Skills& Competencies
It is felt that a number of the outdoor leadership training programs, and our outdoor profession as a whole, falls short in the development of interpersonal and human relations skills (soft skills) along with problem solving, decision making, judgement and other critical thinking competencies (conceptual skills). Hard skills as well as soft and conceptual skills are defined and their components are illustrated with examples. The wrong assumption has been made by many in the outdoor profession that just hard skills training makes one a leader. The acquisition of hard skills is only one part of the leadership development process. The development of soft skills is the second part and the acquisition of conceptual skills is the third part of the leadership development process. We should borrow from those professions which are adept in soft and conceptual skills. A selected list of those professions include the fields of education, psychology, philosophy, counseling, sociology, speech communication, military science and business management.
KEY WORDS: Soft Skills, Hard Skills, Conceptual Skills, Outdoor Leadership, Training, Curriculum Development, Judgement, Decision Making, Problem Solving.
Moments prior to being introduced to present a conference paper on soft skills in outdoor leadership training I was seated at the front of the auditorium reviewing my notes one last time. A young gentleman sat nearby, looked around, then asked if he was in the session on "software". I smiled and chuckled to myself saying no, but it was the session on "soft skills". "What are 'soft skills'?" he asked. I responded by saying, "They are the interpersonal components of leadership, the 'people' skills."
Confusion may exist as to what soft skills are, just as the young gentleman was confused with computer "software". The purpose of this paper is to explore the often overlooked soft skills and conceptual skills which are essential for effective outdoor leadership. This will be accomplished by presenting components not often taught in leadership training sessions to enable outdoor program and camp administrators, current outdoor leaders, and future camp counselors to: 1) self-evaluate "in house" outdoor leadership training cur-riculums, 2) identify outdoor leadership components to be included in future leadership training courses, 3) self-evaluate personal outdoor skill repertoire, and 4) identify outdoor leadership skills which need strengthening.
In order to explore the often overlooked components of outdoor leadership it is important to gain a clear understanding of what is meant by the terms "hard skills", "soft skills", and "conceptual skills". Examples of each are given and their importance will be clarified. Common professional resources are reviewed relating to soft skill and conceptual skill development.
Hard Skills
Hard skills are most visible, the most exciting and therefore the most marketable skills in outdoor programs. Hard skills are the methods, processes, procedures, techniques and the use of outdoor equipment to gain competencies in the physiological, environmental, safety, technical and administrative components of outdoor recreation/education. The hard skills are tangible, relatively easy to teach, capable of being measured and therefore evaluated.
In order to compare definitions between hard, soft and conceptual skills, each of these skill areas will be broken down into components to help organize these three types of skills. The hard skills may be broken into five components: physiological, environmental, safety, technical and administrative (Rogers, 1979, p.4).
Physiological. The physiological component includes those skills encompassing the maintenance of a sound physiological body and the physical restoration/treatment of an injured participant or leader. The physiological component includes, but is not limited to, maintaining physical fitness, promoting health, and treating blisters and common backcountry ailments. Other examples of the physiological component of hard skills may include administering first or second aid, or bringing a hypothermic victim back to normal body temperature
Environmental. The environmental component includes those skills relating to the interpretation and protection of the natural surroundings. Training in the environmental component may include such competencies as interpreting weather systems and understanding and promoting an environmental ethic (not only in yourself but in others). Understanding ecological principles and knowing the natural history of an area are also a few examples of the environmental component.
Safety. The safety component includes the skills necessary to render a safe activity, free from injury and secure from danger or loss. Some examples may include practicing the fundamentals of accident prevention and group security, taking necessary precaution, implementing risk management techniques and developing a critical eye for safety.
Technical. Technical hard skills are the most common cornerstones for outdoor leadership training. This component incorporates the competencies required to teach the group knowledge, skills and attitudes related to the activity, environment and safety (Priest, 1987, p. 5; Swiderski, 1981, p.108.). Some examples of technical hard skills may include a proficiency in belaying, rappelling and tying 16ots; competency in the self-arrest, construction of snow shelters and the teaching of tele-mark turns; proficiency in off-trail navigation, river crossings and eskimo rolls. The technical component may also include special knowledge in mechanical repairs and maintaining the condition of nordic skis or other outdoor equipment.
