Professional Personal Development - What is it?

We think the term ‘training’ is too restrictive, and we only use
it because that is the context within which many organisations
can understand what we do. But whether you call it people skills
training, interpersonal skills training, soft skills training or
professional personal development, what we’re talking about is
people changing what they do in order to be more effective, more
able and quite simply, happier at their job and in their
personal lives.

What we do know is that people take on new behaviours best when
there is a parallel shift in their personal development.
Interpersonal skills aren’t just something you use at the
workplace and then leave at the office when you go home. The
whole person is what’s important, and any programme Impact
Factory creates has stuff in it that people can use in all
aspects of their lives.

Individuals need to be skilled in what they can do to positively
affect the outcome of any kind of communication. This is true if
the communication is a presentation to 500 people, an annual
review with a staff member, the initiation of new work practices
- indeed anything that requires one person to be in
communication with others.

In the simplest terms, being able to communicate effectively
means relating well to other people. It means being able to
listen and really hear what others are saying. Part of being a
good listener is knowing how to respond without stonewalling or
hijacking other people’s ideas.

It also means being able to convey information, feedback and
requests clearly and directly, give appropriate levels of praise
and advice and take responsibility for making sure things are
understood. This means that people must be able and willing to
deal with conflict and confrontation. Conflict resolution can be
effectively achieved by negotiating what is known as ‘win/win’
solutions.

There is not one ‘right’ way to communicate, but there are
certainly many ‘wrong’ ones. Impact Factory’s development work
concentrates on what’s already working about an individual’s
interpersonal skills and developing that. Gaining insight and
awareness about the effect they have on others, coupled with
developing specific tools and techniques for managing people,
puts people more in charge of the communication process.

So why do we need it?

There have been changes in every sector where people are being
asked to do more and take on more responsibility, often with
less support than ever before. As a direct result of these kinds
of pressures, dealing with difficult people or situations can be
more problematic. Time constraints, deadline constraints and
fewer people to do more work, means that communication may
suffer, conflicts stay unresolved, dissatisfaction fester,
tempers get frayed and inefficiency become more prevalent.

On top of that, there is an insidious assumption that if you are
good at what you do - professionally - then you will be, ipso
facto, a good manager, communicator, delegator, etc. That simply
isn’t true. We see this across all business sectors: people who
are highly capable in their jobs but are far less adept at
dealing with other people. Conflict arises because not only does
the organisation assume that if you’re good in one aspect of the
job you’ll be good in all, but you yourself may feel you already
‘ought’ - by dint of your position - to be able to handle
difficult situations and therefore, won’t ask for the support
and training you need.

Some organisations have such issues well in hand and have the
kind of company culture in place that supports peoples’
development. More often than not, however, organisations ignore
or sideline these issues with the outcome that communication
suffers and morale gets worse.

Yet if employees are motivated, confident, communicating well
and resolving differences; if they are being acknowledged and
appreciated, then stress is reduced, people are more efficient
and effective and work means more than a place to earn a
paycheque. In our experience within organisations where these
skills are encouraged and developed, there is a profound affect
on employees’ performance and their overall well-being, and a
corresponding increase in the bottom line.

The economic implications of poor people skills in the workplace
are far greater than many organisations would like to admit. We
are often approached by the Occupational Health Departments of
companies who say they are seeing more and more people with
stress-related illnesses and absences and are aware that good
training could make a significant difference in the health,
morale and therefore efficiency of the staff. The cliché ‘time
is money’ exists for a very good reason. If for nothing else, a
better functioning workforce will affect the bottom line. Time
wasted on poor communication, unresolved difficulties or
inefficient work practises means time away from the core
business of doing what the company does best.

Many companies know there are issues that need to be addressed;
they even know that some kind of people skills training could
help.

There doesn’t have to be a problem

The need for development work does not presuppose a problem.
When Impact Factory provides this kind of training for many
companies we aren’t there to ‘fix’ something that’s wrong.

Given the added pressures in today’s workplace, companies are
not necessarily asking us to provide training to alleviate
stress or correct a problem. Rather they are looking for
excellence not competence. They are interested in gaining a
competitive edge, offering their employees additional skills to
develop their current capabilities and become both more
accomplished and more confident.

So, why don’t more people do it?

Here are some refrains we’ve heard more than once:

“We tried something like this before and it didn’t work.” -
“It’s clearly not right for us.” - “We don’t need it.” - “It’s a
waste of time and money.” - “If we’re going to invest in
training, we’d rather have technical training.” “We’ll never get
buy-in from our senior managers.”

If you look at the way some interpersonal skills training is
done it’s no wonder it’s got a bad reputation. A lot of it
follows what might be called the sheep-dip approach: large
groups; all chalk ‘n’ talk and little participation; lots of
rigid rules and regulations; a damaging emphasis on what’s wrong
with people; and unreal examples and exercises. That kind of
training is de-motivating and often does more harm than good.

Lists of how tos, dos and don’ts and sets of rigid rules treat
everyone the same. The individual becomes less important than
the ‘right’ way to do something. Of course, there needs to be
structure and guidelines in any kind of training, but if the
training does not allow for individual needs and priorities
then, ultimately, it will fail to develop the individual.

If people have had inadequate training, they will in turn feel
inadequate when confronted with additional stress. The training
will not have given them the real tools and techniques that
could help them manage this pressure more effectively. Some
assertiveness training is a good case in point, where people are
told specific things to do in certain difficult situations.
Which is all very well if you are capable of doing them.
However, we know that for many people assertiveness training
doesn’t work. The solutions they are given are not things they
feel able to do.

Not only that, there are training companies now offering
interpersonal skills training over the Internet! Wow! We’ve said
it before, but it bears repeating, this way the sheep don’t even
have to leave the meadow, they can be dipped right at their
desks. We’re truly fascinated with interpersonal skills training
that doesn’t have other people to be interpersonal with.

If people are treated and respected as the professional adults
they are. The results can be startling, exciting and effective.

Professional Personal Development: why it’s a good investment

Gives people more confidence in dealing with challenging or
new situations. Offers people a range of behaviour choices to
try. Creates a solid basis for all other kinds of training.
Gives people the tools to manage pressure more effectively. Is
motivating.

What you’ll get working with Impact Factory

Programme content that fits your requirements as opposed to
off-the-peg workshops. Flexible formats that take both the
organisation’s and the individual’s needs into account.
Emphasis on what what’s already working rather than pointing out
what’s wrong and needs fixing. Small groups to maximise
individual participation and attention. Programmes that
develop the whole person. No pressure to do things the ‘right’
way. Enjoyable, easy, doable exercises that give people
practise and experience in trying out new ways of doing things.
Accessible to all levels in an organisation.

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