Accepting responsibility. My students tend to blame others when problems occur. They seldom accept personal responsibilities. Controlling emotions is also part of responsibility.
As always, it depends on the school and the teaching topics, but I've noticed in a career-focused school, conflict resolution tends to sometimes be the most difficult. The students have their own lives (work, school, personal, etc.) and the conflict created by all these happening at once sometimes becomes too much. Finding solutions, depending on the case, can be easy, but it might also be hard (as I've found out working with my students).
I think it is difficult to teach empathy. It does seem to be something that some people have naturally more than others.
I think good communication skills are the most difficult soft skills to teach students.
Students must learn to develop good communication skills to best interact with fellow students, coworkers, clients, vendors, and supervisors.
These skills are difficult to teach as they must be modeled and emphasized in the classroom for students to understand their importance.
I work with medical assistants and it is just as important that they learn soft skills to work with doctors ,peers, and patients as learning medical procedures. I have to continually point out that they should treat patients as though they are family members or treat them the way you would want to be treated when sick or in pain. They tend to focus only on the treatment and forget the human element.
Tammy,
Communication is always tough no matter what population you work with. Keep up the good work and continue to model good communication.
Philip Campbell
I think the most difficult soft skill in my class is communication. I work with a diverse group of students going into a variety of careers. It seems like the students are only thinking about the mechanical aspects of their career. My class focus is on the people side but some are not convinced even at the end of class that communication is essential in any type of career. They don't seem to realize that sometimes you don't even get an interview if that communication piece is not in place.
I believe one of the hardest soft skills to teach our students is communication. We know that they are going to have personal issues, and that life gets in the way. But, it’s really important to be able to communicate about what is going on. We try to show them how important this skill is by emphasizing communication on our side. We should be emailing the students when they are absent; making sure they know what their grades are on a regular basis; fully explaining what our expectations are for assignments and class outcomes.
Although we really try to make these things happen, there are still some students who do not reciprocate. It is very tough to experience this, especially when we want our students to be successful in a world where no, matter what the profession, one must be able to communicate effectively.
I would say that the soft skills that fall under the "people skills" part of the equation are the ones that are harder to teach, since the students may or may not really believe that they need them-- and if they choose not to believe, one's approaches to others are a core part of one's identity, and that makes them pretty hard to change from the outside.
I think that this is because many of my students feel like they wanted to work within a very technical field specifically because they do not enjoy or really see the need for people skills or customer service. They want to work behind the scenes, and be evaluated on the mastery of their craft only.
This makes workplace behaviors easier to discuss, since they are easily connected to the ideas of professionalism, and opportunities for advancement.
I found it interesting that the training made explicit a strategy that I have been using based on intuition: I have to connect the concept of people skills to dealing with others in the workplace, working with internal customers, and being viewed as professional before I can get some students to acknowledge that it will matter to them how they speak with others, and the types of relationships that they develop and maintain with their bosses, peers, and subordinates.
Ambition can't be taught. You have to want it to be truly motivated to go get it. You can succeed without ambition but you likely won't be happy with your success. Doing what you love and loving what you do, starts off by deciding what your ambitious about. That can't be taught it is only felt by he/she who has it.
managing emotions. We are in a hands-on, tactile environment at our school, and sometimes emotions are acted upon quickly before time is taken to consider consequences.
I typically encounter students in the culinary classes who are challenged academically. They sometimes lack confidence in their soft skills due to the troubles they've had with technical skills. I try to instill the value of readiness and attitude. If they are willing to be good listeners, the skills will come.
Managing their emotions. It's so easy to let your feelings towards another influence you to preform poorly. I'm angry at the instructor so I turn my paper in late. Teaching someone to always do their best even when they are upset is an important workplsce skill.
In my opinion it seems that conflict resolution, or how to get along with others is the hardest skill to teach students. It seems to me that students tend to look for conflict instead of resolutions.
I find that some students have a sense of entitlement. I find it difficult to teach them that we are here to provide good customer service.
I find it most difficult to teach workplace behaviors. Students expect to be able to act in a professional setting the same way that they behave in social settings. Establishing appropriate professional workplace behaviors in the classroom is extremely difficult, especially with students who have no work experience. I find that giving constant daily examples of what is considered inappropriate vs. appropriate workplace behavior can be very effective. Role playing on these skills is also very helpful because itl allows interaction and immediate feedback.
kristine,
That is hard for some to do. But once you have it figured out, it is a powerful tool.
Philip Campbell
EMOTIONAL MANAGEMENT!!! CHANGING NEGATIV EEMOTIONS INTO POSITIVE EMOTIONS....THIS IS SOOOO DIFFICULT FOR YOUNG STUDENTS JUST ENTERING THE WORKFORCE, THEIR EMOTIONS DRIVE THEM AND THINK REACT BEFORE BEING PROACTIVE. I TRY MANY DIFFERENT SKILL CHALLENGES TO ENFORCE THE NEED FOR SOFT SKILLS
Just yesterday, I was discussing with several other chef instructors about how to use the rubric to critique students, and then give the grade. We had all noticed that several instuctors simply put what is wrong with the product and the amount of points deducted for each part. That steers the discussion in a negative manner. The instructor's comments are extremely important to help each student improve their skills. Generally, human nature dictates shutting down when we are only negative comments are the basis of the discussion. It is very important to include the postive aspects of each product, and each part of the product, as well as the negative with the suggestion of how to improve the student's production of the product.
A bit long winded... Basically, start with the positive and then discuss what is needed, and how, to improve.
Candis,
Yes, very hard to train someone to do be able to do that. Usually this is something they have or do not have. But if we model it they may be more likely to adopt.
Philip Campbell
