The ACE of Soft Skills: Attitude, Communication and Etiquette for Success

✍ Scribed by Ramesh, Gopalaswamy;Ramesh, Mahadevan

• Publisher: Pearson Education [distributor, Prentice Hall PTR
• Year: 2011
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 467
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Our world is witnessing a major change in communication patterns, with expanding social spheres, openness in communication and professionals working in multicultural environments. It is crucial, therefore, that India's workforce remains world-class, through re-training and continuous improvement, to remain competent, competitive and successful. To create and nurture successful professionals, the acquisition, cultivation and fine-tuning of soft skills are highly essential in the given business paradigm.
The ACE of Soft Skills is a part of this educational process that produces top-notch professionals. Divided into three parts-Attitude, Communication and Etiquette-this unique book provides a broad-based coverage of what constitute soft skills. The foundations of soft skills lie in a strong attitude; this attitude gets manifested as communication, which gets further refined as etiquette. This book covers a wide range of topics-a gamut of nearly 40 essential soft skills-including personal accountability, listening skills, business proposals, and the role of small talk and humour at work. The numerous case studies, cartoons, figures, tables and quotations not only offer an insightful, practical and well-rounded perspective into soft skills, but also make reading a joyful experience.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover......Page 1
The ACE of Soft Skills......Page 4
Copyright......Page 5
Contents......Page 8
Foreword......Page 10
Preface......Page 14
Acknowledgements......Page 16
Let us get Started......Page 18
Characteristics of Soft Skills......Page 20
Misconceptions About Soft Skills......Page 21
Dimensions of Soft Skills......Page 22
The Changing Business Environment and its Impacton on Soft Skills......Page 24
What (and what not) is This Book About......Page 25
Organization of Rest of the Book......Page 26
Big Picture, Pride, Passion and Process......Page 30
What is the ‘Big Picture'?......Page 31
What Happens When you don’ tsee the Big Picture?......Page 33
Pride in Work......Page 34
A Delicate Balancing Act......Page 36
The Glue that Holds all these Together: Process......Page 39
Vision......Page 41
Vision, Vision Everywhere......Page 42
Characteristics of Vision......Page 43
What is not Vision......Page 47
What are the Benefits of Vision......Page 49
What Makes Great Visionaries......Page 50
In Summary......Page 52
Personal Accountability......Page 55
What is Personal Accountability?......Page 56
Components of Accountability......Page 58
Personal Accountability Vs Taking Mattersinto one’s own Hands......Page 62
Personal Accountability and you......Page 63
In Summary......Page 64
Teamwork and you......Page 66
The Changing Nature of Teams......Page 67
The Basics of Team Intelligence—Beinga Part of the Team......Page 69
Be the Glue that Binds the Team......Page 72
What Can Destroy Team Intelligence?......Page 73
The Other Face of Team Intelligence—Individual development......Page 75
In Summary......Page 76
Diversity Awareness......Page 78
What is Diversity Awareness and whyis it a Good Thing?......Page 80
How Can we Cultivate Diversity Awareness?......Page 83
Sensitivity to Differently Abled People......Page 86
In Summary......Page 87
Lifelong Learning......Page 90
The Steps in Lifelong Learning......Page 91
Tips to Achieve Effective Learning......Page 94
Some Challenges in Lifelong Learning......Page 96
Some Misconceptions About Lifelong Learning......Page 98
In Summary......Page 100
Performance-expectations Management......Page 101
The Basics of Performance-Expectations management......Page 103
Findo out who your Stakeholders Are......Page 105
Explicit and Implicit Performance Expectations......Page 106
Managing your Boss’s Expectationsof your Performance......Page 108
When your Performance Always Exceedsexpectations......Page 110
In Summary......Page 111
The Art of Time Management......Page 112
Time Management—what is it?......Page 113
Time Management—Attitude is Everything......Page 115
Planning your Time......Page 116
Prioritizing the Tasks......Page 117
