I believe in the transformative power of people skills and soft skills training. Let me explain why. My first work experiences were in small-town bakeries, supermarkets, and bars in country Australia. Most customers knew me, and my colleagues were my friends.
Work was a social event I got paid to go to. People asked what my parents were up to. We discussed the local football results and our chance of getting any rain.
My first career experiences included a homeless women’s shelter, a drop-in centre for asylum seekers, and a domestic violence crisis refuge. In these places, I saw what human kindness meant to people who had nothing – and people who had nothing through no fault of their own.
At the homeless shelter, every month my colleagues and I would throw a special dinner for the women whose birthdays fell in that calendar month. We’d give presents and speeches to them, celebrating the special qualities they brought to the community. I remember several occasions where women told us it was the first birthday party they’d ever had. They were in their 50s.
These experiences showed me the importance of our humanity and of our shared experience in a world that can throw out some pretty nasty and unexpected challenges. It frustrates me to tears to hear friends and clients describe office lives where people are rude or disorganized, as standard.
Or worse, taking for granted the contributions and time of others.
We all have the occasional bad day. I’m not talking here about that morning last week where you snapped (but later apologised) at someone for interrupting you. I’m talking about people that go into work day-in, day-out, and make the office worse for colleagues and clients alike. Because they don’t know how or care to do it differently.
And I’m talking about the employers who tolerate this sort of behaviour.
Work is an opportunity for us to create something better, or at least something different. It’s so important we treat each other with respect and lift each other up so we can produce our best work.
That’s why I work at Conversari Global. Because I believe in helping create more harmonious, joyful, innovative environments – especially in workplaces. And because self-awareness, social awareness, and people skills can be learned and improved. I’ve seen it happen, and that inspires me to keep doing it and to do it bigger and better each time.
The women in the shelter had no place else to go. But we worked to make it a place they’d choose to be, if they had a choice.
If we could achieve that despite all that trauma and isolation they’d been through, why can’t we do it in a corporate setting, where resources far exceed those of any NGO?
If you’d like to create a work environment your staff choose to be in, where they lift each other up and create their best work, then let’s talk about soft skills training.
