22 SportsTurf | April 2010 www.sportsturfonline.com

Facility&Operations

Improve your “soft skills”

What are “soft skills”?Soft skills is a sociological term relating

to a person’s Emotional IntelligenceQuotient (EQ) and the cluster of personali-ty traits, social graces, communication, lan-guage, personal habits, friendliness, andoptimism that characterize relationshipswith other people. Soft skills complementhard skills (part of a person’s IQ), which arethe occupational requirements of a joband many other activities.

A person’s soft skill EQ is an importantpart of their individual contribution to thesuccess of an organization. Screening ortraining for personal habits or traits suchas dependability and conscientiousnesscan yield significant return on investmentfor an organization. For this reason, softskills are increasingly sought out byemployers in addition to standard qualifi-cations.

Examples of soft skills• Participate in a team • Lead a team• Unite a team amidst cultural differ-

ences • Teach others • Provide services • Negotiate • Motivate others • Make decisions • Solve problems • Observe forms of etiquette • Interact with others • Maintain meaningless conversation

(small talk)• Maintain meaningful conversation

(discussion/debate) • Defuse arguments with timing,

instructions and polite, concise language • Feign interest and speak intelligently

about any topic • Listening • CoachingSoft skills are sometimes broken down

into personal attributes, such as optimism,common sense, responsibility, a sense ofhumor, integrity, time-management, andmotivation. Also included are interperson-al abilities such as empathy, leadership,communication, good manners, sociability,and the ability to teach.

It’s often said that hard skills will getyou an interview but you need soft skillsto get (and keep) the job.

EMPLOYERS place a premi-um on soft skills in today’swork environment. It is nolonger enough that you aretechnically competent in

turfgrass management; more and moreemployers assess you on the qualitiesand habits that reveal if you are a goodemployee and a team player. Accordingto Kate Lorenz, CareerBuilder.com edi-tor, “Companies value soft skillsbecause research suggests and experi-ence shows that they can be just as

important an indicator of job perform-ance as hard skills.”

Whether you are in a job-seekingmode or are a long-time employee, suc-cessful soft skills play a crucial role inemployment security and advancementopportunities. Good communicationskills top the list. According toQuintessential Careers, “By far, the oneskill mentioned most often by employersis the ability to listen, write, and speakeffectively.”

Exhibiting a strong work ethic, a pos-

Courtesy of Graff’s Turf Farms

It’s often said that hard skillswill get you an interview butyou need soft skills to get(and keep) the job.

SportsTurf 23www.stma.org

itive attitude and the ability to work collabo-ratively with others sets you apart from theaverage employee. Being able to prioritizeprojects and multi-task demonstrates soundtime managements skills. Employers alsoseek employees who are resourceful and ableto solve problems. If you find that you needto brush up on soft skills, the good news isthat they can be learned and there are manyprofessional development resources at yourfingertips online.—Kim Heck, CEO, SportsTurf Managers Association

Editor’s note: Here are some real-worldexamples of turf professionals’ using soft skills toobtain better results at work.

ERIC ADKINS,Toyota Park, Chicago

One of the things I have learned over theyears is how to get more out of my employ-ees and other co-workers. I just don’t barkout orders, I want this done or that thatdone, I ask if “you can do me a favor.” Itcould be the worst job or task but I think it

makes everyone think like they are helpinginstead of working. The other thing that Ithink I have learned is that “It’s just grass,”no matter how things are going or what’sgoing on in life at the end of the day. We dothe best we can and tomorrow is anotherday. It’s just grass.

JESSE PRITCHARD, CSFM,University of Virginia

I would call the weather situation [inmid-February] we are in here at theUniversity of Virginia a crisis. As many ofyou have seen on the news or even experi-enced, the Mid-Atlantic region has receivedrecord amounts of snowfall this winter. Weare fortunate to have four synthetic practicefields from which we have plowed nearly 5feet of snow. While these fields are very nicefor football and lacrosse, baseball and softballneed to be played on dirt and grass.

