SoftSkllsfor+theWorkplace.pptVIP

People (Soft) Skills for Success in the Real Business World! Being a Leader! Don C. Bramlett, PE, SMIEEE DTE Energy– Project Engineer IEEE Region 4 – Director-Elect IEEE Southeastern Michigan Section Reference Resource “Stuff You Don’t Learn in Engineering School” By Carl Selinger John Wiley Sons, Inc IEEE Press 2004 Good Basic Life Lessons You are responsible for yourself What you don’t know may hurt you, or hold you back Don’t be afraid of something. Learn about it! Build on your strengths; target weaknesses Develop important soft skills Technical competency is the core of your career in engineering! Definition of Leadership Leadership is the ability to influence others, with or without authority. All successful endeavors are the result of human effort; thus, the ability to influence others is a derivation of Interpersonal Communications Conflict Management Problem Solving / Decision Making Interpersonal Effectiveness Interpersonal effectiveness is the capability of an individual to do this, influence others, competently. Leadership is a direct function of three elements of interpersonal effectiveness Awareness Ability Commitment Understanding Yourself and Others Understand yourself better and how to relate to others: Take a Myers-Briggs Indicators test What do you like to do? What don’t you like to do? What about others? (Ask them!) Be assertive; not passive or aggressive Updated Golden Rule: “Do unto others as they would have done unto themselves” Determine your mix among career objectives: money, job security, challenging job, recognition, etc. Working Effectively as a Team Working through and with people Thinking “we”, not “I” Getting the Team to work together by: Giving the team the big picture Dividing work fairly Assigning responsibility to achieve accountability Giving recognition Interpersonal CommunicationsHow to Write Better Use clear, simple, direct language Minimize use of acronyms Read more, to see good writing and improve vocabulary Ask pee