1. SOFT SKILLS AND TEAMWORK
Laura Bevans, Talent Coach
Falmouth Employability Service
Introduction : to self and employability team at Falmouth.
Remember to use #CC2018 as you go.
There’ll be time for questions at the end but if you’ve got anything that you’d like to ask as we go along, please feel free to shout.
Out of interest, how many here are Falmouth and how many Exeter?

2. SOFT SKILLS AND TEAMWORK
By the end of this session you will:
What do we mean by ‘soft skills’
Consider the key pillars of teamwork
Understand the importance of communication skills when working in a team
Gain tips on communication techniques and best practice
Be able to provide constructive feedback
Be able to identify fixed and growth mindset when receiving feedback
How does this sound? Is there anything else that anyone would like to touch upon in the session? There will be a chance for questions at the end….

3. SOFT SKILLS
……personal attributes that enable someone to interact effectively and harmoniously with other people.
Communication
Interpersonal
Mindset
So what do we mean by soft skills? Does anyone know? Soft skills are personal attributes that enable someone to interact effectively with others. Soft skills are those that aren’t necessarily what we’re taught as part of the curriculum, but something that we develop as a person. When someone is referring to soft skills, they might be referring to communication, interpersonal skills (for example) or to mindset.

4. Teamwork. I think it’s fair to assume that we’re all familiar with working in a team, yes? Anyone want to shout out examples of the times you might work in a team?
Workplace
Course project
Committees, volunteering, societies, sports
Some of us might have slightly different take on what teamwork is than others, which is fine, but essentially, as mother Teresa here, says, - read quote.

5. What is teamwork?
“Teamwork is the collaborative effort of a team to achieve a common goal or to complete a task in the most effective and efficient way.” …..bringing together different personalities with a range of skills and motivations.
So, what is teamwork? Read slide. Crucially, this involves bringing together different personalities with a range of skills, which doesn’t always come without its challenges.

6. What makes a successful team?
Trust
Accountability
Commitment
Conflict
Results

7. Roles and Responsibilities
Many different roles in the committee capacity. Treasurer, captain, vice president, secretary, publicity officer, members rep, social secretary, fundraising officer, president. Are there any relationships in particular that are perhaps particularly challenging?

8. Common challenges
In groups, come up with 3 challenges you/a peer/your society etc have experienced.
Identify the issue
How many people were involved?
How did the challenge escalate?
Was the challenge rectified?
What were the outcomes?
In groups, and thinking objectively, come up with 3 challenges you/a peer/your society etc have experienced. Don’t need to highlight names or personal details, we are thinking objectively.
If people are struggling, use examples on A4.
Lets take a few minute to share some of the key challenges within a team.

9. Team Dynamics Open communication to avoid conflicts.
Effective coordination to avoid confusion and the overstepping of boundaries.
Efficient cooperation to perform the tasks in a timely manner and produce the required results, especially in the form of workload sharing.
High levels of interdependence to maintain high levels of trust, risk- taking, and performance.
How can we ensure/enable successful dynamics and a functioning team?
Essentially and crucially, communication.
Look back to the exercise we just did on examples of challenges within a team that you might have experienced. Could communication skills have helped in any way?

10. Medium of conversation
Communication
Name the 10 key elements to positive & successful communication……
Listening
Clarity & concision
Confidence
Open Mindedness
Feedback
There are 10 key elements to positive and successful communication.
Empathy: ‘I understand where you are coming from.’ Respectful of other viewpoints in all circumstances.
Non verbal
Friendliness
Empathy
Respect
Medium of conversation

11. FEEDBACK When have you received feedback?
Did you welcome the feedback?
What feelings did this cause you to have?
How did you react?
What was the outcome of the feedback?
Lets look at feedback. Have you ever received feedback? When was the last time you received feedback? Perhaps it was from someone in your society or volunteering group. From a course peer, from a lecturer or from someone that you work with. Maybe it was personal. Take a moment to make a note of a time you’ve received feedback.
Also note how it made you feel and what your response was.
What was the method of delivery? Could the feedback have been communicated to you in a different way?

12. Why is feedback important?
#1 It’s there all the time
#2 Just another word for effective listening
#3 An opportunity to motivate
#4 Essential to develop performance
#5 A crucial way to keep learning
1: feedback is there all the time. Every time we speak, or listen to another person, we are communicating feedback.
2: Feedback is just another word for effective listening.
3: Opportunity to motivate through praise, expressing appreciation, inspiring an individual, inspiring greater positivity and commitment in those already performing well.
4: Essential to develop performance. Many thing of criticism as critisismor an attack, but it’s actually a supportive act that is intended to deal with underperformance in a constructive way. Language is very important within this.
5: It’s a crucial way to keep learning! How can we develop and grow and learn if we don’t receive feedback and remain open?

