Young people, soft skills and training to be competitive: business growth strategies

It is with pleasure that we share the content of my recent interview for the Association of Small Italian Businesses “CNA”, for the Italian magazine “Enterprises et Territories”, interview coordinated by Elisa Marasca, journalist.

1. Your activities are in Switzerland, in Ticino, can you describe the different context of small businesses in this canton compared to your knowledge of small Italian businesses?

 In Ticino and Switzerland in general, small businesses are defined as "the supporting column" of the economy, in Italy they are defined as "the backbone", very similar terms to clearly show their importance for the local economy, this concerns more than 90% of companies in the mentioned territories, the data speaks for itself! As the director of AITI, the Association of Ticino Industrialists in Switzerland, recently wrote in the local press, “we must understand and support each other for the very benefit of the territories”.

Regarding Switzerland, I would like to point out that I work in Swiss companies, not always in the canton of Ticino, but also in internal Switzerland, the organizations are very different depending on the cantons, there is greater dynamism in the internal cantons of Switzerland.

There are a multitude of micro and small businesses in Ticino that really need to innovate, starting with the strategic analysis of their context to better understand how to evolve.

 Our recent activities with Time to Mind SA | AG | Ltd which concern small businesses and professionals are published on our Linkedin pages and on the TIME TO MIND SA website, they concern various industrial and service sectors, the banking sector, other examples will be published soon, here are some of them:

https://timetomind.global/en/testimonial-organizations/

2. What practical steps can a small business take to adapt to the needs of younger employees and meet their expectations in today's environment?

The professional development of young people in the world of work, even in small companies, is a fundamental theme for the development of the companies themselves, which often also determines their survival, if we think, for example, of the very high number of companies struggling with business succession (both in Italy and in Switzerland), a theme that I have addressed under the name "Business Continuity" in certain webinars created for SUPSI and the Ticino Association of project management a few years ago, the social sustainability of territories also comes from here.

Professional development affects the different roles within the companies themselves, in the best structured small companies, the development of each individual is one of the strategic objectives established each year.

Small businesses represent the driving model of the economy in many countries, not only in Italy or Switzerland, they bring together many professions and today they all have the need to evolve.

We remind you that the definition of small businesses in Europe includes companies which have fewer than 50 employees and which have an annual turnover or an annual balance sheet total not exceeding €10,000,000, a good breeding ground in which young people can find their place!  (source: Recommendation No. 2003/361/EC of the European Commission of May 6, 2003 relating to the “definition of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises”.

I recently spoke with one of my partners in Spain who pointed out to me the difficulties encountered in the hotel sector in recruiting young people. Employers in this sector today aim to find young people willing to develop professionally in order to keep them in the necessary positions, over time to support their activities.

In a country like Italy, with a great tourist “vocation”, where the same difficulty is found, it is absolutely necessary to follow the same path, which is also the one followed by the large organizations in this sector in other countries. Jobs are to be valued as well as professionalism, for example with our platform https://timetomind.global/en/home-page/ we have structured three profiles intended for this sector which includes a first level for young operators in the hotel sector.

It is useful to promote young people by avoiding categorizations of generations (Y, Z, etc.), genders, etc., find a way to help them develop towards higher skills to support businesses and the local economy and limit the growing distrust between genders, generations, ethnic groups...

It is now well known that professional success (for young people and businesses) requires strengthening soft skills. Research from Harvard University in collaboration with the Carnegie Foundation and the Stanford Research Center published on our site reports that 85% of professional success depends on it. After having strengthened their soft skills, people who are more aware of their abilities can both better promote themselves and strengthen themselves if necessary thanks to structured training courses. https://timetomind.global/en/soft-skills-what-they-are/

Here are some practical steps a small business can take to adapt to the needs of young people:

1) Make the company known through welcoming young people;

2) Make known the different professions present in the company and the roles of each, including the necessary technical skills but above all the behavioral skills to be deployed to develop professionally, that is to say effective behaviors in relation to the context and the company's mission;

3) Promote and communicate pathways that will include the promotion and support of the professional development of young people in the company;

4) Propose periodic skills assessments to align the professional development of young people with the inevitable needs of the company's development (and in certain cases internal transitions), an activity made compulsory in certain countries (for example in France) for certain types of businesses;

5) Offer regular and sincere feedback on the work of young people and mentoring activities if necessary;

TIME TO MIND can also intervene on all these points through its network of partners.

