Three Skills You Will Theoretically Re-Learn During PMP Exam Training
Article by Jessica Parklanes
Admittedly, the four-hour rigorous PMP examination is a multiple choice type of test. However, you will re-learn three skills necessary to become a successful Project Manager during your PMP exam training, if not in practice then at least in theory.
You will re-learn these skills precisely because you have to re-visit the five areas of expertise and the nine knowledge areas during the PMP exam training, which touch on these three skills.
Interpersonal Skills
During your PMP exam training, you will encounter sections dealing with interpersonal skills. Your skills with people are a very vital component of your success as project manager because you deal with people, first and foremost. It will indeed be an easier world for you if only you do not have to deal with human emotions and vagaries! Then again, with easiness comes boredom and stunted growth.
Your people skills should occupy the highest level of priority. There are many aspects that you need to develop before you can say with a certain amount of confidence that you are the leader of your people.
First, there is serving and helping. This does not mean that you have to reverse roles with your people; instead, you have to help them align their personal goals with the project’s goals. Second, you have to communicate. Indeed, it is said that as Project Manager, you will spend 90% of your time communicating to the team! During PMP exam training, the need for communication cannot be overstressed.
Third, you have to persuade and negotiate. These people skills are important to your success because a certain amount of compromise will have to be reached on the finer points of the means to the end. Fourth, you have to supervise and instruct. Though you can expect minimum supervision for people, you also have to provide for clear instructions and supervisory approaches to achieve the desired goals. Fifth, and arguably the most difficult of all, is mentoring your people. You have to provide a role model, and like it or not, it will be you.
Information Skills
Information is the lifeblood of any project. Without it, you and your people will be operating on blind faith, a classic case of the blind leading the blind. The process of analyzing the information and acting on your analysis lies entirely in your hands. You can re-learn the processes and rationales behind information skills during PMP exam training, too.
These will include coordination among multiple sources of data, creation of innovative approaches to problem-solving, and data synthesis. Though you probably encounter practical applications of these skills everyday, revisiting theory can be a new experience.
Tool Skills
Your skill with things, tools and other thingamajigs for decision-making comes least in the order of priority. This is not to say that you should disregard tools for decision-making. Rather, you have to see these tools in the context of their assistance towards developing your people and information skills.
During PMP exam training, you will be exposed to tools and techniques like quality audit and weighting systems. You have to take note of these tools since the PMP exam contains sections on them.
These skills are used everyday in your job as Project Manager, though you might not consciously label them as such. The fact that you can re-learn the theory behind the practice during PMP preparatory training is an added bonus.
Scenes from “Skillstreaming the Adolescent: People Skills, Doin’ Em Right”, available from Research Press: www.researchpress.com
Video Rating: 0 / 5
Posted in People Skills | 
During, Exam, ReLearn, Skills, Theoretically, Three, Training | 
Leave a comment
How To Have Better Communication Skills For Men
Men tend to have trouble communicating with women sometimes and I think this is why many women are frustrated with men. I personally have several experiences with men who have terrifying communication skills and our relationship never took off. They can’t even make a single phone call to say hi to you and this is how bad it is. Not all men have poor communication skills but there are some that are just too poor at it. Poor communication skills can lead to poor relationship establishment and even a loss of relationship.
If you want a woman but never call her when you have her numbers and ask her out, when will you ever get to know her? This is what I don’t understand about some men. They won’t take a risk and try harder with women. They can talk away with their beer buddies but when it comes to you they won’t say a single thing. I realized that they could be scare sometimes but women are scare too but we try hard to get things across to you. We have to risk our dignity when do al of that.
If we can do all of that then you should be able to do them too. It’s a two way street and it takes two to tangle. If you make the woman do all the work, you will lose her forever. You will not have her because some other guy with great communication skills would take her away from you. She would enjoy him more since he can ask her out, and call her on the phone to talk with her daily. It’s very important that you enhance your communication skills. This way you can get what you want from women and other things in life too.
How do you improve your communication skills? You have to start out little and then you will advance as days go by. You need to start out by practicing on a girl. You can pick your sister, mom, or your female friends for a start. Now, you would need to talk to these women daily and tell them about your daily life, and how you feel and what you want in life. You would tell them every thing that you can because this is called communication. Communication is the ability to tell other people what you want to tell them. Of course, you can withhold secretive things like that girl that you never called because you have terrifying communication skills. If you are sad, mad; glad, happy, you should tell these women these things.