It has been an interesting processexplaining to both our head baseball andsoftball coaches that their opening games

are in serious jeopardy of being canceleddue to the snow. Coaches have differentpersonalities, and these two are no different.Our baseball coach is adamant about play-ing on the field to the point where it’s near-ly play at all costs. I understand this andhave to steer him in the direction that willhelp him play as soon as possible and savethe integrity of playing surface at the sametime—this is usually a huge compromise onhis part. Our softball coach wants to get onthe field as early as possible but understandsthe investment athletics has made in herfield and wants to do nothing to damage it.These are completely different approachesfrom our head coaches. I need to usethoughtful communication and pull from abackground of trust that I have developedwith my coaches to make them comfortablewith how the field crew will make theirfields playable. The relationships I havedeveloped with our coaches go a long wayin determining how green the grass appearsand how true the ball bounces.

JEAN TANSEY, Recreation and Parks, Baltimore County, MDSoft skills are required to be used extensively in our agency’s presen-tations at community meetings and public hearings on park develop-ment. While everyone likes the idea of parks, few people like them“in my backyard.” Add to that a basic distrust of “government” andnavigating through a public meeting can be tricky!

One meeting in particular comes to mind. A piece of propertyrecently acquired by the County for a park was surrounded by singlefamily residential homes. At the beginning of the meeting residentswere angry, hostile and worried about what was going to be devel-oped behind their homes. Worries about crime, rowdy behavior andtraffic were all part of the concern.

Simply by setting a friendly tone, actively listening and validatingresidents’ ideas and comments, and generating an attitude of calm,control and respect among the crowd, the attitude and demeanor ofthe meeting changed dramatically. By the end of the meeting 2 hourslater, the audience actually applauded our efforts and supported theidea of developing a park that respected their ideas and desires. Thepark is now a much-used and appreciated part of the community.

Active listening, an air of openness and friendliness, and acollaborative, inclusive attitude go a long way to insuring any projectis successful.

RICK PERRUZZI, CSFM, City of South Portland, ME

In years past I have been lucky enough to have hired and workedwith some very talented people whom bring a wide range of skills tothe workplace. Although I have the final say on what is to be done, Ihave allowed these individuals to express their opinions on manyareas of maintaining sports fields and collectively we overcome issuesthat arise. In return the individuals feel a sense of pride and worth inobtaining our goal of producing and maintaining safe fields.

JODY GILL, CSFM, Blue Valley (KS) SD

When dealing with difficult people and/or situations, I tend to bevery patient, understanding and optimistic. Recent examples includethe bad winter weather. Sometimes people get very upset when theythink we are not doing enough to eliminate ice or isolated slickareas and they fail to understand why salt will not melt ice when thetemperatures are single digits and below. By being patient and just lis-tening to them sometimes they will talk themselves out of the problemwhen they realize there are safer routes of travel to get to a building.

If you get confrontational with people, the situation will most cer-tainly elevate into a bigger problem. This means that sometimes wemust be able to tolerate some level of non-personal, verbal abuse. Justgrin and bear it and let them vent.

I think there are countless times in our industry when this person-ality trait is very helpful. Best example is when a field does not lookor play as well as a coach, player or (worst of all) a parent thinks itshould and they want to make sure you know about it. You knowthere is a specific reason why the field may not be at its best, but thatexplanation will just sound like an excuse to the complainer. I thinkthe best way to handle it is to listen intently, take nothing personally,thank them for providing input and feedback and assure them thatyou will work to improve the situation. People who areimpatient, confrontational and lack a “thick skin” probably wouldnot last long in our industry.

DEBBIE KNEESHAW,City of Portland, OR

I have been thinking of soft skills quite a bit because I depend onthem immensely to obtain desired outcomes. I have always believedin positive personal connections/interactions equating in better out-comes. I tend to invest in each individual who assists me in my job,so that they “buy in” to my ownership and vision, and hopefully putmore investment into their job so that they help achieve the sameownership, vision, and goal.

With my co-workers, I tend to offer choices on job duties for theday. I believe it helps empower them and gives them ownership totheir choice. Inevitably all the work needs to be accomplished; it justworks well if a choice is available to offer it. We also work very close-ly as a team, and I communicate the big picture, so that we are all onthe same page of why we do job tasks in the manner and order thatwe do them.

That I use “please” and “thank you” is very important to me when

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Facility&Operations

If you get confrontational with people,the situation will most certainly elevateinto a bigger problem. This means thatsometimes we must be able to toleratesome level of non-personal, verbalabuse. Just grin and bear it and letthem vent.

Courtesy of West Coast Turf

SportsTurf 27www.stma.org

I am addressing anyone. In job task notesthat I write, I always make sure to write“Could you please...” and end with “Thankyou.” I also recognize a job well done and thestrengths of each individual.

