Technical Skills vs. Soft Skills

Transcription

1 Lionel LaRoche: Grand Rounds Author: Ms. Joanne Hamilton Introduction: why is this important? Focus of talk: How do we accommodate for people who have different ways of thinking when it comes to skills assessment. In particular when we think about soft skills...which are valued differently in different cultures when compared to technical skills. Technical Skills vs. Soft Skills Technical Skill proficiency High Med. Low New Immigrant Canadian Grad Low Med. High Soft Skill Proficiency New Immigrants to Canada as a component of the immigration process to Canada, generally have high technical skills. Technical skills are valued in our immigration process, as well as tend to be more valued in some of the Countries of origin (India, China). They tend to have what we perceive as low soft skills, as these tend to be less valued in the immigration process. Importantly though, we need to recognize that soft skills (management of self, interactions with others) are culturally based. In comparison, in general (all professions studied): Relative Weight Canada Hierarchical based Countries Technical Skills 50% 90% Soft Skills 50% 10% For example: in the skill of making a good presentation. This is an important skill in Canada, and in the education system, this is taught early (show and tell in kindergarten). Whereas in Hierarchical based

2 countries (HC) it is only in the workplace or in university where individuals generally encounter their first experience in giving a presentation. For our international medical graduates the consequence of these phenomena is that they may not know how performance is measured, or they may measure their own performance by the performance standards in their home country. What we must consider when Teaching and Assessing Generalizations vs. Stereotypes Definition: Culture is the way we do things when no one tells us what to do. Using this definition we can see the following behaviour pyramid. Individual level - everyone is unique (must always be considered) Culture -we are more alike some people than others Universal -we are all alike in these areas As such the differences between generalizations and stereotypes become important. Generalization Focus is on observation Provide general characteristics on cultural and social factors Recognize that individuals within a group vary in their compliance with the generalizations When used to guide the observation of people s behaviour, generalizations are very useful Describe behaviours without judging Stereotype Focus is on anticipation Present a fixed and inflexible image of a group Ignore expectations When used to anticipate people s behaviour, stereotypes often lead to difficulties Describe behaviours negatively

3 Cross cultural communication: Translating/English as an additional language: Non-verbal communications that arise out of internal translating arising from speaking in a non-native language may lead us to make negative assumptions. (E.g. time between question and answer, less eye contact, as well as mispronounced or misused words). This can be compounded by accents. When teachers have difficulties with accents, a best practice is: Ask the person to repeat only once, then ask them to paraphrase. Ask questions to get more information. State what you understood and what you did not. Avoid contractions. Encourage the individual to continue to work on language skills and accent modification. Non Verbal communication: There are cultural differences in how emotion is expressed by people in communication. (Consider the Chinese vs. the English vs. the Italians) To bridge this gap: 1. Acknowledge people s feelings and show you understand how important this is. 2. Gauge people s interest based on their emotional thermometer. 3. Monitor your own emotional state to ensure it is not interfering with communication The top Awareness is 50% of the solution 2. Patience is a virtue 3. Communication is not just about sending a message but also understanding what was meant. 4. Continuously monitor the impact of your communication on other people 5. Stop and clarify if the impact is not what you intended. 6. Monitor you emotional state to determine when you are impacted negatively. 7. Don t act on these negative feelings. 8. Analyze your emotions to identify your triggers. 9. Separate impact from intention (the way you feel may not be what was intended). 10. The golden rule needs to be replaced by the platinum rule: since being helpful or respectful means different things to different people.

4 Lionel LaRoche Workshop Reaping the Benefits of Cultural Diversity Nb. Behaviour is culturally driven (i.e. which way do you look when crossing the street?). We often see one right answer as a result of our cultural beliefs. There are visible and invisible cultural differences: Visible differences have largely been dealt with (dress, org chart, office layout, presentations, etc.) Invisible differences: the real issues lie here (e.g. communications, use of time concept, feedback, sense of hierarchy, coaching, teamwork, risk tolerance, problem solving and decision making). Cross cultural feedback: Difference views on feedback: some view negative, some positive, some neutral. Most of the world gives more pointed feedback than Canada (e.g. US, UK, AU, NZ, IR, and SA). For example: in most of the world, a zoo sign regarding feeding of animals would read: It is strictly forbidden, under any circumstances, to feed the animals. (France) In the Toronto the zoo sign reads Please refrain from feeding the animals in the Zoo for the following reasons: <long list of reasons>. Thank you for your cooperation in not feeding the animals. And the Toronto sign would be less clear outside of Canada. For example: In Canada when someone is 30 minutes late for a meeting, the comment generally is Thank you for coming, hope everything is okay. Then we approach later to get the scoop. However in the UK, the approach is to make a joke. Nice of you to join us. Cultural views of Feedback: -- - Neutral East Asia, Mexico Neutral Canada Neutral The rest of the world: most of Europe, Africa, Latin America, Middle East + ++

