how to develop soft skills

aidanki

hi all,

Im an engineer working in Industry, trouble is Im a bit too quite and bossman has ordered me to start developing my softskills quickly and to begin influencing others and to begin using 5 sentences to describe things instead of 2..........

Im a bit like this in real life as well unfortunately, which I attribute to an overprotective childhood.........

anyone anytips on how to start, as it doesn't seem to be happening naturally ?

draiochtanois

This post has been deleted.

biko

Are you confident in your work? I find that less confident people tend to be "men of few words".

Maybe rehearse what you want to say before you say it (if there is opportunity). Take every opportunity to elaborate or clarify what you have just said.

Also, you can repeat back what someone else just said, and then agree with it. It will make it seem like you had thought of it yourself too

aidanki

draiochtanois wrote: »

Maybe join toastmasters :--

I actually go to toastmasters, im not afraid of public speaking in anyway, just not v good at putting flesh on the bones of a conversation.

CatFromHue

If you can get the point across properly in 2 sentences why do you need to go for 5?

aidanki

CatFromHue wrote: »

If you can get the point across properly in 2 sentences why do you need to go for 5?

its called influencing others and being persistent my friend !

believe me it works, how many bull****ters have you seen in industry, who can hardly write their name not to mind understand the difference between 110v and 220V are managers ?

lawred2

lots of work on the training ground... finger tips only and keep the ball moving

also work off both sides

lawred2

biko wrote: »

Are you confident in your work? I find that less confident people tend to be "men of few words".

Maybe rehearse what you want to say before you say it (if there is opportunity). Take every opportunity to elaborate or clarify what you have just said.

Also, you can repeat back what someone else just said, and then agree with it. It will make it seem like you had thought of it yourself too

never conflate confidence with knowhow

The biggest talkers are often the biggest bullsh!tters and following their lines of bullsh!t because they seem confident has led to many a subsequent clusterf*ck

CatFromHue

aidanki wrote: »

its called influencing others and being persistent my friend !

believe me it works, how many bull****ters have you seen in industry, who can hardly write their name not to mind understand the difference between 110v and 220V are managers ?

Oh yeah I know about bull ****ters I'm just wondering why your boss wants to you turn into one.

Do you deal with technicians who may not be as technically minded as you? If so maybe your boss is trying to get you to explain more back ground info to them.

godtabh

Comes down to experience. You need to be in situations where your influencing skills are required. start off small with say internal projects and grow from there

KeithTS

Being pushed towards having to say more can lead to a lot of BS which we've all seen.
However, he may be coming from another direction. It is common for the capable and technical people to sometimes overlook the fact that not everybody has their knowledge/experience. This can lead to situations where you may think your two sentences about why something was/should be done is enough but it leaves others in the room confused.

If there are less technical people or new starts who aren't 100% sure what's going on and why that's never good so a little more explanation and mentoring will go a long way. I'd imagine that's what could be implied here rather than wanting you to talk crap for the sake of it.

Birdsong

Engineers Ireland run a lot of soft skills courses, business writing skills, presentation skills, managing time & that kind of thing might be worth looking into.

godtabh

Birdsong wrote: »

Engineers Ireland run a lot of soft skills courses, business writing skills, presentation skills, managing time & that kind of thing might be worth looking into.

They are generally geared towards graduates.