13. 5 steps to giving good feedback
With the person next to you, come up with 5 steps to giving good feedback.
Ask for permission
State what you observed
Explain the impact
Pause
Suggest concrete next steps
With the person next to you, try to come up with 5 steps to giving good feedback. Think about it from the point of view of giving feedback, as opposed to receiving.
1. Ask for Permission A simple “Hey, do you have a minute for some quick feedback?” can help the receiver be mentally ready for it, be it positive or negative.
2. State What You Observed Where possible, use specific examples and avoid being judgmental. “You don’t give off a lot of energy in meetings” is not as helpful as, “In the meeting with Tina yesterday, I noticed your body language was rather passive.”
3. Explain the Impact Point out the direct impact that resulted from this behavior, and again be as specific as possible. Saying, “When you called the meeting to an end without leaving time for discussion, it made me feel like you did not value the team’s input” or “I noticed that the clients were upset” is much more effective than “When you don’t leave time for a discussion, you look like a control freak.”
Statements like “it made me feel” and “I noticed that” are more difficult to argue with, and using those phrases will keep the feedback session from devolving into a debate.
4. Pause When you’ve said your piece, stop. And then ask for the other person’s reaction. Give them time to think through what you’ve said and react to it.
5. Suggest Concrete Next Steps Give a small number of actionable suggestions (ideally only one or two) that the other person can take in the future, to change this behavior. They will appreciate that you’re giving them the first step to improving the situation.

14. What Does Good Feedback Look Like?
Role Play: Someone isn’t working in line with the rest of the team, they are deliberately doing the opposite of what everyone agreed.
You are tasked with discussing this with the individual.
Make sure you’re avoiding these common errors:
Choose one issue at a time.
Don’t be too critical or focus too heavily on the negative. But don’t avoid real problems, either. If there’s an issue, don’t be afraid to state it.
Avoid vagueness.
Leave plenty of time for the recipient of your feedback to ask or answer questions and respond to what you’ve said.
Don’t be too critical or focus too heavily on the negative. Feedback should inspire the other person to improve, not make them wallow in where they went wrong. Giving a piece of good feedback with negative feedback makes it easier to swallow.
But don’t avoid real problems, either. If there’s an issue, don’t be afraid to state it.
Avoid vagueness. Use specific examples, and connect those behaviors to the impact they have.
Leave plenty of time for the recipient of your feedback to ask or answer questions and respond to what you’ve said.

15. RECEIVING FEEDBACK
Receiving Feedback – has much to do about mindset. Read quiz out.

16. Fixed vs growth mindset
Are you sure you can do it? Maybe you don’t have the talent.
What if you fail—you’ll be a failure.
If you don’t try, you can protect yourself and keep your dignity.
It’s not my fault. It was something or someone else’s fault.
I’m not sure I can do it now, but I think I can learn to with time and effort.
Most successful people had failures along the way.
If I don’t try, I automatically fail. Where’s the dignity in that?
If I don’t take responsibility, I can’t fix it. Let me listen—however painful it is– and learn whatever I can.

17. resilience
Turning disruptive changes and conflicts from potential disasters into growth opportunities.
(Maddi and Khoshaba, 2005)
Adopting a growth mindset means that you are also developing your resilience. Resilience is when you turn a disruptive change or a potential conflict from a negative, to a positive.
There are many benefits to resilience and it’s a super important skill to develop when you go out into the working world, be it through employment, freelance or starting your own business.

18. RECAP Teamwork: working collaboratively towards a common goal
What makes a successful team
Team dynamics
Key elements of communication
The importance of feedback
Feedback tips and best practice
Fixed vs growth mindset
Importance of resilience
We’ve looked at what teamwork is: collaboratively working towards a common goal
What makes a successful team? Trust | Accountability | Commitment | Conflict | Results
Team dynamics: communication, coordination, cooperation and interdependence
Why is feedback important?
5 steps to giving good feedback
Fixed vs growth mindset and methods of moving towards more of a growth mindset
The importance of resilience as a skill, in terms of team working but also as personal development too.

19. COME AND SAY HELLO Falmouth University Employability Service Where?
The Career Zone, The Exchange (Penryn)
The Hub, (Falmouth)
Falmouth.ac.uk/employability
Exeter University
Mycareerzone.ac.uk
Exeter.ac.uk/careers

20. Questions?