I also think that a happy disposition andan eagerness to perform my job well areinfectious and tend to set the mood for theday. I do tend to get focused on the job tasks,and at times have to remind myself to slowdown a bit, and to invest on a personal level.

It truly is the subtleties that make peoplerespond more favorably.

JIM CORNELIUS, West Chester (PA)School District

In the midst of budget cuts, MotherNature serves up a volley of unprecedentedsnow storms and each becomes the newrecord for the area. We have dealt with threeso far and as I type we are expecting numberfour. Due to my lengthy years of service andexperience I am calling the shots and I canproudly say we become stronger with eachstorm. I preach to the staff that we are thebest and we need to always think positive.We teach the younger staff the new ways andthe old ways, allowing them to experimentwith what works for them and that hasproven invaluable. As a leader I pass the torchto see who runs with it and when they havebeen trained the torch keeps burning andalmost always makes it back. My staff comesin as individuals each day and by day’s endthey leave as a team.

In the midst of huge budget cuts, facilitiesand operations had to cut $1 million from an$8 million budget, and we did it without cut-ting staff. By communicating with all partieswe asked the staff to present ideas on how todo this, and although we were never a fatorganization, they came up with ideas thatmanagement would have never thought of.They reduced overtime hours by willinglychanging their shifts to cover outside usergroups, they encouraged the students andteaching staff to turn off lights when notneeded, they gave up their uniformallowance, examined the grounds areas thatdid not need weekly mowing and presented aplan to incorporate wild flowers into theseareas. When faced with the hardships of the

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Facility&Operations

economy one needs to give their power to the people and the peoplewill return the power with a higher level of respect.

Four years ago I began training the athletes in the middleschools and high schools on how to maintain their fields in a wayto help out my grounds crew. Along with my grounds crew wetaught the athletes how to rake infields, pitcher mounds and batterboxes, fill divots, use off-field areas for practices and goal drills andthis has parlayed into something bigger than expected. The studentsbought into it and along came the coaches, soon enough the out-side users were on board. We now have neighboring townships ask-ing us to hold classes for their users as well. With the economy try-ing to recover we have groups willing to give us money for seed,fertilizers and topdressing. Learning to work with them vs. fightingwith them has been a blessing and when you examine the littledetails you learn we always had the same dreams: provide good, safefields for the users to enjoy. Yes we have limited the number oftotal events on every field, which has caused the outside users tolook elsewhere; ironically few complain as long as they can getsomething. I guess the old saying a dollar today is worth more thana hundred dollars tomorrow is true since tomorrow never gets here.

MIKE TARANTINO,Poway (CA) USD

At one time or another we have all had to use what I’ll call nego-tiation skills or soft skills; whether at home or on the job thesetraits become a handy tool to assist us in winning over a spouse,child, customer or contactor. While I’m not saying that these skillswill solve all of your problems all of the time, you may find theyhelp you solve problems a good majority or the time.

A particular problem comes to mind dealing with the recentbudget problems; I found myself needing to justify my depart-ment’s need for additional staff and money. I could have easilygone into that negotiation with the attitude I’m going to get whatthey give me and let’s move on. However, that isn’t the tactic Idecided to use. Everyone in the meeting was tense but a simplefriendly greeting of “hello and how are you” to the attendees letthem know I wasn’t here in a confrontational mode. While mysuperiors gave their accounts of what they thought I needed to do,I went into what I’ll call understanding mode which I said I under-stand your point of view and then continued to make my case, thewho, what, why and how we do to support the education of chil-dren and the community. While not all positions and dollars weresaved, fewer positions were lost and we were budgeted for neededequipment.

Without the use of these soft skills in a time of desperate meas-ures, I’m not sure the outcome would have been what I wanted.

KENNY NICHOLS, Westerville (OH) City Schools

I often use these “soft skills” by purchasing a good book thatrelates a point or conveys a message I wish to send, and giving it toa person I wish to influence. Then I wait. Once they have read it,doors are usually open to discussion on the subject. Of course,

I have either already read the book myself or am reading it in paral-lel with them.

Employing this in reverse: if a friend or co-worker mentions agood read they are into, I often pick up the same title and read it atthe same time hoping to gain shared perspectives with them.

