At The Bob Pike Group, we call soft skills training "core skills" training because you need these skills in every avenue of life, not just customer service or leadership!
Every day we experience "real-life" examples of good and negative examples. Instead of opening your soft skills training session by telling people what core skills look like, let them tell you! [You can use this activity with any class where you will be teaching a set of traits or skills such as leadership, customer service, soft skills, etc.]
Have two posters of pieces of flip chart paper on the wall. Draw a person on each flip chart whether that person is a stick character or something more full-bodied.
Then divide your trainees into two groups. The first group will list examples of what good or positive soft skills are or look like. The second group will list examples of negative or poor soft skills.
After about 10 minutes, have the groups return to their tables. Now you have a lot of great examples that the group has created. You can lead a discussion on a few of them and invite the learners to see if they can identify any areas in which they could improve. And since people rarely argue with their own data, you have solid footing for which to begin your Core Skills class!
