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Team-Building Exercises: Communication - From MindTools.com. Fun Ways to Build Communication Skills © iStockphotoaxnjax "Build a bridge" is just one exercise you can use to get communication flowing How well do your team members communicate with one another?

Team-Building Exercises: Communication - From MindTools.com

Poor communication lies at the root of many team problems. Delivering an Effective Performance Review - Rebecca Knight. It’s performance review season, and you know the drill.

Delivering an Effective Performance Review - Rebecca Knight

Drag each of your direct reports into a conference room for a one-on-one, hand them an official-looking document, and then start in with the same, tired conversation. Say some positive things about what the employee is good at, then some unpleasant things about what he’s not good at, and end — wearing your most solicitous grin — with some more strokes of his ego. The result: a mixed message that leaves even your best employees feeling disappointed. But if you take the right approach, appraisals are an excellent opportunity to reinforce solid performers and redirect the poor ones. What the Experts Say For many employees, a face-to-face performance review is the most stressful work conversation they’ll have all year. Set expectations early The performance review doesn’t start with a sit-down in the spare conference room. Hold your ground The hot button issues associated with performance reviews are money and rank.

Do Don’t. Ten Biggest Mistakes Bosses Make In Performance Reviews. HR Diplomacy 101: How to Break Bad News in an Employee Performance Evaluation - Hcareers. If most personnel managers could have it their way, every employee performance evaluation would be chock-full of “excellents” and “outstandings,” five-star ratings, and glowing feedback.

HR Diplomacy 101: How to Break Bad News in an Employee Performance Evaluation - Hcareers

Unfortunately, in the real world, it doesn’t always work out like that. The law of averages dictates that most of the workers you evaluate will fall somewhere in the middle of the performance spectrum, demonstrating a mixed bag of successes and failures, achievements and challenges. Constructive Criticism: How to Give Negative Feedback. Praising good performance is easy, but what about those times when someone on your team needs a kick in the butt more than a pat on the back?

Constructive Criticism: How to Give Negative Feedback

In that case, you'll need to give some negative feedback--and do it without demotivating or demoralizing the other person. This post explains exactly how to do this. Before we get started, though, it's important to remember that the goal of feedback is not to tell people what to do or how to do it. That's mistaking the process for the goal. The actual goal of feedback--even negative feedback--is to improve the behavior of the other person to bring out the best in your entire organization. Truth or Consequences: How to Give Employee Feedback - Expert Advice. Summary: If you want to improve employee performance through the use of performance appraisals or employee reviews, you must be able to provide employee feedback in a way that is non-threatening and helpful.

Truth or Consequences: How to Give Employee Feedback - Expert Advice

Here's how. In the bestseller, Good to Great, Jim Collins discovered that, "the good-to-great companies continually refined the path to greatness with the brutal facts of reality. " And, in his recent autobiography, Jack Welch reports that he spent about half of his time on people: recruiting new talent, picking the right people for particular positions, grooming young stars, developing managers, dealing with under performers, and reviewing the entire talent pool. Says Welch, "Having the most talented people in each of our businesses is the most important thing.

If we don? Why is it that many of us put off giving feedback to our employees even though we intuitively know that giving and getting honest feedback is essential to grow and develop and to build successful organizations? 1. 2. The Best Gift Leaders Can Give: Honest Feedback. A hard look at the soft side of performance – Strategy – CSCMP's Supply Chain Quarterly. Strategy By Kate Vitasek and Tracy Maylett, Ed.D. | From the Quarter 4 2011 issue Supply chain scorecards typically focus on operational metrics.

A hard look at the soft side of performance – Strategy – CSCMP's Supply Chain Quarterly

E5 - Soft_Skills_Assessment_for_Integrated_Marketing_Final_BESAC.pdf. Soft Skills List - 28 Skills to Working Smart. I originally published this soft skills list in June 2011.

Soft Skills List - 28 Skills to Working Smart

I am honored to discover that more than 500,000 of you have since read my soft skills list and found it helpful. There are 28 soft skills essential to your career success. I wished I knew about many of these earlier in my career. I want to share them so I can empower you to work smart and achieve more. I look forward to your comments. SoftSkills.pdf. How to Develop Your Interpersonal Skills. If you’ve been looking for a job recently or are hoping for a promotion, you’ve probably heard a lot about interpersonal skills.

How to Develop Your Interpersonal Skills

Interpersonal Skills in a Performance Evaluation. A performance evaluation is intended to appraise employee’s professionalism, work ethic and job skills.

Interpersonal Skills in a Performance Evaluation

The evaluation score is usually based on quality and quantity of work, manager’s observation regarding how they conduct themselves and attend to their job and how well the employee works with others. Rating an employee’s interpersonal skills is just as beneficial as rating their productivity, but it is the one area that is the most subjective. The effectiveness of interpersonal skills are observed and experienced. Observing an employee go through their day will provide a strong indication of how well they work with others, as will analyzing their participation in and the outcome of a project.

Other employees may lodge complaints against an employee who does not communicate effectively with others, especially when regular communication is mandatory. Panel discusses lack of 'soft skills' in work force - News - The News & Advance. Eleanor Kennedy Contact Eleanor Kennedy at (434) 385-5524 or ekennedy@newsadvance.com. | Updated More employees are showing up for work with what employers call a “soft skills gap” — a lack of ability in basic workplace essentials such as communication, problem-solving and attendance.

Panel discusses lack of 'soft skills' in work force - News - The News & Advance

Tuesday, the Region 2000 Workforce Investment Board convened a panel discussion on the issue, a move sparked by employer response to surveys and roundtables conducted while the board’s strategic plan was being put together, Brian Davis, the board’s executive director, said. More than 50 percent of participating employers said they have problems with soft skills in both potential and current employees, Davis said. Soft skills may be tough to define but, Davis said, “We know it when we see it or when we don’t see it.” All the panelists cited the importance of efforts from all directions — including schools, families, colleges and workplaces — in improving these skills among new and existing workers. Soft Skills & Workforce Development.

In the business world, technical ability, educational background and professional experience all rank among the necessary evaluations when looking to hire a new employee. Choosing a well-rounded employee also entails evaluating a person's "soft skills. " These skills contribute to the overall success of the employee, the relationships they build and, in the end, the success of the business. Nav-soft-skills.pdf.

NCPN Connections 23-7. Marilyn Barger, Executive Director, Florida Advanced Technological Education Center (FLATE) (barger@fl-ate.org) Employers rate communication "soft skills" as highly desirable traits in employees and as critical skills for effective interaction with co-workers. Soft skills such as the ability to work well on teams, clear communication, conflict resolution, negotiation, how to offer and receive feedback, and creative problem solving are a few of the many interpersonal skills that are considered important attributes for successful employees. Technical professions have determined that soft skills are a necessary compliment to "hard skills" on the job, but soft skills have traditionally taken a back seat to hard skills such as those found in the high-technology work environment.

The Toothpick Factory Simulation Game for Soft Skills® was developed with technician education in mind. Resources. Hard Truths About Soft Skills. Soft skills such as communication ability, aptitude for interpersonal relations, and emotional intelligence often are downplayed. With skills such as HTML coding increasingly valued, those who excel in non-technical ways often find themselves at a disadvantage when looking for a job. But the results of a recent CareerBuilder survey lead me to wonder if the luck of those with non-technical strengths soon may change. The nationwide study, conducted online by Harris Interactive, included 2,076 hiring managers and Human Resource professionals across industries. 81572. Why Soft Skills Matter - Career Development From MindTools.