Soft Skills In the IT Environment – Part 2 of 2Written by Carole Nicolaides
by Carole Nicolaides, Copyright © 2002, All Rights Reserved www.progressiveleadership.comIn part one of this article, we covered importance of soft skills, especially for those in information technologies vocations. After qualifying advantages of implementing soft skills into IT management, we left one question unanswered. Where do you find soft skills training? That will be topic we focus on during this article. As a business leader, I’m sure you understand benefits of continuing education. However, I have no doubt that you also struggle with an overly full schedule that may prevent you from attending workshops and implementing concepts you have learned. Richard Boyatzis, co-author of Primal Leadership; Realizing Power of Emotional Intelligence suggests that executives who can incorporate coaching into their daily routines have potential of bringing a metamorphosis in their respective organizations. Coaching is a relatively new, yet proven, form of mentoring/consulting that has brought about tremendous improvements in professional lives of countless executives over last several years. Even for those leaders who have exceptionally full schedules, coaching can be route that leads to success in a number of areas – including implementation of career-boosting soft skills. Yes… I said “career boosting” soft skills. According to a July 23, 1999 article in Computing Canada Magazine, “"The single most common requirement (of managers) is to hire individuals with very good interpersonal communications skills and business sense," said David Tighe, Canadian area manager for RHI Consulting Inc. That's backed up by a recent RHI survey of 1,400 CIOs in United States. Twenty-seven per cent said interpersonal skills are most important factor for reaching management levels in IT field. Advanced technical skills ranked second and customer service orientation ranked third.”
| | CHRISTMAS COMMANDOS MAKE YOUR YEAR-END EVENT A “TOTAL VICTORY”Written by Boyd Hooper
CHRISTMAS COMMANDOS MAKE YOUR YEAR-END EVENT A “TOTAL VICTORY”If you thought all of America’s best commandos were clearing caves of Afghanistan think again. We discovered two real-life commandos that are busy clearing boredom from corporate Christmas parties of America. That’s right, a U.S.Army Ranger and a retired Green Beret group commander, have made it their mission to make your corporation’s year-end event a “Total Victory”! They call themselves Christmas Commandos. They will add spirit, enthusiasm—and a big dose of Christmas cheer and humor—that will make your corporate Christmas party one that employees will talk about in year to come. At a time when most American corporations are nursing their wounds, counting their losses, and firing their accounting companies, a comic-laced, in-your-face, motivational year-end event has never been more welcome. Long ago, legendary Bob Hope used to take his USO variety show to soldiers abroad to raise their morale. The Christmas Commandos bring their own brand of variety entertainment and morale-raising to corporate armies of America. With army cadence singing, that involves audience, dance routines, hilarious comedy sketches, and surprises galore, Christmas Commandos expertly camouflage a heart-warming and motivating year-end message that makes their engaging presentation so much more than just entertainment. Their mission is not only to celebrate hard-fought business battles of past year, but to rally troops for missions in year ahead. Many companies want to do something a little different and break mold by introducing a fun and relaxed atmosphere to their Christmas party and other events. Event planners are realizing that events have not only become an important PR exercise to promote company itself, but also vital for in-house relationships and staff incentives. Those companies are now booking entertaining training like Christmas Commandos. “Christmas is perfect time for companies to give something back to employees as most organizations today realize that it's their people who make difference to company and not their products. Making employees feel appreciated is more important than ever!” - AP Irish Sentinel In genre of giving back with purpose and creativity, Christmas Commandos’ powerful production hits target like a guided missile. Their high-energy motivational message is seasonally themed and strategically designed to deliver a humor-filled payload that will impact both head and heart. The unique variety show format will beguile and charm audiences with characters from Seuss books, movies, and real life—which in turn deliver a seasonal message that’s sure to capture every heart in audience. The Christmas Commando performance can include everything from appearances of squads of active uniformed commandos, improv skits, and 6’3 half of duo painted bright green doing a first-person rendition of classic Grinch story. Audiences will also find themselves highly involved as they become enlisted to participate in skits or to sing U.S. Army Ranger Cadence with Christmas Commandos. “Audiences will not soon forget this presentation,” says Art Coombs, who has had previous experience with Commandos. “The Commandos and their presentation have a lasting impact. Where most corporate year-end events are quickly forgotten, these guys and their message will stay with your people well into new year.” Besides inspiring and motivating your team of employees, Christmas Commandos have designed another event called “Grinch Giving” where corporations can send Grinch character into community as their corporate ambassador of good will—a great PR move! Keith Barr, President of Echopass Corporation says, "I know people have hired Grinch to perform at hospitals, armed forces units, and local schools, but we hired Grinch as a way to show appreciation and give special recognition to our own people and their families. We set up a special family day where spouses and children came into company so entire family could share experience and make memories together. Our people still talk about that event and how much their families appreciated them working for a company with that type of mindset." Who are Christmas Commandos? Kirk Weisler and Don Spradling both make their livings as professional speakers and consultants. Don is a senior consultant for Franklin Covey organization and Kirk Weisler is most well known as Chief Morale Officer of customer relationship management industry. While both have very impressive histories as platform presenters, their military background is even more impressive. There combined bio, which can be found on Christmas Commandos website (www.teamdynamics.com/cc), reads like a who's who of Special Operations community, listing such accomplishments as Airborne Ranger and Special Forces qualifications, Commanding Officer of 19th Special Forces Group, US Army Pathfinder, U.S. Army Jumpmaster, Master Parachutists ratings in several countries, unconventional warfare training, counter-terrorism, and 42 years of combined Special Operations military service.
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