Administration. The administrative component of hard skills incorporates the "behind the scenes" actions in managing, directing, operating, supervising and evaluating an outdoor program. This component refers to the ability to program plan, to evaluate, understand legal liability and being competent to organize and conduct functional meetings. The administrative component may also include the capability of setting program goals and developing objectives. Knowledge of policies and procedures along with supervision skills, effective hiring and firing techniques are additional examples (See Figure 1 on page 35).
Since hard skills are the most visual of leadership skills and the skills most easily taught and evaluated, they are often overemphasized within outdoor leadership training programs. Consider the brochures of the more popular outdoor training agencies. In these class schedules we see students actively participating in the acquisition of hard skills. Rappelling off 100 foot rock walls makes and sells adventure. These hard skills (technical) activities are marketing tools used to see and feel excitement. In most cases we do an excellent job of teaching hard skills. But it is felt that a number of our leadership training programs and our outdoor profession as a whole falls short in the development and teaching of interpersonal and human relations skills (soft skills) along with problem solving, decision making, judgement, and other critical thinking competencies (conceptual skills).
Soft Skills
Soft skills are defined as interpersonal and human relations skills; in other words "people skills". Soft skills, like hard skills, may also be divided into components. The three components of soft skills include: social, psychological and communication.
Social. The social component of soft skills incorporates the group interaction and welfare of the outdoor program participants. The social component may include the understanding of group dynamics, the ability to resolve group conflict, develop and provide a supportive climate (reassurance and encouragement), being sensitive to the needs of others and establishing effective group relations.
Psychological. The psychological component combines the skills necessary in relating to the participant's presence of mind and behavior. Some examples of the psychological component include building a climate of trust within a group, understanding what motivation is, and how to stimulate it. Other examples may include promoting values, understanding attitudes of others, team building, developing ethics and responding to a person's risks in a trustworthy manner.
Communication. The communication component combines written, verbal, and non-verbal transmission and exchange of information. Examples of this component range from being able to "think on your feet" and speak clearly in front of a group, to interpreting non-verbal expressions (hunching of the shoulders, furrowed brow, pursed lips). Other examples may include expressing directions in written format or listening attentively.
Soft skills are difficult to teach and difficult to measure since many components of soft skills are intangible. Hence, few
leadership training programs include these components in their training of outdoor leaders or camp counselors. Yet these soft skills competencies are vital to become an effective leader in the outdoor field.
Research in the past few years has indicated to our profession the importance of outdoor leadership competencies, which include both hard and soft skill acquisition (Green, 1981; Buell, 1981; Swiderski, 1981). The research findings have also indicated the importance of judgement, decision making, problem solving and other conceptual skills (Priest, 1987; Phipps, 1986; Swiderski, 1981).
Conceptual Skills
The following three scenarios exercise a leader's conceptual skills. While traveling on nordic skis the group stopped at the edge of a large frozen lake. The question was asked, "Do we ski across, or go around?" In another scenario, the leader knelt next to the injured student and consulted with the assistant leaders, "Should we carry him out now in the dark or should we risk spending the night with him here?" In yet another situation, the team was struggling back to the trail head, through the early evening snow. The area to the right had been cleared clean of all trees. Knowing that the valley was subject to avalanche should the group continue down the valley and risk passing under the avalanche path or change their direction of travel? Obviously, the decision on what action to take will depend on individual circumstances. But these common scenarios illustrate the process of logical thinking and judgement. Conceptual skills need to be explored and developed by outdoor leaders and camp counselors.
Conceptual skills are the general analytic skills of a leader; the reasoning power and logical cogitative processes. There are two components within conceptual skills: judgement and creativity.