For example, on our platform www.timetomind.global the assessment tool for young people is available, entitled “

7G - Seven Skills for Young People

“On a range of 23 capacities, which represent the fundamental organizational behaviors necessary within each type of enterprise (private or public), 7 essential capacities have been identified for each young person who is completing or has completed higher education or university studies. These seven essential skills can also provide a first orientation for young people who face the challenge of first employment or have been already newly hired”.

It includes the following abilities or soft skills:

"Problem Solving -  Goal Orientation - Organization - Conflict Management - Negotiation - Teamwork -  Verbal Communication".

In ½ hour each young person can obtain their own result and have access to online self-study guides to strengthen themselves if necessary and to become aware of their own value.

This tool can also be used in selection processes for young staff.

How to access it: by going to the website www.timetomind.global, registering and to start, by choosing a free first Assessment on one of the 23 strategic soft skills. In addition to their own profile, the young person will have access to a self-improvement and professional development guide on the behavioral skill they have chosen.

In addition to this specific proposal for young people, more than 150 professional profiles are available on the platform, with another 150 ready to be included.

Another very interesting tool for young people moving towards the world of work is the Self-Assessment on Multiple Intelligences and Learning Style,

 What is it about? 

Based on the most recent findings in neuroscience, it was possible to develop a questionnaire which highlights the personal profile of expression of 10 different mental faculties, defined as multiple intelligences (which characterize the human mind, according to the studies of Howard Gardner) explored in depth by Professor Gian Carlo Cocco, (president of TIME TO MIND ), correlated to the questionnaire on each person's learning style (according to David Kolb).

 https://timetomind.global/en/who-we-are-prof-gian-carlo-cocco/

This tool can also be useful in the analysis of work groups for adults as well, to highlight the multiple intelligences and learning styles of work groups with the aim of working better together.

It is well known that mathematical intelligence and logical-rational intelligence (which form the IQ) are important but they alone are not sufficient for professional success and, more broadly, for life itself.

3. How can a small business reconcile these needs with those of the business, particularly in terms of financial resources and time?

Small businesses today are those reporting a severe shortage of staff. Recently, numerous articles in the Italian and European press have reported the absence of human resources, which represent more than 50% of job offers in Lombardy, the most industrialized Italian region. Other articles highlight the need to improve competitiveness.

 The training of young people (and adults) must be considered as an investment in Human Capital, in what we define as the intangible capital to be valued. In business, it is always people who make the difference, and the most important difference in competitiveness lies in the capabilities of individuals. It is in these, both in small companies and in large ones, that companies must invest and to strengthen themselves and thus promote the increase in competitiveness that countries need.

 Traditional methods of recruitment no longer correspond to the needs of companies or the needs of young people. It is necessary to invest in innovation also for recruitment, coincidentally, this can be done using systems that will cost the company less than traditional systems (therefore less financial resources) and can be used at the most appropriate times, both for the company and for the young person (or adult), allowing them to better manage their available time.

To be effective, training projects must focus on the real needs of companies and these needs can emerge through the use of systems that allow quickly highlighting both the strengths and the points to be strengthened and on which act, thus allowing savings in training projects, and make interventions more effective, precisely because they target real needs (on the individual as well as on groups of people in the same company).

4. What strategies can be implemented in small businesses to foster open and constructive dialogue between owners and employees?

Recently, during a working meeting with the owner of an Italian company (SME), it appeared that the main problem with his employees was precisely constructive dialogue; encouraging dialogue presupposes above all the openness of the company boss to encourage it.

The latter can be accompanied by professionals with whom they can establish the precise objective to be achieved to encourage dialogue and together define the orientations of the project specific to their company.

The professional (who can for example be an HR professional, an organizational expert, a professional coach or a work consultant (in large companies this can be the HR manager of the company) will propose the outlined strategy, and once validated, he will implement the path established with the CEO and his employees.

