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Hey Docebo Community :hand_splayed:   

I had the opportunity to chat with two L&D Managers yesterday, both of which have just been hired to build a learning program at their new organizations. As we began chatting through their current content layout, it was interesting to hear how different their perspectives were on the thought of soft skills training. 

The first individual I spoke with was passionate about having soft skills training from the start. He’d had the opportunity to work at an organization in the past with an LMS that offered lots of Excel courses, so he’d devoted time to taking them and was now confident in the tool and grateful for the opportunity. He was passionate about providing this same experience for his learners. 

The second individual I spoke with was far more reserved about the idea of soft skills training. Firstly, she didn’t feel it was something they’d need to have out the gates, and secondly, she felt concerned that it could be distracting from the mandatory coursework (product training, compliance, etc.) that they’ll need to complete. 

So I’m curious to hear from others; 

:question: What time is the right time to start offering soft skills training? 

:question: Are there certain soft skills you believe all organizations should offer education on? 

:question: Do you believe that soft skills (and let’s just throw in social learning/contributions as well here), distracts learners from the mandatory coursework? 

Excited to learn from you all! 

I don’t think there’s ever not the right time to introduce soft skills trainings unless your users are already overwhelmed with other content.

I like to believe that there’re certain soft skills that are always helpful. Basic topics such as communication, time management or knowing how to interact with people of other cultures are universally important. They are very often neglected since a lot of people think they already have the knowledge on these topics.

Creating soft skills trainings as refreshers helps to “embed” these skills in us and remember about some of the things we’ve learnt when the opportunity to use this knowledge arises.

That said, in the end everything depends on the needs (and business model) of your organisation of course :slight_smile:

You make a great point @abartunek about these skills often being neglected & the need to refresh them to help “embed” them.

I’ve actually read “How To Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie every year for the past 3 years just to refresh and cement the incredible lessons from the book, so I think this is a solid need that L&D teams should think about. There’s always something I forgot that hits home when I reread it! 

Thanks for sharing your thoughts :) 

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