Do you know what soft skills are and does your nutrition coach possess them?
Soft skills are personality traits and behaviors. Unlike “technical skills” or “hard skills”, soft skills are not about the knowledge you possess, but rather the behaviors you display in different situations and the confidence you have in yourself to get through them.
Soft skills have everything to do with relationships and nothing to do with how well you can navigate your way through the HSN app. As gym owners and nutrition coaches, the foundation of our business is built on relationships.
If we don’t have employees that can help build and maintain, then we are going to sink.
Below are 2 categories of soft skills & a few examples of each:
#1 Internal soft skills ( how you relate to yourself )
- Adaptability
- Critical thinking
- Confidence
#2 External soft skills (how you relate to and work with others)
- Communication
- Empathy & inclusion
- Networking
Did you know that 85% of job success comes from having well-developed soft skills?
Think about it… you have this nutrition coach that is AMAZING! She’s got all the knowledge – her PN 1, her HSN cert and she’s an RD, and yet she can’t keep a client longer than two months!
Did you evaluate her soft skills during the internship process?
- How well does she connect with other people?
- How well does she handle conflict and communicate with people?
- Does she show confidence in her decisions and action steps or does she waiver easily on her stance based off of reactions from others?
- Can she pivot from one solution to the next if her first choice doesn’t work?
- Does she show empathy?
- Does your nutrition coach work well with others, accept feedback and have a growth mindset?
If the answer to some of these questions is “no”, don’t panic!
Soft Skills can be developed!
It’s very important for the employer/employee relationship to have open communication (another soft skill).
Help your nutrition coach develop some soft skills so her knowledge can be utilized to help people and grow the business!
Check out https://managementhelp.org/ to learn how to develop some soft skills!
To learn more about why soft skills are important - listen to our podcast Episode #49 where Director of Education for HSN, Ashley Osterman talks about soft skills below!
or you can check out the summary HERE
Additional Related FREE Help
Grow Your Nutrition Business Podcast Episode(s):
Episode 62:Why You Need to Be Doing Nutrition Coach Evaluations and How to Do Them HERE
Blog(s):
Great Fitness Coaches Don’t Always Make Great Nutrition Coaches! HERE
Are you Looking For More FREE Help to Launch a Nutrition Program??
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LISTEN: Nutrition Made Simple Podcast – CrossFit, Nutrition & Your Health HERE
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