by Dr BMK Perera

Director/Career Guidance Unit University of Peradeniya

• Employability skills• Key skills• Core skills• Interpersonal skills• Transferable skills

Fallows, 2002

Soft skills are also referred to as

Soft skills defined …

• Skills, abilities and traits that pertain to personality, attitude and behavior

Moss and Tilly, 1996

Soft skills: The two domains

Examples of Interpersonal (interactive) soft skills …

• Team work• Relationship-building• Adaptability• Written and oral communication • Friendliness• Attire• Grooming

Examples of Intrapersonal (motivational) soft skills• Planning/ organizing• Taking initiative• Problem solving• Showing enthusiasm• Stress tolerance• Dependability• Creative thinking and innovation• Time management• Willingness to learn• Coachability

Importance

• Employers criticize university output as having their heads full of theories, concepts and principles but graduates are often ill-equipped to deal with real life situations

• ‘Soft skills are a lot harder to teach in the world of work‘

Wall Street Journal Article, 2002

Importance (continued) • Companies are going global, and often,

technical experts are called upon to do a variety of non-technical tasks requiring soft skills

• Currently, people management skills are placed higher than strategic management skills and process management• Source: BMW Presentation made at University of Rhode Island, 2002

Effective_engineer

Predictors of success in the world of work

IQ

EQ AQRelates to resilience

Soft skills domain

Predicts < 30% of a person’s success

Predicts >70% of a person’s success

Targeting soft skills• Inclusion of career guidance in academic

program• Outward bound training (Experiential

learning)• Debates/ public speaking competitions/

Toastmasters Club• Strengthening of student societies • Competitions for projects displaying

innovative thinking and team work• Mentoring programs within and outside the

system (limited numbers)

Targeting soft skills in academic programs• Lectures/ workshops on campus

• Time management• Stress management• Conflict resolution/ negotiation/ mediation• Effective presentations• Assertive behavior• Understanding teamwork• Covey’s 7 habits of effective people• CV writing and interview facing (in the last

year)

Osmosis model

Learning Centre model

(Expect students to acquire soft skills while following their academic programs

Centralized support service providing generic skills, operating outside curriculum/ Can offer ‘Bolted on’ courses

Integrated model

Skills taught within a given discipline, specialty or faculty

Embedded model Highest level of integration

Targeting soft skills in Outward bound Training• Popular with the corporate sector• Historically used for training survival

skills to seamen in 1941• Highly participative• Interactive• Simulates real life situations• Adaptable to needs of the learner• Excellent for changing attitudes and

developing team spirit

Targeting soft skills in Outward bound Training• MIT, Sloan Center, Sloan School for

Management example• Provided by outside organization (off the

campus)• Used to build camaraderie• Students set personal goals• Decide on extracurricular activities to engage

in• Develop academic operating norms for the

semester (Develop a team charter)• A lot of physical activities

Way to develop the proposal…

First, select a set of soft skills to target

Intervention 1

Intervention 2

Intervention 3

Equifinality

First, select an activity/ intervention

Soft skill 1

Soft skill 2

Soft skill 3

-Identify concrete needs for university or faculty Determine possible overlaps

-Augment teaching with programs where needed

Irrespective of the approach there is a need to look at;

• Cost, time and feasibility issues• Degree of change possible• Relevance to the university

Workshops for Student Society Workshops for Student Society LeadersLeaders