Multiply Training - Blog by multiplytraining

AI vs Soft Skills

Thu, 01 Feb 2024 19:41:00 +0000

As we enter the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Artificial Intelligence and disruptive technologies will change the face of our planet forever! There are no guarantees as to how things will look. However, one thing will be certain: the human element. The asset that genuinely appreciates within an organization is its people. Systems become dated, buildings deteriorate, but people can grow, develop, and become more effective when they understand their potential value.

Deloitte, through their research, published an article called “Soft Skills for Business Success” affirming that in the future economy, one of the highest demands will be for people with soft skills. Thus, a high IQ and excellent education will only get you so far. Those who want to ‘future-proof’ themselves will have to develop their soft skills.

Hard Skills vs. Soft Skills

What is the difference between hard skills and soft skills? Hard skills are technical skills that can be learned academically. Hard skills are easily measured. Soft skills, on the other hand, are skills that are under the surface and are often difficult to assess. The Oxford Online Dictionary defines soft skills as “personal attributes that enable someone to interact effectively and harmoniously with other people.” Most people can learn the hard technical skills of a job, but what is lacking is the soft skills needed to keep the job! Soft skills will be the defining factor between those who excel and those who fail. Business owners are now seeing the need to develop their people holistically. Employees can be trained in technical skills, but it won’t mean anything to the company if they are always sick, can’t communicate, can’t work in a team, don’t show initiative, and struggle to manage their emotions.

Soft Skills Don’t Expire

What makes soft skills so important is that they are skills without a ‘sell-by’ date. They will never become obsolete through disruptive technologies. They are also transferable skills that are valuable no matter what industry one finds oneself in. Investing in soft skills therefore not only makes you more employable but also more versatile and agile. As Daniel Goleman, the EQ expert, said: “For star performance in all jobs, in every field, emotional competence is twice as important as purely cognitive abilities. For success at the highest levels, in leadership positions, emotional competence accounts for virtually the entire advantage.”

Training and Development of Soft Skills

So where do we start? Parents, educators, coaches, and business owners need to become very intentional about how we develop and train the people we are responsible for. We need to teach them positive self-esteem. We need to teach them healthy eating and sleeping habits. We need to teach them to be aware of their emotions and how they should respond, not react, in difficult situations. We need to show them how to communicate, work in teams, and deal with conflict. We need to teach them how to lead from a place of integrity, humility, and teachability. It is time we revisit the essential need for soft skills in our own lives and in those we lead.

10 Reasons why your business needs an LMS

Fri, 30 Jun 2023 13:54:46 +0000

Firstly what is an LMS?

LMS stands for Learning Management System and it’s fast becoming a deciding factor for top talent. More and more, potential employees are asking, “How will you upskill me if I choose to work for your company?”

The answer can no longer be an afterthought. Learning and Development (L&D) is no longer a nice-to-have perk it’s a necessity for attracting and keeping great people.

Too often, training misses the mark because it’s based on generic, pre-packaged courses that don’t fit a company’s unique needs. That’s where an LMS changes everything. It’s not just a platform it’s a game-changer that makes learning targeted, efficient, and measurable.

After more than 20 years in L&D, I can say this with confidence: the companies that have taken the time to create Learning Organizations are the ones who keep on winning in the long run!

In this blog, I’ll share ten powerful reasons why investing in an LMS could be one of the smartest moves your business makes this year.

1. Invest in Your People

The greatest investment you can make is in the growth of your people both personally and professionally. Your employees are your first and most important clients. When you invest in their development, you’re sending a powerful message: “We value you.”

Companies that invest in an LMS show their people that they matter and that their L&D is taken seriously. It’s not just about training, it’s about building loyalty, trust, and long-term commitment.

2. Aligns people with the Vision and Values

A healthy culture doesn’t happen by accident, it’s built when everyone is aligned with the organization’s vision and values. An LMS helps reinforce these principles by embedding them into training content, weaving the organization’s DNA into every learning experience.

When employees are clear on the “why” behind their work, they become more engaged, more collaborative, and more driven.

3. Clear Career Path and Engagement

People want to know where they’re going and how to get there right from day one. A well-structured LMS doesn’t just help existing employees map out their career journey; it also streamlines onboarding for new hires. From their very first week, new team members can see the milestones ahead, understand the skills they’ll need to develop, and access resources to help them get there. This clarity reduces the uncertainty of starting a new role and accelerates their integration into the company culture. When individuals take responsibility for their development, whether they’re brand new or seasoned professionals, they become more motivated, more focused, and far more likely to achieve their next career goal.

