Soft Skills for Technologists

CHALLENGE:
Training technical talent is different than training other employees. The complex language and themes technologists use require a “translation factor” for others to understand them. Technical professionals must not only understand their proposed solutions but also be able to explain them to audiences with varying degrees of scientific background. The challenge was to help improve communication from technical teams to the greater business audience.

SOLUTION:
We developed a two day course focused on various methods of communication. Technologists were presented a variety of ways to look at communication including communicating goals, presenting solutions, technical negotiations, requirements elicitation, influencing skills, and more. Each topic is delivered from the vantage point of the SME with an underlying focus on the who he/she will be presenting to, or collaborating with.

RESULT:

Technologists gained an understanding of different ways to communicate to achieve different outcomes. They were able to lean into their purpose on project teams and speak up at the best time for their message to be heard. And they began developing presentations with the audience in mind which improved the acceptance of their message.