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Soft Skills: Can soft skills be taught?

 
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I was always under the impression that soft skills, like EQ, were something that is pretty much set in place once you reach adulthood. Can soft skills really be improved and not just polished? Can it be done without coming across as a phony?
 
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I believe they can as IQ of celibatives increases with age. Love, Gregor
 
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There are all sorts of good habits one can get into and bad habits one can get out of. Don't those count as soft skills?
 
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Soft Skills can definitely be taught.

In fact, that is the purpose of my book--to teach Soft Skills as best as possible.

I know this for sure, because I lacked many Soft Skills growing up.
I learned many lessons the hard way--which I share in the book.

Ritchie is right that many Soft Skills come down to habits.
 
Ben Allen
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Awesome, I can't wait to read it. Hope I win
 
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Soft skills take longer to get good handle on compared to technical skills. Some people are better at grasping them than others. Whatever you read, you need to consciously apply.
 
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I'm a member of Toastmasters. One of the purposes of this group is to get better at public speaking. Other purposes are to communicate better in other ways. So yes, soft skills can definitely be learned.

On a micro-level, I had a lot of trouble with what to say in certain work situations when I was new. My mentor taught me a series of if-then statements. So I knew when the user said X that I should say Y. Another example of learning (or simulating) soft skills.
 
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without commenting on whether they can be taught from a book...

simply being AWARE of them will help. Reading the book will probably make you more aware that these things matter - and more aware of what these are.
 
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I plus Ben here. You cannot really learn them, and if you do, you commit a little treason to your own person. I am perfectly aware of my faults in social skills. I am a rebel, during conversation I say things that are considered very funny and amusing by most, but insulting by some. Mostly I pull the legs of the management. Especially in a hierarchic company, I am considered an unpredictable danger. I try to behave myself, but if I censor myself, I feel deathly unhappy, and I don't say much at all. I am terrible in neutral polite conversation, and have been for 20 years. It's not going to change I think.
 
John Sonmez
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This book is not for you.

Jan de Boer wrote:I plus Ben here. You cannot really learn them, and if you do, you commit a little treason to your own person. I am perfectly aware of my faults in social skills. I am a rebel, during conversation I say things that are considered very funny and amusing by most, but insulting by some. Mostly I pull the legs of the management. Especially in a hierarchic company, I am considered an unpredictable danger. I try to behave myself, but if I censor myself, I feel deathly unhappy, and I don't say much at all. I am terrible in neutral polite conversation, and have been for 20 years. It's not going to change I think.

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