Estimating the Time for Each Task......Page 121
Documenting the Schedule......Page 122
Time Management—Best Practices......Page 123
Time Management—the Killers......Page 125
In Summary......Page 127
Stepping up to the Plate......Page 129
Anatomy of Stepping up to the Plate......Page 130
Some Components of ‘Stepping Up......Page 131
How Life Changes After Stepping Up......Page 133
In Summary......Page 134
When Things go way Wrong at the Workplace......Page 136
Anticipate—be Prepared......Page 139
Be Alert and have your Antennae Up......Page 141
Act on Alternatives when Disaster Strikes......Page 143
A Ssimilate the Lessons Learnt......Page 144
In Summary......Page 146
Tying it all Together: Work your way to Success......Page 148
Dimensions of Hard Work......Page 149
Organize and Prioritize......Page 151
Practise......Page 152
Recharge Yourself......Page 153
Some Work Killers and Myths About Hard Work......Page 154
In Summary......Page 156
Communication and Communication Cycle......Page 160
Modes of Communication......Page 162
In Summary......Page 166
Distortion in Communication......Page 167
Barriers to Communication......Page 168
Distortion Through the Stages of Communication......Page 169
Presentations......Page 174
Status Meetings......Page 175
Distortion in Communication Within Globally Distributed Teams......Page 177
In Summary......Page 178
The ‘why’ and ‘to Whom’ Parts of Communication: Knowing the Objective of Communication and Audience Analysis......Page 180
Starting to Understand the Objectives of Communication......Page 181
Audience Analysis......Page 184
Putting the Objectives and Audience Analysis Together......Page 187
When you don’t know your Audience in Advance......Page 190
In Summary......Page 191
Preparing for the Communication......Page 192
Gathering and Organizing all the Necessary Support Data......Page 193
Deciding the Location of Communication......Page 194
Ensuring that all the Infrastructural Elements are in Order......Page 196
Notifying all the Participants with Agenda Items and Logistical Details......Page 197
In Summary......Page 198
Listening Skills......Page 199
Steps in Active Listening......Page 200
In Summary......Page 206
Body Language......Page 208
Postures......Page 209
The use of Hands......Page 210
Eye Contact......Page 212
Gestures......Page 213
What do you do in the Absence of Body-Language Avenues......Page 214
In Summary......Page 215
Components of Vocal Variety......Page 217
Pronunciation and Articulation......Page 218
Emphasis......Page 219
Pace......Page 220
Pitch......Page 221
Pauses and Fillers......Page 222
In Summary......Page 224
Visual Aids......Page 226
Types of Visual Aids......Page 227
Slides......Page 228
Graphics......Page 231
Use of Transitions and Animations......Page 233
Some Special Usages and Features......Page 235
In Summary......Page 236
Putting it all Together......Page 238
Organizing......Page 239
Introduction or ‘Tell Them What You are Goingto Tell Them’ Part......Page 240
Body of the Presentation: ‘Tell Them’......Page 241
Conclusion—‘Tell Them What You Told Them’......Page 242
Putting it Together......Page 243
Rehearsing......Page 244
Actualization: get over Nervousness and go for it......Page 245
Odds and Ends......Page 246
Should we Distribute Copies of Slides......Page 247
In Summary......Page 248
Resumé Writing......Page 250
Principles of Writing a Resumé......Page 251
The Process of Putting Together a Resumé......Page 252
The Structure and Contents of a Resumé......Page 254
Some Miscellaneous Topics......Page 258
In Summary: Some dos and don’ts While Writing a Resumé......Page 259
Some Basic Premises a bout Interviews......Page 262
Typical Selection Process......Page 263
General Tips on Taking Interviews......Page 265
Common Questions and Flow......Page 268
The Detailed Part of the Interview......Page 271
The ‘Trick Negative’ Questions......Page 274
Intention Testing Questions......Page 276
Compensation and Financial Details......Page 277
The Interviewer Perspective......Page 278
In Summary......Page 279
The Purpose of Meetings......Page 281
Steps for Getting the Best out of Meetings......Page 282
Who Should Be the Participants......Page 283
What Is Expected of Each of the Participants......Page 284
What are the Logistics Required for the Conduct of the Meeting......Page 285
O: Organizing for a Meeting......Page 286
O: Orchestrating the Meeting......Page 287