4. Customize Training

One of the most impactful trends in learning and development is the creation of “Organizational Universities,” which are customised training programs built specifically for the needs of the business. An LMS allows you to create in-house content that reflects your company’s unique language, culture, and skill requirements. This ensures that training is relevant and directly supports your objectives rather than relying on generic, one-size-fits-all courses.

5. Supports the Business Strategy

Every great HR initiative should support the business strategy, and an LMS is no different. It ensures your people are equipped with the skills and competencies needed to achieve the company’s goals.

Whether you are entering new markets, launching new products, or adapting to industry changes, an LMS allows you to upskill your workforce quickly and effectively so you can stay competitive and agile.

6. Measure Performance

Performance and engagement should never be left to guesswork. An LMS provides measurable data on learning activity, completion rates, and skill development. This allows you to make informed decisions about promotions, incentives, and development priorities.

Clear insights help you connect learning to results and demonstrate the true value of your training programs.

7. Attracting, Recruit and Retain Top Talent

Top talent is selective. They want to know how you will help them grow and why they should choose your company over another.

A strong learning and development program, powered by an LMS, is a powerful attraction tool. High performers take their growth seriously and prefer to work for organizations that are equally committed to their development.

8. Institutional Knowledge and IP

Institutional knowledge often sits in someone’s head or is hidden in a document that no one can find. When the person who holds it leaves, valuable insights leave with them. An LMS becomes your central knowledge hub, collecting best practices, processes, and expertise from across the business. This information is stored in the cloud, kept up to date, and made accessible to everyone who needs it.

9. Time-Saving & Flipping the Classroom

Organising live training can take considerable time, from coordinating schedules to setting up venues and preparing presentations.

While live training still has its place, an LMS allows you to flip the classroom. Employees can complete the theory and foundational material online, freeing in-person sessions for practical application, problem-solving, and teamwork. This approach saves time and work interruptions, increasing the time spent applying skills and doing the actual work.

10. Blended Learning

No single learning method works for every employee. An LMS gives you the flexibility to combine different formats such as videos, discussions, surveys, readings, quizzes, assignments, and Instructor-Led Training (ILT). Blended learning provides variety, accommodates different learning styles, and increases engagement and knowledge retention.

In Conclusion

Is your learning and development program outdated, scattered, or difficult to measure? Are you spending more time organising training than delivering results? An LMS can change the way you approach training by making it structured, measurable, and engaging. The benefits can be transformative for your business.

Ready to see the difference an LMS can make? Contact us today and let us help you build a system that works for your people and your goals.

Future of Education Soft Skills

Fri, 30 Jun 2023 13:42:48 +0000

According to Statistics SA, “South African youth are still vulnerable in the labour market. South Africa’s unemployment rate is high for both youth and adults; however, the unemployment rate among young people aged 15–34 was 38,2%, implying that more than one in every three young people in the labour force did not have a job in the first quarter of 2018.

Youth unemployment, however, is not unique to South Africa; it is a global phenomenon. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), there are about 71 million unemployed youth, aged 15–24 years, globally in 2017, with many of them facing long-term unemployment. In South Africa, those aged 15–34 years are considered as youth”.

How do we increase the employability of our young people?

We all know education is one of the key answers to the social challenges we are facing. However traditional education as we know it is also failing. Many graduates with excellent degrees remain unemployed. What is needed is the right type of education. We need an education model that will ensure our young people are more employable and ready to cope in the future job markets.

One of my favorite quotes is that of Ralph Waldo Emerson. “That which we do not call education is more precious than that which we call so”.

What I have discovered about education over the last two decades as an educator of Emerging Adults (Young people between 18 – 30 years of age), is that education has two key components, academics and life lessons. Life lessons take place between the classes. The challenge is that the more essential experiences of life seem to slip by without us even noticing them. We need to become intentional about our education so that we can draw the value out of learning in everyday context.

How can we become more intentional about that which we do not call education?

1. Place a high value on Soft Skills

Establish the value of soft skills. You will only invest in what you value. If we fail to identify the value of that which we do not call ‘education’, we will fail to be intentional about investing in and developing that side of our education. When a value is placed on Social Emotional Learning (SEL), it will not be seen as an optional extra, but a crucial development to make oneself ‘future proof’.

