Training Industry Magazine - July/August 2021 - 18

hard skills. An analogy is hard skills are
the tasks done day in and out that create
the foundation for a house, and the soft
skills are what makes the house a home.
When conducting training classes, I
frequently correlate exercise to learning.
When you exercise, there is resistance,
which can be uncomfortable in the
moment but increases your strength
overtime. The same can be said for
learning; if you are not exercising your
mind, you are not learning, which
means you are not strengthening your
knowledge or skills. True introspection
can be uncomfortable, but the insights
gained to improve your self-happiness
and the overall impact on others makes
the effort worthwhile.
Getting in touch with your softer side
can be laborious because identifying
and accepting areas that need to be
developed are not part of our normal
way of being. If the recent health
environment has taught us anything it
is that we must learn to be comfortable
with being uncomfortable. We need
to be true to ourselves and make a
commitment to be disciplined, as well as
be open to self-introspection and apply
honest perspective.
Introspection:
You Can Change the
Spots on a Leopard
Everyone can be an emerging leader,
whether your soft skills are strong or
being developed. Learning to slightly
adjust how you view and approach
situations and apply soft skills can be
simple. Ever played the game Googly
Eyes where you change the lenses in
the glasses and try to guess what the
image is on the card? Every day we wear
perspective glasses but often forget to
change the lenses. Perspective is not
right or wrong; it is merely different ways
of viewing situations. To begin seeing
a different perspective, you need to
change your lenses.
Committing to learning how to see different
perspectives will help you approach
situations in a new way, improving
interpersonal relationships, self-control,
social perception and effectiveness, selfregard
and self-awareness. In order to
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learn how to see different perspectives
you must commit to self-introspection.
Being truthful and honest with oneself
will help you uncover and recognize the
triggers that cause you not to change
the lenses in your perspective glasses.
Effectively changing the perspective
lenses deepens your understanding of
where the other person is coming from
and what influences or triggers are at the
core of your position or response. With
this newfound perspective of empathy
comes commitment, introspection, and a
strengthening of emotional intelligence,
resulting in true behavioral change. This is
the pinnacle, where people are drawn to
you to lead them and help them achieve
the highest of goals.
* Expert power: Look for those who
can pinpoint their purpose, be patient
in waiting for results, and have
mastered the soft skill competency to
become a trusted expert.
* Legitimate power: Look for those
who rise to the challenge of
leadership tasks and master the use
of other base powers to develop
their ability to influence.
* Referent power: Earns respect
and trust of others. Look for those
who are trailblazers and lead
the change.
* An understanding of the different types
of empathy and how to use them:
We must learn
to be comfortable with
being uncomfortable.
g uncomfort
* Emotional empathy: Ability to
understand another person's
emotions and respond appropriately.
Look for those who are active (not
passive) listeners. Can they tune
into the person's feelings and not
be afraid to listen and really hear
what the other person is saying?
Perspective Competencies
to Identify Emerging Leaders
It takes discipline, introspection and
practice to develop our own soft skills.
It is at this point that you can then see
soft and hard skill talents in others
to identify those who will be great
leaders. Look for those who have the
capacity, commitment and capability
for the following:
* Express emotions appropriately and
consistently and think before they act.
* There are three power bases that
are most critical to leaders' ability to
influence others: expert, legitimate
and referent power. Emerging
leaders can quickly develop the
sense of who possesses power in
the relationship, an understanding of
how the power dynamic influences
feelings and behaviors, and the ability
to use base powers in combination
and interchangeably based on the
person(s) and the situation. Influence
is the perception of being able to
identify and flex these power bases:
* Cognitive empathy: Ability to
understand the emotions of others.
Look for those who are good
mediators, calm under pressure, see
others' perspective(s) in a logical way,
are not afraid of confrontation, and
use logic to outline their perspective.
* Recognize, understand and appreciate
how other people feel, and respect
their perspectives and feelings.
* Understand and control triggers that
can impact EI skill capabilities and
interpersonal relationships. Look
for those who understand what sets
them off and are able to control their
response. For example, a trigger could
be being afraid to fail.
* Recognize, own and control their
emotions. Individuals who can identify
their " Happy Place " are able to
refocus, stay in control of emotions,
provide appropriate situational
responses and remain centered.
* Understand, accept and capitalize
on strengths and take action to
consistently improve weaknesses.
Training Industry Magazine - July/August 2021

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