5 How do you know how strong the feedback is? This is culturally driven as well: in Italy it is characterized by volume and movement of the hands, in France it is characterized by volume and tonal pitch. In Canada there are four patterns: 1. No big deal (feedback sandwich) 2. 1 positive and 1 negative 3. Two negatives and no positive 4. Two negatives plus a consequence (NOTE: The presenter did not note whether there was any characteristic volume or movement, or tonal pitch) In giving feedback, we really want to make sure that what was intended was received. In Canada, choice of words is key: (crisis, problem, concern, issue: or critical incident, mistake, error, oops). Thus as teachers, we need to be explicit with students, and perhaps develop a rubric. That is, we need to create a scale and agree of what the scale means. For example, feedback on a presentation could look like: 1. Cosmetic appearance improvements only 2. Clarity of message need work: minor re-ordering, slides to busy 3. Major restructuring 4. Start over, presentation wrong or data does not support message. Or plagiarism. There are also cultural differences in the use of silence: In East Asia there are long pauses between speakers to ensure that the first speaker is finished before the second speaker begins. In Canada and the USA the pauses between speakers is shorter. In Latin America, there are often no pauses between speakers, and some overlap. In France there is significant overlap. (reflective speaking) TIPS: 1. Be patient with people who need longer pauses or periods of silence 2. Leave enough silence 3. Use round table approach to ensure all ideas emerge, encouraging a culturally diverse approach 4. Withhold judgment 5. Explain conversation style

6 Who should adapt to whom? Should immigrants adapt to new country or should be adapt to them. 1. In US believe immigrants do the adapting (90% immigrants/10% country adapt) 2. In Europe it is 99-98% / 1% 3. In Asia: no expectation that immigrants will fit in, only can be a good friend to the Chinese. 4. Canada 80%/20% However, there are misperceptions about the true magnitude of the gap, and in this case, learners must learn the unwritten rules, and teachers must teach more explicitly. Hierarchy and Work Relationships There are five dimensions of culture and hierarchy is one dimension. Canada is fairly egalitarian. (Only Scandinavian countries are more egalitarian). All other countries are less egalitarian. For example: GDP/Capita Starting salary (professions) Canada $40k/year $40-70k/year India 1K/year 15-20K/year Purchasing power parity $CAD = 5000/year So, professions are really wealthy in India compared to the average citizen in India. And have a really high social status. This is especially true for physicians. Status translates in many countries to people will do things for you. When immigrating to Canada, new immigrants find a big gap between their expectations for status, and the reality of status for the professions in Canada. And most immigrants who come to Canada are in a high social status in their home country, higher than 98% of Canadians. Disconnect between expectations around respect, influence, purchasing power. This is also influenced by the ideas around best universities. In Canada, there is little distinction between our Universities. But in other countries it is different. In China and India, there are grueling entrance exams which drive selection. In these exams, emphasis is placed on technical skills. In India/China ranking of university is really important, and a source of pride and status for graduates. Whereas in Canada, university of graduation it is not so important in determining status. Working relationships with Managers Freedom vs. Direction: This varies culturally. (Remember in every culture there is a range and individual variation within that range). Culture More direction Middle More freedom Pakistan, Philippines, India, South Africa UK, Canada Mexico

7 The differences in employee expectations around freedom and direction cause conflict between employees and managers, which sometimes can be explained culturally. Nonetheless they sometimes lead to labels (micromanager, loose cannon) and may be alleviated by clarifying expectations for behaviour. In fact, new immigrants often have to learn what the term initiative means in Canada, as most employers desire it in an employee, but don t often describe what it means. This often happens through trial and error. When working in diverse groups, we need to broaden our range of acceptable behaviour (within reason). For example, what is acceptable on teams for behaviour vis-a-vis individualistic or collective behaviour? The USA is the most individualistic nation, with Canada next, whereas China is the most collective nation, and India and Arab states somewhere in the middle. Roles Information sharing Information sharing external Views of the other Individualistic Team 1 st task is to define roles and responsibilities, clarify who is on and who is not on the team Less information sharing, done on a need to know basis Free sharing of information, on a need to know basis Sees team members who value collectivity as time wasters, sharing too much information Collective Team Roles less important Lots of information sharing Less sharing externally, need to discuss with team first regarding what gets shared Feels individualistic team members are hoarding information, selfish Willingness to help Only if asked Intercedes sees team suffering (even when help may not be wanted) Benefits of cultural diversity: 1. Creativity. Larger set of adjacent possible. Seeing problems in different ways leads to more potential solutions. This is more likely in diverse environments. (see the book where do good ideas come from ) 2. Human resources. Larger talent pool. Enhances customer service to diverse population. 3. Business: increase size of target market, better connections with customers and clients, opportunities to expand overseas. BUT: need to create trust to do this.