Judgement. Judgement has been shown to be the number one outdoor leadership competency deemed necessary by outdoor leaders (Swiderski, 1981). Judgement is the process of forming an opinion by discerning and comparing using one or more of the following: cognitive instinct, logical deduction, foresight, perception and assessment. Judgement is the ability to understand, compare and decide between alternative forces (Rogers, 1979,). Some examples of the judgement component may include distinguishing between perceived risk and actual risk, recognizing potential problems in such areas as natural hazards, environmental impact, or group problems (dissension, low group morale). Judgement may also include the ability to perceive potential danger, to analyze alternatives clearly, to anticipate the unexpected and to problem solve. The acquisition of judgement allows one to lead a group while mentally being one or two steps ahead of the present situation. Being able to anticipate potential problems and solving them before they occur is not easy to incorporate into a leadership training program. Few outdoor leadership training programs are yet capable of analyzing and teaching judgement proficiencies.
Creativity. The outer limits of conceptual skill development include the creativity component. Creative abilities are like the oil wells of our mind. We know there is a lot down inside our brain but getting it to the surface and transforming it into something useful is the problem (LeBoeuf, 1980, p. 10). In our outdoor training, we are often blindfolded by tradition, unable to see beyond the present training methods. To exercise creativity within outdoor leadership incorporates generating new ideas such as original teaching methods/techniques or inventing instructional teaching aids. Also being able to perceive trends or to direct the imagination to open the door for new outdoor positions are examples of the creative component within the conceptual skill development. Creative visualizing under physical stress and self imposed pressure while recognizing potential opportunities for that "teachable moment" are also difficult to blend into outdoor leadership training programs. "Newer and better ways can always be found. Rigid, inflexible thinking is a great killer of creative ability"
The acquisition of skill in an activity, such as kayaking, and the actual leadership of groups in that activity are two separate and distinct abilities. "Having one does not make the person an expert in the other" (Rogers, 1979, p..
In the past, great emphasis has been justifiably placed on the importance of the proper acquisition of hard skills for teaching and instruction of groups. The wrong assumption has been made, by many in our profession, that this hard skills training make one a leader (Rogers, 1979, p.. The acquisition of hard skills is just one part of the leadership development process. The acquisition of soft skills (social, psychological and communication components) is the second part of the leadership development process. The integration of conceptual skills (judgement and creativity component) is the third part of the leadership development process. It is the process of learning these three skill areas that needs to be blended within our current leadership training program. A handful of agencies are already recognizing this need and are attempting to integrate these soft skills and conceptual skills into their training programs. But as a whole, our profession has not yet fully developed this integration of soft and conceptual training skills into our outdoor and camp leadership programs.
There is a plethora of references in our field relating to the development of hard skills. Text books, outdoor manuals, journal and related literature are abundant. However, because of the relative newness of our field (when compared to other professions) and the recent gradual awareness of our need to develop the interpersonal skills and the judgement skills of leaders, few outdoor literature references relate to soft and conceptual in outdoor recreation/education. We can draw from other professional resources to assist us in developing the soft and conceptual skill areas in our outdoor profession.
Soft and Conceptual Skill References
To expedite the integration of soft skills and conceptual skills with the already existing hard skills training programs, we need to go outside our circle of outdoor leadership. Instead of reinventing the wheel to meet our professional needs, we should borrow from those professions, which are adept in soft and conceptual skills. A selected list of professions includes the fields of education, psychology, philosophy, counseling, sociology, speech communication, military sciences and business management. By tapping into these across campus interdisciplinary resources, their literature and textual references, we can expand our awareness of soft and conceptual skills components and integrate them into our current leadership training curriculums.
The fact remains that, if soft and conceptual skills are as important to us as the research has shown, we should integrate them into future outdoor and camp leadership development curriculums. Their subjective nature makes them difficult to teach and evaluate. It will be a long process. The long process involves committment to professional development. It involves a committment to experience and continued learning. But as the soft and conceptual skills become an integral part of outdoor leadership training curriculums, our young gentleman's confusion between "software" and soft skills will no longer exist.
