Skills & Competencies
It is felt that a number of the outdoor leadership training programs, and our outdoor profession as a whole, fall short in the development of interpersonal and human relations skills (soft skills) along with problem-solving, decision-making, judgment, 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 includes 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, Judgment, 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 curriculums, 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 precautions, 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 proficiency in belaying, rappelling, and tying knots; 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 be 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.
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 fall short in the development and teaching of interpersonal and human relations skills (soft skills) along with problem-solving, decision-making, judgment, 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 judgment, 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 trailhead, 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 judgment. 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: judgment and creativity.
Judgment. Judgment has been shown to be the number one outdoor leadership competency deemed necessary by outdoor leaders (Swiderski, 1981). Judgment 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. Judgment is the ability to understand, compare, and decide between alternative forces (Rog
From India, Mumbai
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1It is felt that a number of the outdoor leadership training programs, and our outdoor profession as a whole, fall short in the development of interpersonal and human relations skills (soft skills) along with problem-solving, decision-making, judgment, 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 includes 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, Judgment, 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 curriculums, 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 precautions, 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 proficiency in belaying, rappelling, and tying knots; 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 be 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.
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 fall short in the development and teaching of interpersonal and human relations skills (soft skills) along with problem-solving, decision-making, judgment, 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 judgment, 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 trailhead, 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 judgment. 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: judgment and creativity.
Judgment. Judgment has been shown to be the number one outdoor leadership competency deemed necessary by outdoor leaders (Swiderski, 1981). Judgment 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. Judgment is the ability to understand, compare, and decide between alternative forces (Rog
From India, Mumbai
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Deepti,
It took quite some time to read and understand the contents, but it was a great article. Keep it up! Please post more articles like this.
As for the question, I have voted "yes."
A request:
If you could highlight the key points using bold letters and proper paragraph breaks, it would make reading much faster.
Ajmal Mirza
From India, Ahmadabad
Acknowledge(0)Amend(0)
It took quite some time to read and understand the contents, but it was a great article. Keep it up! Please post more articles like this.
As for the question, I have voted "yes."
A request:
If you could highlight the key points using bold letters and proper paragraph breaks, it would make reading much faster.
Ajmal Mirza
From India, Ahmadabad
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