2. Invest In your Soft Skill Credentials

Many of us have spent 12 years at school and invested another 3-7 years on our tertiary education. We can earn great academic credentials, but what about investing in our soft skills credentials? Reading books about soft skills, attend online or live seminars, doing short courses, anything that will ‘up skill’ you in the area of your soft skills. What if you don’t have money to invest in your personal soft skills development? Then draw value from life lessons. Thus my next point…

3. Draw value from life lessons

Life is the best learner, as you go through life be aware of the soft skills you are developing along the journey for example:

3.1 Make connections

Work on relational connections. Learn to socialize with all types of people. People older and younger than you. People from different social, economic backgrounds and different cultures. Learn to see and value in all people.

3.2 Learn how to handle conflict

Learn how to manage your emotions and that of others by developing effective conflict strategies before you face the conflict. If you have effective strategies in place, you will not be so caught off guard and thus less apologizing to do later. Learn from each problematic situation you find yourself in, what are the skills you have learned from each conflict situation?

3.3 Embrace Responsibility

Responsibility in many ways has become a curse word for this generation and to be avoided like the plague. Responsibility is not a curse, but a blessing. Wrapped up in responsibilities are the gifts of valuable life lessons. The more responsibility I take on, the faster I learn and grow.

3.4 See the value in developing Grit

When I have to push through the uncomfortable circumstances, I develop grit and grit and builds character. This character gives me the capacity to handle the next challenge life will throw at me.

In conclusion

Just remember Soft Skills are primarily non-academic, the first level is the knowledge of the Soft Skill the second level lies in practice. Practice re-enforces learning.

What would the result be if we paid more attention to investing in the softer side of our education and putting that into practice?

Maybe it is time, that which we don’t call education becomes as important as that which we call education?

‘Vintage’ – Future Skills

Thu, 29 Jun 2023 14:41:02 +0000

When I think of vintage, I think of something timeless and valuable. My brother-in-law has taken an old 1964 Cordini and restored it to its true essence. To see the original colors and trim is a sight to behold. What was once ‘ordinary and everyday’ has now become valuable, beautiful, and in high demand.

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, the word vintage is defined as: “Denoting something from the past of high quality and lasting value.” When we talk about vintage “Future Skills,” we’re referring to the skills that our parents and their parents took for granted. These were skills that were considered ordinary and everyday. They were learned, practiced, and developed from a young age, often without anyone being consciously aware of it. They were the cultural norm and standard of the day. From my perspective, Future Skills are a return to the skills of the past. They are timeless skills—skills that allow us to interact and engage with other people effectively.

According to the World Economic Forum [2], 10 of the top 16 skills needed for the future are going to be soft skills—skills like communication, social and cultural awareness, persistence, and grit. Some of these skills are “vintage” by nature and came naturally to those before us. Unfortunately, people intentionally developing these skills are few and far between. A generation is entering the marketplace that struggles to connect and communicate effectively, lacks social awareness, patience, endurance, and grit. Unless we purposefully engage in restoring these skills, we will face a significant dilemma in both the workplace and society.

There are many ‘vintage’ Future Skills we could explore, but we have chosen a handful that we feel, based on research and life experience, are crucially important. Over the next few weeks, starting with the topic of Identity Formation, we will begin to unpack the following Future Skills:

Identity Formation
Self-management
Emotional Intelligence
Communication
Teamwork
Adaptability
Collaboration

People who intentionally develop these Future Skills will become more valuable and in high demand.

If you’re looking for more information on how you and your team can develop these much needed future skills please feel free to reach out to us.

[1] https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/vintage
[2] https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/03/21st-century-skills-future-jobs-students/

Mental Health - The Heart of the Matter

Wed, 15 Jan 2020 22:44:33 +0000

“I’m so stressed!”
“It’s been such a hectic season – I need another coffee… or a drink!”
“I need to escape. I need to sleep.”

In recent years, the word BUSY has become a buzzword. When asked how we are doing, “Busy!” often rolls off our lips, as if this is something to be proud of. In the modern world, we glorify stress and busyness like they are measurements of success, passion and vision.

However, the truth is that prolonged periods of busyness, resulting in high levels of stress, is the silent killer – of our health, our lives, our vision, our passion, our futures, our families. If we do not make an intentional effort to prevent stress, we will live mediocre lives and rather lose out on greatness than realise our dreams.

So, what exactly is stress?

Stress is our mental, physical and behavioural response to something that threatens our safety or wellbeing. It is often a healthy sign that something is wrong, and we need to adapt in order to preserve ourselves. Stress affects everyone, regardless of age or gender.

However, not all stress is bad. Too little pressure can lead to apathy and boredom. On the other hand, too much of it can result in serious physical, psychological, interpersonal, or performance problems. Most of us have, at some point, struggled with this kind of

unhealthy stress.