From India, Mumbai
1It is felt that a number of the outdoor leadership training programs, and our outdoor profession as a whole, falls short in the development of interpersonal and human relations skills (soft skills) along with problem solving, decision making, judgement and other critical thinking competencies (conceptual skills). Hard skills as well as soft and conceptual skills are defined and their components are illustrated with examples. The wrong assumption has been made by many in the outdoor profession that just hard skills training makes one a leader. The acquisition of hard skills is only one part of the leadership development process. The development of soft skills is the second part and the acquisition of conceptual skills is the third part of the leadership development process. We should borrow from those professions which are adept in soft and conceptual skills. A selected list of those professions include the fields of education, psychology, philosophy, counseling, sociology, speech communication, military science and business management.
KEY WORDS: Soft Skills, Hard Skills, Conceptual Skills, Outdoor Leadership, Training, Curriculum Development, Judgement, Decision Making, Problem Solving.
Moments prior to being introduced to present a conference paper on soft skills in outdoor leadership training I was seated at the front of the auditorium reviewing my notes one last time. A young gentleman sat nearby, looked around, then asked if he was in the session on "software". I smiled and chuckled to myself saying no, but it was the session on "soft skills". "What are 'soft skills'?" he asked. I responded by saying, "They are the interpersonal components of leadership, the 'people' skills."
Confusion may exist as to what soft skills are, just as the young gentleman was confused with computer "software". The purpose of this paper is to explore the often overlooked soft skills and conceptual skills which are essential for effective outdoor leadership. This will be accomplished by presenting components not often taught in leadership training sessions to enable outdoor program and camp administrators, current outdoor leaders, and future camp counselors to: 1) self-evaluate "in house" outdoor leadership training cur-riculums, 2) identify outdoor leadership components to be included in future leadership training courses, 3) self-evaluate personal outdoor skill repertoire, and 4) identify outdoor leadership skills which need strengthening.
In order to explore the often overlooked components of outdoor leadership it is important to gain a clear understanding of what is meant by the terms "hard skills", "soft skills", and "conceptual skills". Examples of each are given and their importance will be clarified. Common professional resources are reviewed relating to soft skill and conceptual skill development.
Hard Skills
Hard skills are most visible, the most exciting and therefore the most marketable skills in outdoor programs. Hard skills are the methods, processes, procedures, techniques and the use of outdoor equipment to gain competencies in the physiological, environmental, safety, technical and administrative components of outdoor recreation/education. The hard skills are tangible, relatively easy to teach, capable of being measured and therefore evaluated.
In order to compare definitions between hard, soft and conceptual skills, each of these skill areas will be broken down into components to help organize these three types of skills. The hard skills may be broken into five components: physiological, environmental, safety, technical and administrative (Rogers, 1979, p.4).
Physiological. The physiological component includes those skills encompassing the maintenance of a sound physiological body and the physical restoration/treatment of an injured participant or leader. The physiological component includes, but is not limited to, maintaining physical fitness, promoting health, and treating blisters and common backcountry ailments. Other examples of the physiological component of hard skills may include administering first or second aid, or bringing a hypothermic victim back to normal body temperature
Environmental. The environmental component includes those skills relating to the interpretation and protection of the natural surroundings. Training in the environmental component may include such competencies as interpreting weather systems and understanding and promoting an environmental ethic (not only in yourself but in others). Understanding ecological principles and knowing the natural history of an area are also a few examples of the environmental component.
Safety. The safety component includes the skills necessary to render a safe activity, free from injury and secure from danger or loss. Some examples may include practicing the fundamentals of accident prevention and group security, taking necessary precaution, implementing risk management techniques and developing a critical eye for safety.
Technical. Technical hard skills are the most common cornerstones for outdoor leadership training. This component incorporates the competencies required to teach the group knowledge, skills and attitudes related to the activity, environment and safety (Priest, 1987, p. 5; Swiderski, 1981, p.108.). Some examples of technical hard skills may include a proficiency in belaying, rappelling and tying 16ots; competency in the self-arrest, construction of snow shelters and the teaching of tele-mark turns; proficiency in off-trail navigation, river crossings and eskimo rolls. The technical component may also include special knowledge in mechanical repairs and maintaining the condition of nordic skis or other outdoor equipment.