When you want to go out for a coffee, pizza, dinner, you should be able to ask them out too. When you’re used to asking them out, you will ask other people out later on. It comes easily as you practice. Give yourself about a year and you will become better at communication. I think that men have no problem communicating with men but they do have a lot of problems when communicating with women. It’s understandable since women can be scary sometimes and especially if you’re in love with them.
You get shy and you are afraid to be vulnerable but you just need to take risk sometimes. You have to start out by telling yourself that you need to improve your communication skills and then practice very hard until you’re better at it. It will take sometimes but you will get better at it as times go by. It’s ok to be vulnerable to women and they will not criticize you for it. Women feel more appreciated when you open up to them. Communication in relationship is very important and it’s how you separate human from other creatures because we can reason and communicate via speech.
To Train or Not to Train – The Soft Skills Dilemma!
Abraham Lincoln shared a short narrative about two wood cutters who decided to compete on who could chop down more trees in a day. The first man started out furiously and decided to chop away without taking any breaks. The second man chopped for a while and then stopped, to sharpen his axe. All through the day, the first cutter did not stop whereas the second contestant regularly took ‘time out’ every couple of hours to hone his axe. Interestingly enough, at the end of the day, the second cutter had achieved twice as much and was half as tired as the first!
Evidently the first man exerted more, made more noise, appeared to be busier – and yet achieved far less, because after a while, he was hacking away with a blunt instrument.
We see the same chronicle repeated in our work lives frequently. In this ever changing and dynamic environment, success has less to do with quantity and more to do with quality inputs. In these days of enhanced competition and budgetary constraints, our biggest challenges are stress, conflict (with internal and external customers) and a kind of revolutionary change.
Albert Einstein rightly said, ‘We cannot solve the problems of today with the same thinking that we used to create them’.
Not surprisingly, we observe an unprecedented interest in the personal growth or self development industry. A casual visit to your nearest book shop will highlight the huge quantum of material that is now being produced in the areas of people skills, leadership, communication skills, stress management, customer service, selling skills, presentation skills, business etiquette, time management, networking, attitude, teambuilding, etc. Books, videos and other tools on these and like subjects are now so pervasively visible across our realm.
As I enter my 12th year in the soft skills and corporate training business, it has been fascinating to observe the gradual change in mindsets, in a multitude of countries around the world. It is now becoming harder and harder for corporates to deny the importance (or rather significance) of enhancing individual skill levels not just in technical subjects but also in the softer areas as mentioned above. Renowned quality management guru, Suresh Lulla, recently said to me ‘Soft skills is the future’. This is a man who has spent the better part of his professional life researching and teaching the subject of quality management. He has also been featured in numerous reputed business publications as an icon of success in the field of quality.
More now than ever before, companies and individuals alike are looking upon training and soft skill development as an investment rather than an expense. Human Resource professionals acknowledge that soft skills training results in the development of ‘Emotional Intelligence’ and thus significantly appreciates the value of the organizations ‘human assets’. Among professionals today, there is a gradual realization that while IQ (Intelligence Quotient) gets you a job, EQ (Emotional Quotient) gets you fired or promoted. In his book, Winning with People, New York Times best selling author John Maxwell says, ‘In life, the skills you use and the people you choose, will make or break you’. Maxwell is considered one of the foremost authorities on leadership and has written numerous works on this subject. He contends that when one learns to control their emotions and build good relationships with other people, there is very little that can keep them away from success.
]]>
Maxwell’s assertion so well elucidates the two primary components of soft skills i.e. self development and relationship enhancement.
(1) A common opposition (and a protest of sorts) to soft skill training programs is – ‘What if I train my employees and they leave to join another organization? Wouldn’t that be a waste of precious resources and time?’
Self made multi millionaire and entrepreneur, Jim Dornan, responds to this objection thus – ‘What if you don’t train your employees and they stay in your organization? How would you like to have the burden of large numbers of unskilled, ill equipped or poorly motivated people?’
So, while the argument to not train your people may have some weight, the alternative is far from pleasant. Retaining a group of untutored, unprepared or apathetic staff is one of the greatest drags on any organization. Following this latest recession, very few companies can claim that their people continue to stay motivated without any deliberate intervention.
(2) Another point of contention is when an organization abstains from training because they believe that they are already hiring skilled (or experienced) personnel. While this argument holds ground at the time of recruitment, it loses its sheen with the passage of time. As is with any discipline, people tend to ‘get out of shape’ if they don’t consciously and continually work at honing their skills.
Thought leader, author and motivational speaker Brian Tracy says, ‘Knowledge in most fields doubles every 3 to 4 years. Thus, an individual who is not deliberate about developing or growing himself / herself, will fall behind.’ Tracy goes on to explain that ‘doing nothing’ or even ‘doing little’ to sharpen your axe will inevitably build the odds against you. Needless to say, your competition will gain significant advantages over you just by further developing their skilled employees.