Here is a quick biology lesson: When we stress, our bodies go into fight-or-flight mode. A short burst of the adrenaline hormone gets released into the bloodstream. This is the body’s natural way of enhancing our abilities to get us out of trouble (like, say one had to run away from a lion), which is obviously a good thing. At the same time, a slower-release stress hormone called cortisol also gets released into the bloodstream. The problem is, these hormones are not meant to be secreted in the long term. When we live a life of constant stress, our bodies produce too much adrenaline and cortisol. Over time, this affects our health, sleep, metabolism, emotional state – everything.

And that is how stress silently kills us.

Most of us do not even realise how stressed we are, as we have become so accustomed to living under pressure that it almost seems reasonable.

Acknowledging stress in our lives

The first step to deal with stress is to identify if you have any of these typical stress symptoms:

Self-destructive behaviours (e.g. substance abuse or alcoholism)
Heart attacks or strokes
Abdominal problems (e.g. irritable bowel syndrome)
Recuring physical illness (e.g. colds and flu).
Hypertension
Regular headaches or migraines
High cholesterol
Insomnia
Depression and anxiety
Avoidance of priority tasks
Rigidity or disorganisation
Escapism
Over-eating
Loss of sexual appetite
Slow metabolism
Restlessness
Multi-tasking, but getting nothing done
Constant busyness

What causes stress?

Next, we need to understand the driving force behind stress.

Stress is rooted in fear. As explained before, it is the fight-or-flight response that we experience when faced with a threat. When we begin to examine our lives and pull back the layers of stress, there will always be an underlying fear driving us. Whether it is the fear of lack, the fear of failure, the fear of others’ opinions, the fear of losing someone, the fear of “what if…?”, the fear of the unknown. The list goes on and on.

So what is the answer?

The answer may not be the one we are looking for. There is no easy, quick fix, no pop-it-in-the-microwave solution.

There are many lifestyle changes we will need to make to reduce stress: effective time management, proper nutrition, exercise, strong supportive relationships and relaxation techniques – to name but a few.

However, these good habits might help in the short term, but if we do not deal with the root issue behind stress, our long-term fruit may not be great, and we will never live healthy, low-stress lives.

Just like a good tree produces good fruit without trying, and a bad tree produces bad fruit without trying, we also involuntarily produce the fruit that our roots allow us to produce. If our fruit is stress, anxiety and fear, this is an indication that something is wrong with our root system, and we will need to sort that out.

To produce good fruit, our roots need to be grounded in love and not fear. Love is more than an emotion – it is a spiritual force that has the power to destroy fear. Therefore, the only REAL, lasting antidote to stress is to be grounded in the love of God. The truth of God’s love deals with and destroys every single fear, every single time.

A life of rest, peace and abundance is not dependent on our circumstances, but rather on the inner security that we belong to the One who sustains and holds all life. Out of this safe place, our lifestyle comes into order. We have more purpose and vision. We start managing ourselves better. Our sleep improves (despite our circumstances). We engage in relationships from a whole and happy place (without being needy and fearing rejection). We do not worry about lack, because we know the One who provides.

This is an invitation…

Are you rooted in the love of God?

Do not settle for a life of anxiety, fear and stress. Stop glorifying busyness to feel productive and worthy.

Fight back, fight stress, get rooted in the love of God!

An overview of Soft Skills

Wed, 06 Feb 2019 18:49:35 +0000

Abstract:

The purpose of this article is to provide a broad overview of soft skills and its development. We will ask the following questions. What is the history of Emotional Intelligence? Is there a growing need for soft skills development? How are soft skills currently being measured? What is the ROI on soft skills? How is education dealing with the need for a focus on Soft Skills?

History of Soft Skills

Up until the late 80 and early 90’s, most people believed that cognitive abilities and IQ was going to determine success in the workplace. We now know that EQ is as important.

Emotional Intelligence might be defined as: “A type of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one’s own and others’ emotions, to discriminate among them, and to use the information to guide one’s thinking and actions (Salovey and Mayer 1990:433). The history of Emotional Intelligence can be traced back to the Intelligence testing movement of Thorndike (1920), who recognised that there are multiple intelligences, one of them being social intelligence.

