Break that Bubble

While I was graduating from my master’s program, I lived in a sort of a bubble that having a degree, technical skills and polished writing skills will be enough to sail through any job in this corporate world. Well Obviously I was wrong and the bubble burst more quickly than anticipated! As I started climbing the steps in my career, I stumbled upon several conversations with my seniors during meetings, conferences, happy hour and so on.. More I met my coworkers or seniors during work events, I got more and more secluded in my cubicle. Did I become anti-social ? Did I hate my job ? Well none of this was true. The issue was I used so much technology as a medium to interact with other people that I almost lost my soft skills on professional level.

This issue was absolutely not uncommon. Mostly everybody at workplace, uses one or other tech medium to interact with their bosses or coworkers. Emails are the most common tool used in every organization to share, interact or delegate any content,information or an order. To be precise, workplace is losing human touch and interaction. We are almost droned by tech gadgets and tools at work, restaurant and home. Can you recall, the advertisement from “Chili’s” where you can order as well as pay your food via Ipad. No human interactions at all. Even at work, communicating with a fellow coworker over an email or a chat has become more easier and comfortable instead of spending 15 minutes in lunchroom or over a coffee or at his/her cubicle.

So how is all this affecting us ? We have the most advanced version of communication tools- email, Skype, chat, conference, newsletter and social media to pass on the message but what is exactly missing here?

Well, we all are aware- We are losing our emotional and interpersonal skills to connect with another human being.

Photo credit- Google

Especially for young millennials, they are so heavily relied on technology and social media that instead of interacting with a human, they chose social media to express their happiness, boredom and frustration. The same young millennials bring the same ethics to work, they consider professional emails as texting. There writing skills are highly abbreviated and unprofessional sometimes. In today’s highly educated world, it is very easy to find technical knowledge but it is hard to identify a candidate with mix of both technical and interpersonal skills.

How I fixed work ?

Although I am tech-savvy, I have personally started practicing to pick up phone once in a while, and make a conversation with my coworkers or catch up for a lunch.

When you talk to a person face to face, there are three major benefits

1) Improve your vocab- you will realize how much filler words you stuff between those lines. In emails it easy to correct or delete your sentences but during a live conversation with your boss or immediate manageyou wont be able to delete or auto correct. In this way, your brain will be active all times to avoid gibberish language and use of filler words.

2) You will learn to make eye contact- there are times when I forget to look into person eyes or my attention get diverted. Don’t look down or stare at a wall and practice hard to look into people’s eye it helps you to build inner confidence.

3) Body posture- stop putting hands in the pockets, making a fist or playing with fingers or jewelry. Doing any of those things displays nervousness, uncaring attitude and unprofessional behavior.

Lets say, If you work from a remote location or from home, once in a while pick up that phone and improve team-building opportunities with other members of the team and if your schedule permits, invite your coworker over a coffee or on lunch.

Tip: Even if you still prefer to write an email instead of face to face conversation, demonstrate a happy attitude while writing an email- instead of demonstrating stilted thank you over the success of the project- try to personalize that email and make it more genuine.

How I fixed my confidence at work & home

Anybody can hide behind the walls of Internet and post bold statements via social media. Instead use that bold attitude learn to display confidence while you are in an interview or in a meeting or causal lunch catch up with a coworker or a family member.

You and I wont be able to display soft skills on a resume but we can surely grab an opportunity during a interview, meeting or over a casual meeting to display your soft skills.

Tip: Read “Pitch Perfect” by Bill McGowan- it will be worth $20 investment for your career , social and personal life.

Tips & Tricks

Team up with a team member at work or home to develop speaking skills.

Start analyzing conversation or point out mistakes to improvise your daily interactions.

Attend free public seminars, watch Ted Talks, participate in community public speaking, or pick a project to present at work.

Technology should be used to ease the work instead of replacing the human connections.

Check out my page www.smartliving24x7.com or email me with any suggestions you might have at smartliving24x7@gmail.com.