Once upon a time, social
skills were acquired and honed during front porch conversations with neighbors,
Little League games, bowling tournaments, poker or bridge nights, board games,
and club meetings.
Those weren’t just meetings
and events. They were training sessions in the soft skills that often are
missing in the modern workplace. In those old-fashioned exchanges, we learned
how to read one another, how to listen and tell jokes and stories along with
how to deliver or receive sensitive news. Those are skills that require
practice, often involving more than a few fumbles, and are rarely completely
mastered.