David Wechsler (1939) built on this concept by suggesting that the moods, feelings, and attitudes surrounding intelligence could be critical components to success in life. In the 1950s, Abraham Maslow created the hierarchy of needs discussing how people could develop emotional strength. The Theory of social intelligences did not receive too much attention until Gardner (1983) in his book, ‘Frames of the mind: the theory of multiple intelligences’. Gardner identifies eight different intelligences; linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, spatial, bodily/kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalistic. According to Gardner, no one person is the same when it comes to how one learns, develops and solves problems. Payne, (1985), Bar-On (1988), Goldberg (1993), Mayer and Salovey (1990) continued to develop the concept of Emotional Intelligence until Goleman(1995), brought emotional intelligence to the mainstream public.

Growing need for soft skills development

Research shows that soft skills can result in higher earnings and higher chances of work success (Heckman & Kautz 2012; Balcar 2014). Research is also showing that there will be a greater need for soft skills in the future (Deloitte 2017; Carnevale, 2013; Manpower Group, 2013).

Soft Skills development is becoming a ‘hot topic’ due to disruptive technologies and many other factors. Deloitte, in their research on Human Capital Trends (2018) it was shown how the world of work is changing to become more personalised and connected, with formal hierarchies breaking down and being replaced by networks of teams. Another article by Deloitte (2017), “Soft Skills for Business Success” 2, highlights the fact that by 2030 soft skills intensive occupations will make up 2/3 of the world’s workforce and critical soft skills like Self Management; Teamwork; Problem Solving and Global Citizenship just to name a few, will be essential to stay relevant in the business world.

Rossano and Hill (2015)3 in their literature review “Soft e-leadership skills” prepared for the European Commission highlighted the fact that although technology will be at the forefront of the future economy, leaders will need skills in collaboration, communication; empathy; diversity and cultural knowledge to build teams across multiple platforms.

Soft Skills are going to be needed in all fields including IT professionals. Wagner and Sternberg (2002), renowned cognitive psychologists highlighted the fact that ‘School Smart’, good academics at school does not translate to ‘Street Smart’ good work intelligence. They highlighted four areas that need to be mastered for IT professionals: Managing tasks; managing career; managing self; and leading others.

Due to this, recruiters, are becoming more concerned about hiring people with excellent soft skills and more rigorous recruiting procedures are being put into place (Alsop 2006; Colvin 2014; White 2013).

Assessing Soft Skills

The challenge with measuring soft skills is that personalities cannot be put into neat boxes, as Srivastava and Oliver (1999), highlighted for us in their work on the “Big Five”. Credentialing Soft Skills is a new frontier that has not yet been thoroughly mastered, due to the nature of Soft Skills being behaviour based and not analytical. Some of the organizations that use Soft Skills Assessments would be: The States Department of Defense uses a personality test called the (TAPAS).4 Other organizations like DeakinCo5; SHL6; Mayer- Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) presented by MHS7 all present tests measuring some form of soft skills and emotional intelligence.

However, there are challenges to testing softs skills. Connelly (et al. 2010) suggest peer review as a much safer way of assessing soft skills, as it showed ratings by others were more accurate, less biased, and more predictive of future outcomes.

Soft Skills and ROI?

In their article “Derive Hard Numbers from Soft Skills” and based on their research Phillips (et al. 2015)8, firmly believe that companies that invest in Soft Skills will see the results regarding their Return on Investment (ROI). They say: “Soft skills create agile organizations, develop innovative companies, make the best places to work, and build the most admired companies. Soft skills bring out the best in people as their behaviours and competencies are shaped to fit the strategy of the organisation, the desired work climate, and the ever-changing, unpredictable landscape.

Soft Skills in Education

Despite the increase in technology their remains considerable gaps in students learning abilities especially when it comes to critical skills needed for Tertiary education like, focus; self-regulated learning; critical thinking and problem-solving.

A plea to include non-cognitive in education could be seen in a 2012 report by the National Research Council entitled “Education for Life and Work: Developing Transferable Knowledge and Skills in the 21st Century”. In this report, they highlight the fact that: “Business and political leaders are increasingly asking schools to develop skills such as problem-solving, critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and self-management often referred to as “21st-century skills.” (Ed, Hilton and Pellengrino 2012).

Soft Skills education has also been the theme of work by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL)9, an organization with a mission “to establish social and emotional learning as an essential part of education”. CASEL believe that the questions students these days are asking are not information based (anything that can be Googled). The questions they are asking are: “Who am I? How do I work with you? How do we build a team”?

Conclusion

It is essential that if we are leaders in any way shape or form that we consider the significant importance of Soft Skills development. It is never too late to develop yourself and your team. Hard skills can only take you so far; soft skills will take you further!