Soft Skills Training

Background

I've always been fascinated by people and why we are the way we are. After completing an honours degree in Human Sciences at Oxford University, specialising in psychology, I continued to develop my interest through a range of part-time training in counselling, group-work, stress management and assertiveness training. I was awarded an MA by Oxford University in 2000. At the end of 1991 I left my job as Community Education Officer for London Weekend Television to become a freelance soft skills trainer. I live with my husband near Cambridge and work mostly in London and the South East.

As a trainer, my goal is to change delegates' behaviour and attitudes in ways that help them to work (and live) more effectively. 'Hard edge results' means actual practical changes in ways of working, not just  leaving the training ideas behind at the end of the course. Typical examples include stronger delegation skills, more effective time management, better handling of tricky customers, highly polished presentation skills, or increased confidence to try out new things and/or to handle old things better - there are any number of soft skills which are invaluable in the workplace. Specific learning outcomes are achieved through a mixture of three key elements:

• increasing people's understanding and awareness (delegates gain information/knowledge)
• demonstrating easily applicable techniques (delegates gain ideas and insight)
• guiding focused practice, feedback and reflection (delegates gain new ways of doing things)

This three-fold approach means that people engage deeply with the learning - they are not just 'attending a course' but listening, taking in, discussing, trying out, recognising the value for their own particular needs; and by the end of the training, they know what and how they need to continue to develop and are motivated to do so.