Administration. The administrative component of hard skills incorporates the "behind the scenes" actions in managing, directing, operating, supervising and evaluating an outdoor program. This component refers to the ability to program plan, to evaluate, understand legal liability and being competent to organize and conduct functional meetings. The administrative component may also include the capability of setting program goals and developing objectives. Knowledge of policies and procedures along with supervision skills, effective hiring and firing techniques are additional examples (See Figure 1 on page 35).
Since hard skills are the most visual of leadership skills and the skills most easily taught and evaluated, they are often overemphasized within outdoor leadership training programs. Consider the brochures of the more popular outdoor training agencies. In these class schedules we see students actively participating in the acquisition of hard skills. Rappelling off 100 foot rock walls makes and sells adventure. These hard skills (technical) activities are marketing tools used to see and feel excitement. In most cases we do an excellent job of teaching hard skills. But it is felt that a number of our leadership training programs and our outdoor profession as a whole falls short in the development and teaching of interpersonal and human relations skills (soft skills) along with problem solving, decision making, judgement, and other critical thinking competencies (conceptual skills).
Soft Skills
Soft skills are defined as interpersonal and human relations skills; in other words "people skills". Soft skills, like hard skills, may also be divided into components. The three components of soft skills include: social, psychological and communication.
Social. The social component of soft skills incorporates the group interaction and welfare of the outdoor program participants. The social component may include the understanding of group dynamics, the ability to resolve group conflict, develop and provide a supportive climate (reassurance and encouragement), being sensitive to the needs of others and establishing effective group relations.
Psychological. The psychological component combines the skills necessary in relating to the participant's presence of mind and behavior. Some examples of the psychological component include building a climate of trust within a group, understanding what motivation is, and how to stimulate it. Other examples may include promoting values, understanding attitudes of others, team building, developing ethics and responding to a person's risks in a trustworthy manner.
Communication. The communication component combines written, verbal, and non-verbal transmission and exchange of information. Examples of this component range from being able to "think on your feet" and speak clearly in front of a group, to interpreting non-verbal expressions (hunching of the shoulders, furrowed brow, pursed lips). Other examples may include expressing directions in written format or listening attentively.
Soft skills are difficult to teach and difficult to measure since many components of soft skills are intangible. Hence, few
leadership training programs include these components in their training of outdoor leaders or camp counselors. Yet these soft skills competencies are vital to become an effective leader in the outdoor field.
Research in the past few years has indicated to our profession the importance of outdoor leadership competencies, which include both hard and soft skill acquisition (Green, 1981; Buell, 1981; Swiderski, 1981). The research findings have also indicated the importance of judgement, decision making, problem solving and other conceptual skills (Priest, 1987; Phipps, 1986; Swiderski, 1981).
Conceptual Skills
The following three scenarios exercise a leader's conceptual skills. While traveling on nordic skis the group stopped at the edge of a large frozen lake. The question was asked, "Do we ski across, or go around?" In another scenario, the leader knelt next to the injured student and consulted with the assistant leaders, "Should we carry him out now in the dark or should we risk spending the night with him here?" In yet another situation, the team was struggling back to the trail head, through the early evening snow. The area to the right had been cleared clean of all trees. Knowing that the valley was subject to avalanche should the group continue down the valley and risk passing under the avalanche path or change their direction of travel? Obviously, the decision on what action to take will depend on individual circumstances. But these common scenarios illustrate the process of logical thinking and judgement. Conceptual skills need to be explored and developed by outdoor leaders and camp counselors.
Conceptual skills are the general analytic skills of a leader; the reasoning power and logical cogitative processes. There are two components within conceptual skills: judgement and creativity.
Judgement. Judgement has been shown to be the number one outdoor leadership competency deemed necessary by outdoor leaders (Swiderski, 1981). Judgement is the process of forming an opinion by discerning and comparing using one or more of the following: cognitive instinct, logical deduction, foresight, perception and assessment. Judgement is the ability to understand, compare and decide between alternative forces (Rogers, 1979,). Some examples of the judgement component may include distinguishing between perceived risk and actual risk, recognizing potential problems in such areas as natural hazards, environmental impact, or group problems (dissension, low group morale). Judgement may also include the ability to perceive potential danger, to analyze alternatives clearly, to anticipate the unexpected and to problem solve. The acquisition of judgement allows one to lead a group while mentally being one or two steps ahead of the present situation. Being able to anticipate potential problems and solving them before they occur is not easy to incorporate into a leadership training program. Few outdoor leadership training programs are yet capable of analyzing and teaching judgement proficiencies.
