Agile Actors at the Soft Skills Academy 5-EEstEC LC Patras
This March, we were very happy to be a part of the first virtually hosted Soft Skills academy, an initiative organised by the student members of the Electrical Engineering Students’ European Association “an apolitical, non-governmental and non-profit organization which creates opportunities for students from Electrical Engineering profile Universities, Institutes and Technical Schools in Europe to reach their full potential in their academic, professional and social life.” as gold sponsors. The current year’s theme was “Pursuit-adapting to changes”, which ran through the course of three days and consisted of talks and workshops that highlighted the importance of soft skills in the workplace.
Soft skills, or commonly known as “people skills”, are basically our ability to be able to interact with others in an effective way. Our personal attributes are what drive our interpersonal relationships from communication to problem-solving skills and overall productivity.
As Agile Actors, we had hands-on involvement and delivered the workshop “Continuous Growth-one sprite at a time” centering around the importance of soft skills, which we identify as key skills, in our daily work life and how we, within the organisation, go from theory to practice.
Our Head of People Development, N. Gikopoulou in collaboration with O. Kyriakou, Head of Talent Acquisition, ran the workshop on how an organization like ours perceives and implements core practices based on key skills and opened the discussion to all participants sharing their so far experience and understanding of the significance of soft skills.
We truly believe that certain attributes can elevate us as professionals and individuals, as technical skills are of course extremely important but can only get you so far. A lack of soft skills can make the latter redundant as they complement a professional’s tech skills and help us function efficiently and effectively within any environment. Lack of effective communication, adaptability and learnability amongst others can hinder growth and development significantly.
The engagement and energy of all students present were truly invigorating as we witnessed first hand the drive and eagerness of these future professionals to join the modern workplace by constantly learning new things and immersing themselves in aspects of the workplace that have not been textbook examples until very recently. A truly inspiring experience, we are already looking forward to the next one!
