Professional attitudes and aptitudes - trainer

1. Introduction to Professional skills

In nearly all working processes or procedures, an employee needs a mix of different skills. Essentially, we can sort these skills in two categories: One include specific proficiencies attained form education or from workplaces. These are often called hard or technical skills. The other one includes so-called soft skills, which include many kinds of personal or interpersonal skills such as problem-solving skills, communication skills, cooperation skills, adaptability and management skills. While hard or technical skills will always be important, personal skills, or soft skills, have become the most sought-after skills in employment today. Soft skills are reckoned to be key skills or competences at all workplaces and premises for learning to learn through lifetime. In this module, we focus on personal soft skills related to work activities. These are:

• Teamwork and Cooperation
  
• Management and Independence

1.1. Teamwork and cooperation

In today’s work environment, many jobs involve working in one or more groups. To work in team and to cooperate, require to bring out the best in ourselves and others. It is important to relate to coworkers and build relationships in the organization or institution. Each employee has to act with professionalism in a responsible and fair manner in all personal and work activities. Attitudes and personal skills as maturity and self-confidence, honesty and integrity, and dependability indicate respect towards coworkers. Furthermore, teamwork and cooperation require creativity and analytical skills. Teamwork and cooperation demands ability to design, plan, organize, and implement projects and tasks within an allotted timeframe to achieve goals.

Activity:

Let learners reflect on and discuss how to communicate in a respectful manner to coworkers to create and build fruitful team and cooperation.

Activity:

Let learners reflect and discuss how honesty, integrity, self-confidence can be attended in co-working processes or teamwork. 

Activity:

Let learners reflect on how their personal values can be challenged in teamwork and how to handle this.

1.2. Management and independence

Working tasks are constantly changing and evolving and all employers and employees have to grow, learn and adapt as changes come. Very often changes has to be adopted individual and independent from coworkers.  This require some certain skills as problem solving skills, adaptability, self-motivation, self-confidence and often literacy skills as reading and information retrieval. Often too, employees have to show strong willingness til learn new skills or technique. Sometimes employees must have ability to take charge and manage co-workers, to plan and manage multiple assignments and tasks, set priorities and adapt to changing conditions and work assignments. Each employee has to be highly adaptable, mobile, positive, resilient, patient risk-taker who is open to new ideas. All jobs and employers seeks for productive worker with solid work ethic who exerts optimal effort in successfully completing tasks, who will take responsibility for their actions and be loyal to the institution / organization.

Activity:

Let learners reflect on and discuss kinds of skills necessary to manage new tasks and changes in an independent way without help or assistance from coworkers.

Activity:

Let learners identify own ability to work independently and with non or minimal supervision.   

Activity:

Let learners identify skills related to management and independence that might be the most valuable skills in the workplace?