Some of the most essential skills in the workplace can be difficult to teach, but that’s what the Orillia and District Literacy Council hopes to do during a series of free workshops.
The organization is currently working out details, including dates, as it prepares to host the UP Skills for Work workshops.
Provided by ABC Life Literacy Canada, UP Skills for Work focuses on what are often referred to as soft skills. It will include instruction on what ABC Life Literacy Canada calls “the nine key employability skills that hiring managers look for” — motivation, attitude, accountability, presentation, teamwork, time management, adaptability, stress management, and confidence.
“CEOs and managers identified soft skills as being very important. Soft skills are often why people don’t get hired,” said Mack Rogers, executive director of ABC Life Literacy Canada. “They’re hard to teach, but they’re also not easy to talk about.”
That’s because some might see it as “a personal attack” on their character, he noted.
The company offers free workshops and downloadable workbooks that focus on those nine skills. This is the first time the local literacy council will be partnering with the company for this program.
“We take a topic that is complicated and we bring it to literacy organizations with the adult learner in mind,” Rogers said. “Our primary goal is to support the teacher and say, ‘Here’s a tool. Use it the way you think is best.’”
The literacy council is about more than literacy; it offers training and resources in a number of areas, explained program manager Cathy Graham.
The organization’s main funder is the Ontario Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development.
“Our ministry would like us to get everyone employable, so attending these workshops gives them some of the skills they need for that,” she said. “We know that soft skills are definitely a need not only in employment, but in life.”
While the workbooks can be downloaded for free from the UP Skills for Work website, it would be worth attending the workshops, Graham said.
“The value of doing these workshops is the discussions with others. It promotes conversation with the group of people who are there,” she said, adding participants can learn a lot from others’ experiences.
Although the workshop dates have not yet been determined, Graham invites anyone interested in taking part to contact the literacy council at 705-327-1253 or [email protected].
