanced focus
icebreakers/cold calling
sales closing
rapport building
team building/team goal setting
personal goal setting & achievement
time management/effective appointment setting
Join me in the campaign to add this fabulous phrase, soft skills, to the dictionary—or at least the open/slang dictionary at Merriam-Webster.com. Click the link, submit the phrase and credit the article or blog entry of your choice!
And to add some much-needed soft skills to your own repertoire and résumé—or to improve your soft skill set—consider working with a coach like me or other communications coaches. Google the search term or check out my website to begin your journey to personal and professional improvement.
© KiKi Productions, Inc. 2012
Feb 13, 2012
WOW Word of the Week: Aphasia
Summary: Here's another brain-related A-word ...
Over the weekend, while curled in front of the fireplace and the television with my husband and our two cats, I was introduced to the story of Steve Goff. Formerly a successful Canadian business man, Goff suffered a stroke that left him with aphasia, or an inability to comprehend and speak words.
Aphasia can be caused by any number of brain injuries, as well as by birth defects and neurological diseases and disorders. Its effects vary from person to person—in Goff's case, he can speak a handful of expressive words and short phrases. During the televised interview I watched, he wrote singular, longer words on paper, and his daughter then translated his message into sentence form with Goff encouraging her along, saying, "Yes, yes," and "I know, I know, right!" His grasp of understanding the English language has not changed, however, his ability to formulate words has changed quite drastically.
In severe cases of aphasia, communication can be almost nil. But some communication is possible, and at least moderately successful proven therapies have included copying written words over and over to improve 'vocabulary,' and drawing for the same intention. When the distinctive visual aphasia is present, however, people with this brain challenge do not recognize written words either.
Other subsets of the disorder include receptive aphasia (normal speech with a hampered or non-existent ability to recognize written words), nominal aphasia (difficulty naming certain word groups, such as all verbs), and global aphasia which is the most severe form. However, even people in this subset are able to communicate with facial expressions and gestures. With creativity, regular communication is possible regardless of the severity.
Aphasia (eh - FAZH - ee - YAH) or (eh - FAZH - YAH) – (n.) loss of or impairment to word recognition and use, especially from some form of brain damage. Used medically in English as early as 1867, this Latin word derives from the Greek: a (without) and phasis (utterance).
© KiKi Productions, Inc. 2010
Over the weekend, while curled in front of the fireplace and the television with my husband and our two cats, I was introduced to the story of Steve Goff. Formerly a successful Canadian business man, Goff suffered a stroke that left him with aphasia, or an inability to comprehend and speak words.
Aphasia can be caused by any number of brain injuries, as well as by birth defects and neurological diseases and disorders. Its effects vary from person to person—in Goff's case, he can speak a handful of expressive words and short phrases. During the televised interview I watched, he wrote singular, longer words on paper, and his daughter then translated his message into sentence form with Goff encouraging her along, saying, "Yes, yes," and "I know, I know, right!" His grasp of understanding the English language has not changed, however, his ability to formulate words has changed quite drastically.
In severe cases of aphasia, communication can be almost nil. But some communication is possible, and at least moderately successful proven therapies have included copying written words over and over to improve 'vocabulary,' and drawing for the same intention. When the distinctive visual aphasia is present, however, people with this brain challenge do not recognize written words either.
Other subsets of the disorder include receptive aphasia (normal speech with a hampered or non-existent ability to recognize written words), nominal aphasia (difficulty naming certain word groups, such as all verbs), and global aphasia which is the most severe form. However, even people in this subset are able to communicate with facial expressions and gestures. With creativity, regular communication is possible regardless of the severity.
Aphasia (eh - FAZH - ee - YAH) or (eh - FAZH - YAH) – (n.) loss of or impairment to word recognition and use, especially from some form of brain damage. Used medically in English as early as 1867, this Latin word derives from the Greek: a (without) and phasis (utterance).
© KiKi Productions, Inc. 2010
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