The ACE of soft skills attitude, communication and etiquette for success. - Description based on print version record. - Includes index

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. 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 The ACE of Soft Skills: Attitude, Communication and Etiquette for Success is a part of this educational process that produces top-notch professionals. Divided into three parts, Attitude, Communication and Etiquette, This book provides a broad-based coverage of what constitutes soft skills and covers nearly 40 essential soft skills along with numerous case studies, cartoons, figures, tables and quotations