Creativity. The outer limits of conceptual skill development include the creativity component. Creative abilities are like the oil wells of our mind. We know there is a lot down inside our brain but getting it to the surface and transforming it into something useful is the problem (LeBoeuf, 1980, p. 10). In our outdoor training, we are often blindfolded by tradition, unable to see beyond the present training methods. To exercise creativity within outdoor leadership incorporates generating new ideas such as original teaching methods/techniques or inventing instructional teaching aids. Also being able to perceive trends or to direct the imagination to open the door for new outdoor positions are examples of the creative component within the conceptual skill development. Creative visualizing under physical stress and self imposed pressure while recognizing potential opportunities for that "teachable moment" are also difficult to blend into outdoor leadership training programs. "Newer and better ways can always be found. Rigid, inflexible thinking is a great killer of creative ability"
The acquisition of skill in an activity, such as kayaking, and the actual leadership of groups in that activity are two separate and distinct abilities. "Having one does not make the person an expert in the other" (Rogers, 1979, p..
In the past, great emphasis has been justifiably placed on the importance of the proper acquisition of hard skills for teaching and instruction of groups. The wrong assumption has been made, by many in our profession, that this hard skills training make one a leader (Rogers, 1979, p.. The acquisition of hard skills is just one part of the leadership development process. The acquisition of soft skills (social, psychological and communication components) is the second part of the leadership development process. The integration of conceptual skills (judgement and creativity component) is the third part of the leadership development process. It is the process of learning these three skill areas that needs to be blended within our current leadership training program. A handful of agencies are already recognizing this need and are attempting to integrate these soft skills and conceptual skills into their training programs. But as a whole, our profession has not yet fully developed this integration of soft and conceptual training skills into our outdoor and camp leadership programs.
There is a plethora of references in our field relating to the development of hard skills. Text books, outdoor manuals, journal and related literature are abundant. However, because of the relative newness of our field (when compared to other professions) and the recent gradual awareness of our need to develop the interpersonal skills and the judgement skills of leaders, few outdoor literature references relate to soft and conceptual in outdoor recreation/education. We can draw from other professional resources to assist us in developing the soft and conceptual skill areas in our outdoor profession.
Soft and Conceptual Skill References
To expedite the integration of soft skills and conceptual skills with the already existing hard skills training programs, we need to go outside our circle of outdoor leadership. Instead of reinventing the wheel to meet our professional needs, we should borrow from those professions, which are adept in soft and conceptual skills. A selected list of professions includes the fields of education, psychology, philosophy, counseling, sociology, speech communication, military sciences and business management. By tapping into these across campus interdisciplinary resources, their literature and textual references, we can expand our awareness of soft and conceptual skills components and integrate them into our current leadership training curriculums.
The fact remains that, if soft and conceptual skills are as important to us as the research has shown, we should integrate them into future outdoor and camp leadership development curriculums. Their subjective nature makes them difficult to teach and evaluate. It will be a long process. The long process involves committment to professional development. It involves a committment to experience and continued learning. But as the soft and conceptual skills become an integral part of outdoor leadership training curriculums, our young gentleman's confusion between "software" and soft skills will no longer exist.
From India, Mumbai
Deepti
It took quite some time for reading a understanding the contents... But one great article... Keep up... Post more of such articles
As for the question, I have put my vote as yes
A request
If you could have highlighted the key points by bold letters and proper paragraph breaks it would have been much faster reading ....
Ajmal Mirza
From India, Ahmadabad
It took quite some time for reading a understanding the contents... But one great article... Keep up... Post more of such articles
As for the question, I have put my vote as yes
A request
If you could have highlighted the key points by bold letters and proper paragraph breaks it would have been much faster reading ....
Ajmal Mirza
From India, Ahmadabad
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