1.1 Essential Soft Skills
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Identify and differentiate between the two basic methods of interpersonal communication, specifically within an organizational context.
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Understand in theory and practice the motivations for choosing a given method.
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Know and understand the intrinsic and monetary value of interpersonal communication skills given the effect of individuals’ actions and behaviors on the whole.
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Understand how interpersonal communication skills are sought, quantified, and applied in traditional organizational settings.
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Learn how new mediums and organizational norms are transforming traditional interpersonal communication strategies while also reinforcing fundamental values.
It’s Thursday afternoon. On returning to the office, you attend a scheduled meeting with your boss. He pushes a document across the table that reads, “We regret to inform you that your position has been terminated.” Does the termination agreement feel soft under your fingers? Do you feel a bounce in your step as you leave the building? Probably not. Your boss has just delivered a hard message to you. Why, then, do the strategies and methodologies humans use to articulate hard news require soft skills? Arguably, there’s nothing soft about them. Yet all communication skills, whether exercised in an innocuous text message or a heated face-to-face confrontation, are considered soft skills, which unfortunately connotes weakness. But skills like listening, empathy, and patience are arguably the most essential, transferrable skills a person can own. The good news? Interpersonal communication skills—considered by some to be the most complex set of human behavioral skills—are learnable. So, read on and don your hard hat. It’s time to talk strategy.