Here are the 10 top confidence building soft skills teens need for success.
10 Top Confidence Building Soft Skills Teens Need for Success
There are some sad and frustrating things I experience in my work as a life and career coach. One of them are the times I work with teens who are prepared with career or academic skills but no hire-ability skills.
This is not a problem with homeschooling. However, it can be a problem with priorities. I see this not only in homeschooled teens, but also traditionally educated teens.
The deal is:
Teens are raised to created a great transcript for their academics, even service and extracurriculars. However, they can be so busy that they are never taught basic work etiquette and the other soft skills that help them.
All teens need soft skills to help them:
- Build confidence
- Work in a group
- Lead and follow
- Show appropriate respect in various circumstances
- Build a new friendship group after graduation
- Network
You can get teens started by downloading a simple guide that I have used with my kids (then reviewed at adolescence). It teaches ten absolutely necessary skills that every person needs.
Here are 10 confidence building soft skills teens need for success.
Non-verbal skills.
- When teens learn some basic skills for managing their body language, they will inspire confidence in themselves and others will have more confidence in them. It’s a pretty amazing thing to switch up the way you stand and your facial expression and see the change in the way others react to you. Here’s a freebie you can download with some basic skills.
Communication skills.
- Teach teens: active listening (waiting for others to finish/not interrupting, repeating back what others have said when clarifying), speaking positively (avoiding gossip and complaining), giving and receiving compliments, assertiveness, using please and thank you.
Self-awareness skills.
- Teens need to be in touch with their feelings, so feelings don’t manage them. The need to be non-judgmentally in touch with their own strengths and weaknesses.
Other-awareness skills.
- Teens need to practice perspective-taking and reading other’s non-verbals. They need to practice the skill of respect (for other’s needs, personal space, feelings, safety).
Motivational skills.
- At the root of motivation is values. Teens need to be clear on their values and know how they must accept or reject other’s values (family, friends, work, groups). Here’s an introduction to a values discussion.
Teamwork skills.
- Teens need to understand the importance of a group’s cause or project and how to respectfully pull their weight. They need to learn to give credit where credit is due.
Leadership skills.
- All teens will be leaders somewhere, sometime. Here’s a post on basic leadership skills for teens.
Creative thinking skills.
- Teens need to know that the ability to think creatively is one of the most hire-able qualities. Many teens think that they aren’t creative. However, if they are created in the image of God, who is a creator, they have creativity. What they need is to discover their creativity. Try on hats: build something, take an arts appreciation class (download Fine Arts for Non-Artsy People), listen to classical music in the car, do some creative writing assignments, have a brainstorming session, do a progressive story (see YouTube below).
Problem solving/critical thinking skills.
- Teens need to be willing to work on a problem until it has a solution, to talk things out looking for solutions, not vindication. They need to be able to learn discernment of facts and truths. Here’s a post to get you started.
Trustworthiness skills.
- Teens need to be able to say, “I’m wrong”, to do what is asked and more, to honestly handle time and resources. They need to be able to understand confidentiality and the limits thereof. (This is important when dealing with fragile friends. This is one of the topics handled in 7Sisters’ Introduction to Psychology text.)
If this all feels a little overwhelming, do what you can.I’ve found from experience as a counselor and coach that these skills make a BIG difference in teens confidence and success.Your teens will thank you in the end.
10 Top Confidence Building Soft Skills Teens Need for Success
7Sisters email subscribers receive periodic practical encouragement, special offers and NO SPAM EVER.
Click the image above to periodically receive real homeschool value in your inbox.
