Listening Skills Listening is not the same as hearing. Listening implies understanding. For this to happen, you need to practice active listening skills, which requires paying attention and interacting with the speaker. The practice of active listening skills will allow you to; be more productive, be safe and efficient; get along with others, and learn quicker. In contrast, poor listening often results in; misunderstandings, wasted time and resources, unsafe practices, an unpleasant work environment, and low morale. Speaking Skills Your ability to communicate effectively is an essential competency in your professional, as well as in your personal life. Despite all the ways you have to communicate, most of the time, you communicate through speech. Communicating new ideas and speaking so that others can hear and understand you, may determine your degree of success in the workplace. Eventually you may need to train a new coworker, make a presentation to a client or to management, attend a trade show, be the host at a company tour, or work with a vendor to implement a new technology. In every case, you will have to rely on your speaking skills. Adapting Skills The only constant variable in today’s competitive business environment is change. Many things contribute to this climate, including the technology (hardware and software), the global markets, the strategies, the availability of resources, the environment, and consumer trends, to name a few. Today’s employee learns to work with change as a constant in his/her job. This implies adapting quickly and being willing to acquire new skills. When everyone works together to confront change in an intelligent and responsible way, everyone wins. In contrast, the inability to adapt may add stress to the individual and the work environment, possibly affecting job satisfaction and productivity. Leading Skills To lead is to influence others. Education and work experience allows you to become more effective in the workplace. With time, you will eventually be able to influence how your team or company does business, organizes the work or provides coaching, feedback and encouragement to one another. You do not always need to be a manager or a supervisor to be a leader. In some companies, leadership positions rotate among team members and according to the projects that surface and the talents available. Occasionally, you may also be asked to lead small groups or teams. Working in Teams Teams can be more effective than individuals because they combine multiple talents and experiences. Two or more heads always think better than one. When you belong to a team, you contribute to the overall success of your organization. You may have a specific job function and you may belong to a specific department, but you are working with others to accomplish a common goal. Teamwork requires effort to make it work. It requires good communication, coordination, collaboration, flexibility, respect, and, above all, remaining focused on the goals. Soft Skills for Success

Self-Assessment Instructions: Complete the following assessment; please be specific in your responses. 1. What did your team do the best? 2. What does your team need to work on? 3. What did YOU do best? 4. What do YOU need to work on? 5. What changes would you make in order to perform better? 6. What soft skills would improve your team’s performance? 7. What soft skills would improve YOUR performance? 8. Why are soft skills important in the workplace? 9. What is the ONE thing that you can control in your environment? 10. Additional comments:

Self-Assessment II Self-Assessment II (Optional Lesson) Instructions: Complete the following assessment; comparing Round 1 to Round 2. Please be specific in your responses. 1. What stressor was put on your team in Round 2? 2. How did your team respond to the Market Response Card? 3. How did you respond to the Market Response Card? 4. What changes did you see in your team’s behavior, compared to Round 1? 5. Did you use any additional soft skills in Round 2 vs. Round 1? Explain. 6. What soft skills did your team use most? Least? 7. What soft skills did you use most? Least?

Survey 1.This is an effective way to promote the importance of soft skills The instructions were simple and straightforward The activity was engaging I would recommend this game to others I see the value of using this game How can we improve this game? 7. What did you find most valuable? Rate each statement below from 1 (strongly disagree) to 4 (strongly agree). We need your feedback! Thank you for playing The Toothpick Factory. Please help improve this educational resource by providing us your feedback. Thank you! FLATE Center for manufacturing education