Seeking Advice on Leading My First Soft Skills Training for Future Team Leaders

Hello All,

This is the first time I shall be conducting a soft skills training on "Strong Leadership and Effective People Management Skills." I am the only HR in my company of 60 people. I would like to get some guidance from you all on how to begin and proceed. I am planning for some role-playing, and my target audience is team leaders and those who can be team leads in the near future. The entire target audience shall not exceed 10 people.

I request some help on how to proceed with this.

Regards,
Ashlesha

Training Plan for Effective Sessions

Your training plan for the session should outline what needs to be covered and the activities you have planned for each section of the training. It is best to have a variety of activities, including lectures, discussions, small group activities, etc. Variety prevents participants from becoming bored and encourages all members of the group to contribute.

Role-Playing Considerations

Role-playing is not the holy grail of training. Many people hate role-playing passionately and will try to avoid training sessions where it is included. Therefore, think carefully before incorporating it as an activity.

Creating a Comfortable Learning Environment

While trainees should be challenged somewhat during training sessions, I never put people on the spot or schedule activities that cause them too much discomfort. I aim for my trainees to feel comfortable and open to learning new things. When they are at ease in the training room, they respond well and make the session rewarding for everyone.

Firstly, decide on your target participants. Then, based on their learning needs, determine the objective of the program, i.e., what does the program intend to achieve, and then come up with the learning outcomes. The learning outcomes should tell the participants what they will be able to learn and take away to their workplace, which they are then required to demonstrate in their behavior or action.

On the content, you need to differentiate between a leader and a manager. The topic is too general; therefore, you need to make it more specific to enable you to identify 2 or 3 good learning outcomes and then decide on the appropriate content. Please ensure there is a lot of experiential learning, and this can be achieved via short cases for groups to discuss and exercises that require them to solve problems. The lectures should focus on theories and concepts but not too much. Good case examples of strong leaders and how they achieve success in organizations should also be used as examples that they can relate to. Also, get the participants to talk about what they think strong leadership and management skills are and what are the common problems faced by them at work in managing or leading people. Draw upon the participants' experience to get discussions going. But it is important always to recap, summarize, and tell them what the important learning points are so that they can take it back with them. I hope this helps. Best of luck 

Regards,
Prema Nair

Thank you for your replies. I will keep these pointers in mind. You may also share your experiences if any of you have conducted soft skills training. Meanwhile, I have prepared a draft outlining how things will proceed. Please keep track of this post until the weekend. I will write back to you on how things went. The training is scheduled for this week, Saturday.

Regards,

I have been conducting soft skills training for the past few years. I cannot tell you exactly how to begin and proceed as it may vary from person to person. Since you mentioned it is your first soft skills training and it is for team leaders, I can offer a few tips that might be helpful, I believe.

Preparation, Planning, Presentation

If your preparation and planning are good, your presentation is likely to be good as well. So, do prepare and plan well. Don't make the session continuous. Give a break or encourage some fun activity every 20 minutes because most people will lose interest if the speaker continues for a long time without a break.

Make people think that they are thinking, but don't really make them think. People love you only if you make them think that they are thinking, and not if you really make them think. I mean, shoot them a few questions that would be easy for them to answer so that they'll feel they know something. If you ask questions they can't answer, they may feel slightly embarrassed. If your questions are a bit tough and you feel they may not be able to answer them, then go ahead with the answer.

Since the audience are already team leaders, they may think they are already leaders and know what leadership is practically. Make sure you honor their pride. So, don't always teach them 'How to win?' Instead, make them think 'Why it fails?' Then come up with how to overcome it.

Since the audience is only about 10 members, the trainer may lose interest. And you said it is your first training session, so for you, the small crowd will be easy to handle. A small crowd is better for beginners. Don't worry about it.

I don't know about your rapport with your audience. A friendly trainer will be more preferred than a professional hostile trainer by any audience. Make the people feel that you are friendly and the session is fun-filled. Keep your voice pitch and loudness the same from beginning to end. I mean, don't lose your energy level. Only then the program will be enthralling and the audience will not get bored.

Make the session interactive. Before you make a point, get the ideas from the audience and discuss them. If they have missed anything, then add and summarize your points. By this, you'll make them feel that you are not telling them what they already know.

Many other things can be said, but I believe this is enough for the first training session. My post may be late for you as it is Friday. All the best if I'm not late.

Regards,
Rajaguru
PeakPro Solutions, Chennai