I have a friend who is fond of saying, “If you force a man againsthis will, he will remain of the same opinion still.” Over the years, Ihave come to learn that coming along side someone to sharethoughts and ideas is much more effective than coming at themhead-on.

Think of the baseball coach trying to get the call changed bygoing nose-to-nose with the umpire vs. the father with one armaround his son’s shoulder as he points the way and shares his vision.Which is more effective?

We just might see a few calls changed if a coach could bringthemselves to put an arm around the ump and attempt to gain ashared perspective!

BRAD PARK,Rutgers University

Working with sports field managers, administrators (i.e. munici-pal and K-12 schools), engineers, and contractors to assist in solv-ing sports field problems frequently requires finesse and a compre-hensive set of soft skills.

Annually, I receive requests from engineers representing publicfacilities to make a site visit to a recently constructed sports field.During some conversations or visits, the engineer will explicitlystate or imply that a contractor has failed to perform according tospecifications. The engineer is often seeking documentation froman expert to support their point of view.

Conversely, I am also contacted by contractors requesting a site

Courtesy of West Coast Turf

Without the use of these soft skillsin a time of desperate measures,I’m not sure the outcome wouldhave been what I wanted.

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visit to assess a construction project. Thesecontacts are often seeking a report onUniversity letterhead that states their workwas completed according to specificationsand concludes that problems with the proj-ect were a function of engineering flaws.

Enter soft skills. In the vast majority of these requests,

I ask the engineer or contractor to providemy contact information to the owner ofthe facility. As an employee of a publicUniversity I believe it is more constructiveto visit the site/project on behalf of and inthe presence of the “owner,” who is ulti-mately responsible for the long-termmanagement of the property.

Additionally, working with the ownerand deciphering his or her intentions oftenrequires soft skills. In some cases, the ownermay be looking to assign blame to one ormore parties. As an educator performingvisits in an Extension capacity, my goal isassist the owner in improving the site ratherthan directing blame. Tactful report writingwith a problem-solving focus is anotherimportant soft skill.

MARCUS DEAN, CSFM,University of Kentucky

I think a successful person must usegood soft skills all the time. Soft skills area valuable asset to no matter what profes-sion you are in or what you are trying toachieve daily. When you are at work youmust be able to have good clear communi-cation with your co-workers (or coaches,family, administration, the public, every-one, etc). You must be able to speak thelanguage of whom you are communicatingwith. I have learned to ask for a responsefrom the person I am directly givinginstructions to because I understand whatI am asking but a lot of times the persontaking the instructions doesn’t see thesame thing I do.

Something my mom has been tellingme since I was a kid is, “It is not what yousay but how you say it.” I am still learningto master this skill and have had othermentors tell me the same thing. I wear myemotions on my sleeve and put too muchemotion into my responses.

As I have grown professionally, I have

done a better job with this but at times Istill have lapses. Another form of soft skillsis being able to listen. Listening is morethan just hearing the person talk; it islooking them in the eye when communi-cating. Soft skills are required at home, atwork, and out in public. In my opinion,soft skills are communication, listening,body language, practicing good manners,being polite, etc. As I have matured per-sonally and professionally my soft skillshave gotten a lot better. I have to give alot of credit to my parents and my men-tors for what I have developed into as aperson and as a professional.

PETER THIBEAULT, CSFM, Noble and Greenough School (MA)

Example of soft skills in action: Theyear leading up to our entry into the“Field of the Year” competition sticks outin my mind the most. After having beento the STMA National Conference andhaving seen first hand some of the win-ners, I knew it was going to take every-one’s effort. The communication startedbefore each event or activity and keptgoing throughout.

The field that we entered that year hap-pens to host baseball, graduation, summerday camp, Jimmy Fund, and fall soccer.This meant I had a broad spectrum ofbackground in the audience to work with.This at the same time also allowed me tostrengthen relationships. It really was niceto see the satisfaction in each after theirevent or activity on how nice everythingremained. So accidentally I had almostshared the excitement that I had. Whenwe entered and had actually won it wasvery exciting for our community to receivethat kind of achievement. This has helpedmy relationships within the communityand it really is difficult to give one particu-lar instance, because these skills are usedseemingly all the time.

The effort of this particular time stoodout the most for me because it showed tome that most of the users were just going atit as” business as usual,” when presentedwith the opportunity to do things different-ly most were open to the opportunity. ■