Verifying the results of such a project is fundamental, as is identifying subsequent steps that will make it possible to maintain the results obtained over time, for example by using periodic skills assessments.

Even on this issue of skills assessments, it is necessary to innovate. Recently, a commercial director of a Swiss bank pointed out to me how the skills assessment phase of his company was delicate in cases where the neutrality of the results was not guaranteed, when the tools used in the skills assessments do not take into account the “noise biases” which often reign supreme (“Noise” is the title of a recent book by Nobel Prize winner Kahneman, who deals with this subject with other authors). Removing the “noise” is possible by using “measurement” tools based on real capabilities and not “hearsay” within the company.

5. Given the flexibility and agility of small businesses, how can entrepreneurs attract, manage and develop talent within their organization?

Small businesses can take advantage of many opportunities present in the market today; their flexibility can be reinforced by collaboration with professionals capable of supporting them in structuring specific projects both to attract, manage and develop the professionalism they need, avoiding the use of personality tests which have had their day and are not useful in helping people “grow” in terms of the skills needed by businesses.

Companies need competent and efficient people, efficiency is linked to knowing how to do their job. Knowing how to do your job involves developing your skills in terms of knowledge and soft skills.

Entrepreneurs also need to understand that it is necessary to go beyond what has always been done, especially today when transformations in the world of work are occurring at a very rapid pace.

 The main problem of companies is often the absence of effective people in different roles, the task of companies is to understand that each resource is a potential talent and it is important to bring out this talent in each person, by "diagnosing" first the level. capacities, then “strengthening” them if necessary, all for the benefit of individuals and companies themselves.

It can be useful to carry out an organizational analysis even on a small structure to better understand the strengths and weaknesses of the company itself and its employees and to support it achieving the objectives that the company itself thing to reach.

 The sectors concerned are among the most varied: IT companies, pharmaceutical companies, chemical companies, aeronautical companies, service companies, banks, training centers, etc.

 Many other projects involve the participation of schools and universities in Italy, Switzerland and France.

 I also have the pleasure of highlighting the ongoing support and training projects for the creation of a network of professionals, with whom the support is structured online, and is based on the reality of each person with interlocutors from all over Europe (and beyond) who are supported in their growth as professional partners of TIME TO MIND, in this case it is often small businesses, training centers, professionals, consulting firms advice, etc. ; research continues and we are open to new proposals for collaboration throughout the Western world.

To find out more: https://timetomind.global/en/become-a-partner/

 6. Final message

 To conclude, I report here an example of support that I provide by supporting a young start-upper, student worker, I understand that despite already having professional experience, he lets himself be greatly influenced by what is offered to him, he comes to mind that his concentration deserves to be more “targeted” to allow him to be more effective.

 We live in the era of distraction and the search for "permanent" emotions, to achieve something you have to concentrate, neuroscience and the Nobel Prizes remind us, as Daniel Kahneman, in his book entitled "Thinking fast and slow", Goleman with "Focus" and as Montaigne said, "in addition to having a full head, you need a well-built head", confirming that in addition to knowledge (Hard Skills) you need Soft skills to be able to succeed in the professional world.

I hope that this information can be useful to small businesses and young people who have started a professional journey to strengthen them in the awareness that there are opportunities for them even in small businesses in areas close to them, where they can grow and succeed. and I end by referring to a reading by Richard Branson a few years ago, who stated that all businesses should be organized as small businesses where human capital, made up of young and old, is always at the center, with relationships on a human scale, which unfortunately is often lost in larger realities.

Some advice for young people:

• Be wary of solutions that are too easy;

• Focus on what you are doing;

• Do not hesitate to ask for help;

• Inform yourself and continue to learn even if today you are satisfied with the progress you have made;

• Broaden your horizons and be very curious!

Some tips for businesses:

Today we talk a lot about sustainable development, the UN 2030 agenda has set 17 objectives, 13 of these objectives are directly or mainly affected by the activities of TIME TO MIND, we are at your disposal for more information, also on this vast subject.

You can write to us at c.bongain@timetomind.ch  or info@timetomind.ch

and you can follow us on our Linkedin pages where we regularly publish updates of our activities.

What do you think?