Delhi based certified coach and Master NLP practitioner, Shalini Verma (founder of The Skyscrapers Academy) says, ‘Skilled personnel are the best candidates for training and coaching. These people already have a base aptitude and thus have a great foundation for developing leadership skills. History has shown that any enterprise will rise and fall on leadership. The quality of its leaders will determine the size and sustenance of the business.’ She goes on to explain that when the head is strong and stable, the tail automatically aligns. So, the skilled workforce, are actually the best candidates for continual soft skill development.
(3) And here’s the great grand daddy of all protests – ‘Training & motivation doesn’t last! My people get motivated after the training BUT things just fizzle out over a period of time.’
My mentor Basil Harris is a very wise man. As an entrepreneur and coach, I have seen him guide a number of people towards the accomplishment of their dreams and goals. He says, ‘That’s right, training & motivation doesn’t last!….. Neither does bathing; and that’s why we repeat it!’
Our logical minds can easily accept that the food in our stomach does not last – we need to repeat it every few hours, the air in our tyres needs regular replenishment, and yes – if we are to lose weight or get fit – just one visit to the gym isn’t going to cut it. It is not uncommon today, to see doctors, lawyers, engineers, tax consultants, etc taking time out to upgrade or just update themselves. So, why should training or any kind of soft skills development be any different?
My good friend and business partner, Swati Pradhan (an entrepreneur and executive coach, based in the UK) says, ‘When soft skill development is driven and encouraged by the organizations senior leadership – trainings are taken seriously and a culture of continual improvement gets automatically imbibed. Inevitably, such a company earns the reputation of being a preferred employer – and predictably, this enterprise now attracts some of the best talent in the industry’.
Maslow and numerous other authorities in the field of psychology endorse that ‘personal growth and self development’ is a strong human need and thus – when an institution starts to fulfill this need – good quality people are attracted to it as fly’s are to honey.
Over time, companies that are consistent with soft skill trainings see -
(a) Growth in turnover
(b) Higher profits & reduced costs
(c) Innovation & higher levels of staff motivation and
(d) Enhanced loyalty
All of the above represents extraordinary levels of .
We live in a world of microwave ovens, instant noodles and crash diets. So, our psyche tends to expect instant gratification from everything. The few that comprehend the concept of delayed gratification acknowledge that soft skills training is not a quick fix. While it’s true that one or two training programs produce little results, it is also true that a regular and methodical application produces enormous tangible and intangible gain.
The moment we can regard soft skills trainings as a long term fitness program, rather than as a one time purchase of machinery, we have taken the most important step towards organizational and personal success.
The second wood cutter made less noise, spent less effort (and time) and yet accomplished greater results – all because he took the time to sharpen his axe.
In order to ‘go up’, we first need to ‘grow up’ i.e. develop ourselves. And in order to grow up, we need to ‘give up’ i.e. our inhibitions towards self development, relationship enhancement and change.
Soft skills development requires the element of discipline – nothing more and nothing less. Rest assured, the price of discipline is far less that the price of regret.
Another great video by the AXA team
Hone Your Skills ? The Road To Success In MLM
Many things may come to mind when someone tells you to “hone your skills.” As this pertains to network marketing it simply means getting back to the basic fundamentals in building a mlm company. Only a few items are required for success. The problem is that most people get involved in mlm without having these basic skills. They’re promptly told what they need to do to start making money without even learning the basics.
It would be like taking someone who’s never played basketball before and trying to first teach him how to do a behind the back pass, dribble between the legs, and then go foran alley-oop on his first dayplaying the game. This is setting your new guy up for failure. He Figure out how to dribble, pass, and shoot. These are the root skills of the game.. Mlm is the same. You must master the basics beforetrying any internet marketing campaign, creating any copywriting materials, etc.
There are only a few skills you must master in order to succeed in network markteting.
The chief element you mustbe taught is how to effectively prospect others. There are several different ways to do this. The simple formula that Iuse is F.O.R.M.
F – Family. Ask questions about their family.
O = Occupation. Does their career meet their financial goals? Get details.
R – Recreation. What do they enjoy doing for hobbies?
M – Message. This is your call to .
The purpose is to find some common ground between you and your prospect. You start to build trust with him.
You must also get information on prospecting. Look to your mentor in your primary business. Get some books on the subject.
an alternative method to hone your skills is asking for the sale.
