Soft Skills Coaching
Effective Communication Skills
Soft skills coaching focuses on developing interpersonal skills that enhance an individual’s ability to connect and communicate effectively with others. Through tailored coaching sessions, individuals can hone skills such as active listening, empathy, intercultural understanding, and emotional intelligence, all of which contribute to improved interactions in the workplace and beyond. With the right guidance, participants can bridge communication gaps, leading to a more cohesive and productive environment.
Effective communication is a cornerstone of successful interactions in both personal and professional environments. It encompasses articulating thoughts clearly and understanding and responding to others’ messages appropriately. Some employees struggle with obtaining the soft skills they need to be successful. Does your organization have an employee (or volunteer) with excellent technical skills but poor soft skills? Maybe they're struggling with interpersonal communication and don't understand workplace culture. You’re not alone.
Depending on their employment, cultural, and educational experiences, they may not have been well-equipped with the communication skills needed to be successful in a modern, diverse workplace.
Employees re-entering the workforce after prolonged absences, younger workers and those new to Canada may need to brush up or acquire new soft skills.
For example, New Canadians receive little pre-employment training on business etiquette. They often fail to reach their potential without understanding workplace culture and the required soft skills. In the worst-case scenario, employment is terminated, and their confidence takes a blow, resulting in lost talent for the organization and lost opportunity for the individual.
Mastering effective communication skills can reduce misunderstandings, enhance collaboration, and foster meaningful relationships.
Improve Communication Abilities With Diversity at Work
Working with the employer and the trainee, the coach will develop a customized coaching program to improve the employee’s soft skills. Here are a few signs that an employee/volunteer could benefit from soft skills coaching.
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Poor customer and colleague relations
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Under voice or conflicting harsh tone to spoken and written communication
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Conflict occurs regularly
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Sexual harassment of colleagues
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Racist or bigoted remarks
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Spiral communication
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Defensive behaviour all the time
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Indirect style of communication
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Unable to offer a relaxed, participatory leadership style
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Decline to provide suggestions for improvement after being requested to do so
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Lack of participation in meetings
Business & Corporate Communication
Business and corporate communication involves the strategies that organizations employ to convey information both internally and externally. Effective corporate communication fosters transparent relationships with stakeholders, ensures alignment across departments, and enhances a company’s public image). Trainees who struggle with corporate communications can receive coaching on presentation skills, email and telephone communication, business vocabulary, conducting meetings, pronunciation and intonation, just to name a few.
Workplace Listening Skills
Workplace conflicts, misunderstandings and errors often occur due to poor listening skills.
They are critical for fostering an environment of mutual respect and understanding. Active listening entails fully concentrating, understanding, and responding thoughtfully to colleagues’ messages. Trainees will walk away with enhanced knowledge of their current listening skills, how to improve them, how to check for understanding and convey empathy.
Interpersonal Communication
Interpersonal communication is the process of exchanging information and feelings between individuals. It is vital for building relationships, resolving conflicts, and collaborating efficiently in a team setting. Learn how to offer constructive criticism, deal with destructive feedback, deliver bad news, build rapport and employee engagement, plus much more.
CASE STUDY
Employee N has lived in Canada for almost 20 years. She uses highly developed technical skills and works in her chosen field. However, she risks losing her job. Her job requires daily engagement with the public and with colleagues. She's failing at her interpersonal relationships and doesn't understand why. Traditional forms of coaching and mentoring haven't worked. N considers herself polite and hard-working, yet complaints pour into her supervisor. She has received a warning that she must change quickly or face termination.
She needs to understand standard Canadian workplace practices because they were never explained and learn how to change her behaviour. She feels attacked and could lose her career. Her supervisor gave her a chance and contacted us at Diversity at Work.
RESULT
After only 10 hours of Diversity at Work in-person, soft-skills intercultural coaching, N made a complete turnaround. She learned how and why the style of communication she used in her country of origin doesn't work in Canada. She improved her intonation and changed her aggressive style of communication into an assertive style. N was trained in the best way to resolve workplace conflict. She learned how to develop rapport with clients and co-workers and received customized templates to support her new skills.
We worked on her intonation and added colour to her voice. Her body language improved, and the public no longer complained that she was intimidating. She has begun to understand her supervisor's participatory leadership style. N and her supervisor report a happier and more confident employee who has dramatically improved her customer and interpersonal relationships at work.
We offer in-person, phone, and online sessions.
Empower your employees and create a more equitable work environment by giving them the skills they need to be successful with our customized soft skills coaching.
