How To: Develop In Demand Soft Skills

I'm going to test and see how this goes but I'm trying something new today. Instead of doing the regular one course per blog that I usually do, I'm going to be talking about a group of courses that all fit into one topic. LinkedIn Learning groups up amazing courses for those

who want to learn how to become fluent in programs or professions, called Learning Paths. For example, I am very interested in art learning paths because I want to develop some skills on the side to help my photography.

Today, I'll be diving into one that would segment nicely with my last post. This pathway has courses about all the key skills anyone will need in the workplace. These skills include:

• Resilience

• Getting Things Done

• Critical Thinking

• Teamwork Foundations

• Communication Foundations

• Building Trust

• Effective Listening

• Writing in Plain English

• Creativity

I'll be summarizing each one and what contents will be described in the course, but it's a lot better to watch the course. Each one is less than 1.5 hours and can give you a lot more information than the summaries. These summaries are for those who want to get an idea of what they will learn and if the course is for them.

---

Resilience

What is Resilience? Google says its "the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties", and is one of the key things that employers will look for when hiring. We have all got the interview question asking us what problems we have faced and how we overcame them. These types

of questions showcase the level of resilience you have and other qualities as well.

Tatiana Kolovou, a member of Kelley School of Business, helps define resilience in a much more comprehensible manner and identify methods for facing rejection in daily tasks. This is one of the shorter courses that I finished in one sitting during my breaks between classes and it gave me some motivation for the rest of the day to always look at rejection in a good manner.

Getting Things Done

I needed this course as reading week approached as I wanted to get so much done and had a huge to-do list. What I noticed during reading week is that I tend to procrastinate A LOT. I binge movies and shows and time passes by so quickly, and I get nothing done at the end. It is a very bad habit and I wanted to break it. This course gave me a lot of resources and tips that have helped me figure out a more reasonable plan for reading week.

David Allen walks through his very own five-step model for Getting Things Done. He talks about all the feelings we feel when we look at our to-do list and how to stay on top of things. I like this course a lot for many reasons, but the biggest one is when he describes how to stick to the method. Like a diet, it is hard to stick to new habits, but I like how he takes this into consideration when creating the course.

Critical Thinking

Critical Thinking is the process to make thoughtful decisions. We make decisions on a constant basis, almost every hour in our life. Knowing how to make thoughtful decisions can change our pathway and how we think of life.

Mike Figliuolo, Managing Director of thoughtLEADERS, uses his expertise in leadership training in outlining a series of techniques that can help solve an issue step by step. He focuses on methods such as asking the 5 whys and the 7 so whats, exploring the 80/20 rule and many more. The best part about this course is how they start from the root and figure out how to unpack from there. Understanding the root causes and can help prevent future incidents.

Teamwork Foundations

This is a course I did a review on when I first started my blog. I will add a link to the review cause it went really into detail of what I liked and the course content:

Link: https://emekab08.wixsite.com/alwayslearning/post/how-to-teamwork-foundations

Communication Foundations

Communication is one of the first things that your employer looks for in a candidate. Many

jobs require strong communication as a skill. Not all of us have amazing communication skills, as I also learned that it comes from practice and stepping out of your comfort zone. A good start to learning about communication is through this course by two members of the Kelley School of Business.

Brenda Bailey-Hughes and Tatiana Kolovou explain the four building blocks of communication and how to apply them in multiple professional situations. What I like most about this course is they not only focus on verbal communication, like meetings an presentation, but also communication in other forms such as emails. Brenda and Tatiana really understand that communication comes in multiple forms and clearly demonstrates the attitude that must be taken in order to bring value to the words said.

Building Trust

Trust is one of the most important aspects of any relationship. In a professional stance, you and your co-workers need to trust one another in their skills, opinions and decisions made. This not only can change the dynamics of the team but the outcome of the project.

Brenda Bailey-Hughes explains the criteria when evaluating trust, recognizing unintentional bias, and how to build a trust-rebuilding apology. What I like most about this course is she talks about not only how to build trust, but how to boost trust, and how to apologize when things go wrong.

Effective Listening

Listening is just as important as communicating. Knowing how to receive information is necessary for working towards a solution in any situation. Brenda Bailey-Hughes and Tatiana Kolovou, members of Kelley School of Business go through the importance of listening and how to stay away from distractions.

What I like most about this course is the way to get away from the challenges. We all want to listen, but sometimes we get distracted for many reasons. These creators go through common reasons why we get distracted and some ways to focus on the person talking and not on the distraction.

Writing in Plain English

Plain English is writing that is clear and straightforward, in consideration who is reading the text. This is known as the standard language in the workplace as it is easy for anyone to read without being confused with jargon, wordiness, and cliches. I find this to be an important part of communication as many forms have transformed from verbal to written.

Judy Steiner-Williams, a lecturer from Kelley Business School, explains the importance of writing in plain English in the workplace and how to do so. She goes through the process of making our writing more concise and cutting away overused words. The best part of the course is how it is laid out in a way where you aren't hit with all the information. She breaks it down in easy steps and you can see the change from casual writing to plain writing

Creativity

Everyone is creative, it is not a skill we are born with, it is developed. I thought I wasn't that creative but it really is just taking the time to expand your ideas and knowledge. Stefan Mumaw guides this course in a way that makes you feel creative by the end of the lesson. He pushes on the fact that no idea is "stupid" and there is the hidden value behind every thought.

What I like most about this course is how interactive it gets with every lesson. It gave a different pace compared to the other course as it pushed you to think creatively about each assignment and he explains why each assignment is an important part of creativity.

---

Link to Learning Pathway: https://www.linkedin.com/learning/paths/master-in-demand-professional-soft-skills?u=2174970