F: Following Through After the Meeting......Page 289
The Participant Perspective......Page 291
Common Perceptions/Pitfalls......Page 292
In Summary......Page 293
Proposals......Page 296
Characteristics of Effective Proposals......Page 297
The Process of Preparing an Effective Proposal......Page 300
Prewriting Tasks......Page 301
The Structure of Effective Proposals......Page 302
Similarity of Proposals to Other Vehicles of Communication......Page 304
In Summary......Page 305
The Intended Purpose of Status Reports......Page 307
Organizing the Contents of a Status Report......Page 308
Deciding the Recipients of a Status Report......Page 309
What Should be the Ideal Frequency of Status Reports......Page 311
What Should the Recipients do with a Status Report......Page 312
Some Common Mistakes in Status Reporting......Page 313
In Summary......Page 314
Giving and Receiving Feedback......Page 316
Features of Feedback Process......Page 317
Why Feedback......Page 318
Receiving Feedback......Page 322
Giving Feedback......Page 324
In Summary......Page 326
Performance Appraisals......Page 327
Planning for a Smooth Appraisal......Page 329
Planning for a Smooth Appraisal—Special Considerations for the Appraised......Page 332
During the Appraisal Meeting......Page 333
Challenges in Appraisals......Page 336
Variations in Appraisal Methods......Page 337
In Summary......Page 338
Bad News at Work......Page 341
Some Commonsense Points About Delivering Bad News......Page 343
Top Down Communication of Bad News......Page 345
Telling the Boss the Bad News......Page 347
In Summary......Page 348
Presenting to the Senior Management......Page 350
Before the Presentation......Page 352
The Presentation Proper......Page 354
In Summary......Page 355
Phone Etiquette......Page 360
What is a Good ‘Phone Personality......Page 361
Initial Greetings......Page 363
Getting Down to Business......Page 364
Summarizing......Page 365
Conference Call Etiquette......Page 366
Some Phone Etiquette for the Modern Day......Page 368
Miscellaneous tips about phones and phone......Page 369
E-mail Etiquette......Page 372
Advantages and Challenges of E-Mails......Page 373
Common Points About all Types of E-Mails......Page 374
Writing Enquiry E-Mails......Page 376
Reporting Problems Over E-Mail......Page 381
Responding to Problems Over E-Mail......Page 383
Sending Minutes of Meeting Over E-Mail......Page 386
Miscellaneous Topics......Page 387
In Summary......Page 389
General Guidelines About Foreign Business Trips......Page 390
Know Your Objectives......Page 391
Prepare Well......Page 392
During your Trip......Page 393
In Summary......Page 396
Visits of Foreign Counterparts......Page 398
Know Who the Visitors Are......Page 399
Preparing the Infrastructure for a Visit......Page 400
Preparations for the Business-side of the Visit......Page 401
Start of the Meeting......Page 402
The Meetings Proper......Page 404
Post-Meeting Review......Page 406
Cultural Issues......Page 407
In Summary......Page 408
The Big Deal About Small Talk......Page 409
Some Characteristics of Small Talk......Page 411
Some Small Talk Considerations......Page 413
How to be Effective in Small Talk......Page 414
What are Good Topics for Small Talk......Page 415
In Summary......Page 416
Why are Privacy Issues Important......Page 417
Physical Space......Page 418
Informational Privacy......Page 420
How to Live in a Privacy-Based Workplace......Page 423
Organizational Privacy and Proprietary Information......Page 425
In Summary......Page 426
Learning to Say ‘no’......Page 427
The two types of Wrong yes-s......Page 429
Why you say ‘yes’ when you Mean ‘no’—the Process Explained......Page 430
How can you say ‘no’ and Still Come out Ahead......Page 434
How to Take ‘no’ for an Answer......Page 436
In Summary......Page 437
The Role of Humour in the Workplace......Page 439
How Humour Helps in the Workplace......Page 440
Some Pointers to Effective Workplace Humour......Page 442
Some Absolute no-no-s About Workplace Humour......Page 448
In Summary......Page 449
English-language Skills......Page 452
‘Our’ English and ‘their’ English......Page 453
How can you try to Improve......Page 454
Some Sources to Improve your English......Page 456
What is so Different About American English......Page 457
In Summary......Page 462
The Journey so Far......Page 463
The Journey Ahead......Page 464
Reach for the Moon......Page 467