You can be the best prospector in the world and have a million names on your list, but if you can’t seal the deal you won’t make sales nor sponsor reps. Many people do tons of work and still don’t make money, because they haven’t learned this skill. Many network marketers are spending countless hours on Facebook, writing great content articles, creating videos, and doing all kinds of online traffic generation techniques with no money coming in from their businesses. They may have huge subscriber bases. It’s worthless without having closing skills. Always work on honing your sales skills.
The other skill you must hone is not really an actual skill. It’s an understanding of human psychology. You need to ascertain they way we process information. You need to figure out what motivates people to take action. Read books similar to “How To Win Friends And Influence People” by Dale Carnegie and others like it to improve in this area. The only other way to learn is by just getting out in the market and talking to people. By practicing the first two fundamental skills you’ll begin to understand the way your prospects think.
A great place to hone your skills is Facebook. There are an endless amount of people you can talk to there. Practice the fundamentals. Succeed. Click this link now to get my Free Facebook Lead Generation Webinar.
Leadership Through People Skills
Co-Active Coaching: New Skills for Coaching People T...
 | US $30.95 End Date: Thursday Feb-23-2012 3:19:54 PST Buy It Now for only: US $30.95 Buy it now | Add to watch list |
 | US $18.95 End Date: Thursday Feb-23-2012 3:23:06 PST Buy It Now for only: US $18.95 Buy it now | Add to watch list |
How to Develop Soft Skills
How to Develop Soft Skills
Technical skills have little value if you have poor soft skills. Don’t get me wrong, your tech expertise matters. But don’t be fooled by your tech skills. King of Linux, champion of Oracle? You’ve got it made, right? Give me a break! Tech skills alone are no guarantee of success.
Although technical skills are important for most jobs, soft skills can be even more important. Employers are looking for candidates with strong communication skills, creativity, analytical thinking, diplomacy, flexibility, problem-solving, leadership, team-building, and listening skills. If you’re weak in any of those areas, here is what you can do to improve.
Instructions
1
The first step is to identify your strongest soft skills. When writing a resume or speaking in an interview, emphasize your strengths. In most professions, technical skills are important, but soft skills can be even more important to employers. They want to know if you are dependable and can deal with people in a positive way.
2
After researching soft skills, determine which ones may be weaknesses for you. Do you hide under your desk at the first sign of conflict? If you have a problem dealing with change, aggression, office politics or difficult people, consider attending a class to address the issue. It is an investment in your future.
3
If a formal class is too expensive, consider borrowing books or videos from your local library. Many books have been written about improving customer service skills, assertiveness and handling difficult people.
Soft skills empower you and create opportunities.
In my opinion, the main benefit of soft skills is empowerment. How does your tech skill translate to value? How do you create opportunity? Soft skills are useful for creating and taking advantage of opportunities – jobs, career and business. No matter how great your tech skills are, when job hunting, your marketing skills should be first-class. Otherwise others who may not be as capable as you, but who have better marketing skills might beat you to the jobs or work you want. There are opportunities in IT. But there are also challenges and competition. In such a competitive environment, perception often reigns supreme.
If your technical competencies are similar to those of other candidates how do you differentiate yourself? You claim to be a technical wizard. The problem however, and this is a big however, is how do I know if you are good if you can’t sell what you have – yourself or your ideas? Your certifications and previous work experience are important. But the issue at stake is this: can you convince the interviewer or clients that you will solve their problems and deliver value?
Soft skills not only improve your career, they also offer personal growth.
Interestingly, the acquisition of soft skills also empowers you by allowing you to build flexibility into your future IT career plans. How? Most soft skills are regarded as transferable skills, e.g. communication, project management, business and team work, which are needed in nearly all aspects of life, not just for your career alone. You need to grow not just as a techie but also as a person.
Developing professional ethics is vital to your career.
Stop negative conduct whether deliberate, due to ignorance, or because of an unsupportive environment. No matter your environment, you can’t afford to be ignorant, insensitive or unprofessional simply because you feel you are a technical guru. IT “Hot stuff”, swallow your pride, dig deep and identify your soft skills gap. Then make a conscious effort to close the gap. Nobody is perfect. But that’s no excuse to empower your weaknesses. Developing your tech skills while actively cultivating poor soft skills is akin to moving one step forward, two steps backwards. It burns and wastes what you hold dear –time, money and resources. Poor soft skills devalue. Period!
Control co-worker’s perception of you as a professional and an expert in your field.
