Presentation Title: Beyond Technical: The Impact of People Skills

Presentation Description:

Imagine this: You work for Bob. Bob is condescending, displays lack of trust, and is unsupportive. How would that affect you, the team, the organization? Oftentimes in organizations, we promote people who are good at doing their technical job, using their hard skills. Unfortunately, sometimes these people don't have the right people skills that are required to be a good leader. Leadership is less about your hard skills and more about your people skills. I have experienced firsthand, on multiple occasions, where leaders lacked people skills and the effects it had on me, and their other employees. There are always topics and trainings on hard/technical skills but not enough opportunities to share the importance of people skills. I believe this conference is the perfect opportunity to share this information with people who care about it and can make impacts in their organizations. The presentation is about an hour. As I share several people skills and illustrate how to use them better, I share personal stories, straight from my experience in over 30 years in retail, banking, aerospace, insurance, and IT. I will engage the audience asking for their experience, their thoughts on the particular people skill, and their thought on my example of "The Story of Bob".

Learning Outcomes:

• Knowledge of several people skills and what makes them effective

• Understanding that people skills are just as important as technical skills, at both the individual contributor level and the leadership level

• Learning that people skills can be learned