Sharpen Your Soft Skills: Part 1

Sharpen Your Soft Skills: Part One

Soft skills are personal attributes and interpersonal abilities that influence how effectively someone interacts with others and navigates their work environment. Unlike hard skills, which are technical and job-specific, soft skills are more about how you work and relate to people.

In campus card administration, soft skills are just as critical as technical expertise. Here are some important skills to learn, practice, and hone.  I’m also sharing a few stories that have shaped my soft skills journey while serving as a campus card director.

Collaboration and Teamwork

• Working effectively across departments
• Building consensus and fostering a cooperative work environment
• Celebrating team wins

Get along with other departments! Help them out and one day, they may help you. You at least build a reputation on campus for being cooperative and that means you’re approachable. You want them to be able to come to you when they have a challenge that you may be able to help them meet.

The Orientation staff had to haul boxes of folders for incoming students across campus to our building. At my invitation, they started storing their carts in the card center hallway overnight. I gave the early morning Orientation person temporary door access to our office so they could be set up and ready for their day. It made their lives so much easier and took nothing but a minute of my time, five times a year. 

I always had a welcome seat on the panel for Parents’ Orientation. 

Build your network and find your champions. Who will help ensure program success?

Our electrician worked for Facilities Services and took on learning as much as he could about our hardware and installations. He was a key figure at the new build and remodel meetings and soon came to represent the card center at the table. I even ordered him his own business card. We always made sure to celebrate his birthday with donuts for him and all his coworkers. One time we had over 40 plumbers, carpenters, electricians and other trades eating donuts outside our office! I nominated him for a campus award. While he didn’t win, just knowing we believed in and appreciated him built trust and camaraderie.

Every campus department had to submit a zero-based budget annually. Many of the student services departments had expense lines for card services and capital requests for readers. I heard that the new budget director, who carefully reviewed every budget, was skeptical so I requested a meeting. I gave my department presentation highlighting a campus card program’s many benefits for students, staff, faculty and the community, and reviewed our strategic plan. He asked many questions and soon became a champion supporting the budget requests and even advocating for campus card program expansion. 

Communication Skills

• Clear written and verbal communication
• Active listening

Imagine being the new electrician who came in early on a Saturday morning only to be asked if the more experienced electrician could come in instead since he knew what he was doing. That employee never received much cooperation on subsequent troubleshooting calls as word had spread through the trade shops. 

Sure, both parties were rookies at solving problems in the field, however, always extend grace and space with your words and body language. Realize the problem could be on your end and others have shown up to help.

If you’re unsure how to word something, start writing it down. Edit what you can, then feed it to CoPilot, ChatGPT or other AI to see it that version is helpful.

You’ve likely heard of ‘management by walking around’. I would also suggest that ‘discovery by walking around’ is a great way to connect with your stakeholders. Stop by Campus Rec or Dining Services and ask if they need anything. It’s often like a hallway conversation at a NACCU conference. You’ll end up learning a lot.

Cultural Competence

• Respecting and understanding diverse backgrounds and perspectives
• Promoting welcoming practices

I learned to ask a customer to let me know if they needed assistance instead of assuming what they needed by watching a colleague interact with a student with a physical disability. Ask your Disability Student Center for assistance and make sure to update them if you change your office layout. They have it mapped for visually impaired students.

A student staff member observed Ramadan each year. Staff and students in our department made sure to eat in a separate area while he was observing the fast.

If you’re still capturing in-person photos, know that some local cultures don’t smile, even for photographs, and won’t make eye contact with authority figures. 

Create your policies and procedures keeping everyone in mind.

Customer Service

• Ensuring positive experiences for students, faculty, and staff
• Handling issues with patience and professionalism
• Make sure customers remember their experience because it was outstanding

It was easier to look up a customer by campus ID number instead of name, however we made a policy to always ask for name first. One gentleman was surprised by that because he’d already rolled up his sleeve to show us his SSN barcode tattooed on his forearm.

Tip: Stand where your customers stand. What do they see?

Stay Tuned for Part Two

Adaptability, Discretion and Integrity, Empathy, Leadership, Problem-Solving, Strategic Thinking, Tech-Savviness, and Time Management