If you are perceived as being difficult and unfriendly, of what value are your Linux skills when no one is ready to work with you? Are you doing your best in your area of specialization? But to people that interact with you – colleagues, clients, instructors, managers – what is their perception of you? A great asset, a fantastic contributor, just someone who does IT stuff, or the techie from hell? It’s a hard fact of life, but this book will often be judged by its cover. Most importantly, it’s not just about succeeding in work or business. What is the essence?
To grow as a professional, to grow in business, you must also grow as a person.
Find More Success Skills Articles
Critical Thinking Skills
Critical thinking skills in individuals are important since this will be the method by which he will put order in his life. Unknowingly and without being conscious, he applies analysis and evaluation of the beliefs and principles he will uphold as the guiding forces in his life. Often he will seek for explanations that can strengthen his convictions.
Critical thinking skills however can be influenced by innate traits and characteristics that will often direct to certain inclinations. This is where the methods of critical thinking skills can be influenced by certain sets of pre-recognized beliefs which may have been instilled even before the time an individual can apply his own analytical skills.
As a person enters into his own maturity, certain cultural, moral and spiritual values were nurtured in his mind during his growing up years. This will determine the areas where his critical thinking skills will apply. It can develop in him a sense of bias and prejudice, which will prevent him for considering other ideologies.
He will also develop tendencies that will always lead him to what he has been used to. An individual will also aspire for what has been nurtured in him as the goal to reach for. Hence, the analyses he will apply are often confined to areas he is familiar with. However, as his critical thinking skills progress, the individual will also go into the process of comparison about his beliefs and that of the others. As he goes through this process of his critical thinking skills, he will develop prejudices, biases, idealism and heroism.
It may also create in him a feeling of want, desire and ineptness and will direct his critical thinking skills to methods of achieving these wants and desires. This is where his moral and spiritual values will have a direct influence on his choices. His religion may recognize certain practices as acceptable because this has been a tradition he grew up with. His critical thinking skills may veer from what is usually the norm, if outside of his cultural society.
His moral values may also influence his choices in life and will also be in accordance with his environmental conditions. He may develop notions that may be opposed to what he grew up with or will conform to it. His critical thinking skills will consider the negative effects it contributed in his life, which he may desire to escape from. In the same way that he will be comfortable with the positive effects in his life. As a result, he may not take any risk at all in making critical choices in his life.
Based on this, a person’s critical thinking skills will always put into light what has been taught to him, what he has observed and witnessed, or what has caused him pain and enjoyment all through his growing up years. There is also the development of his maturity or whether he recognizes the fact that his actions and deeds can also affect the lives of the people around him.
He will utilize his critical thinking skills but will always base his assessment and inferences in the knowledge that has been stored in his mind; no matter how raw or refined they may be.
Find More People Skills Articles
What Skills do You Need to Become a Stockbroker?
If you would like to become a stockbroker there are several key skills that you will need to be a success. Stockbroking is a very competitive industry and only those who are at the top of their game will reach the pinnacles of the profession and earn the vast remuneration that is on offer. So, what are the skills and qualifications that will help make you a great stockbroker?
Communication
Being able to communicate effectively is an essential part of being a stockbroker. When you are dealing with large transactions that involve millions of pounds each, one false communication could prove costly.
Self Motivation
A stockbroker must be self motivated. In such a competitive environment those lacking self motivation and determination will soon begin to fall behind. This will lead to employers looking at your performance and maybe evaluating your position in the company. This has been particularly prevalent in recent years with the cutbacks being made in the industry due to the tougher financial times that we are currently facing.
Analytical Brain
In order to succeed as a stockbroker you will have to be able to analyse information and act on your findings. Much of the art of being a stockbroker is spotting patterns and trends. Once you have spotted a trend you need to be able to effectively decipher that information to make an informed decision. Do this well and you will make your company a hefty profit, do it poorly and you could be looking at a loss.
Fitness
A certain level of personal fitness is required to become a stockbroker. A stockbroker works long hours and is a stressful job. This two factors combined can take a toll on your health if you are not fairly fit, which could lead to you having to take time of work to recuperate and therefore cost you money.
Academic Qualifications
The stockbroking industry is different to how it was twenty years ago. Gone are the days where you could leave school without qualifications and start as a “tea boy” and work your way up to being a stockbroker. Today more often than not only those with a degree in economics, finance or business from a top quality university are considered for jobs.
The above skills and qualifications are just a few that are required in order to become a stockbroker. If you have a good balance of the afore mentioned skills you will be able to apply for stockbroker jobs andcould soon find yourself on the way to a very lucrative career.
Click here to find out more about stockbroker training that can help you become a stockbroker
learn how to boost your confidence and raise your self esteem.
Related Success Skills Articles