Q1. When and how you started as a Soft Skills Trainer?
Ans. I started being a Soft Skill trainer right from the time I was five. People used to bring in their kids to dine with me since I was known for my stately behavior. Suite followed when I was in school and college too, though it was not professional. One thing led to another and I began classroom training after undergoing the Train the Trainer Program in 2004.
Q2. What skills are required to become a Soft Skills Trainer?
Ans. There are a myriad of skills that are requisite for a soft skills trainer and widening horizon and its perennial diverse opportunities demands even more at every single moment. The trainer needs to up skill himself/herself every moment since soft skills is everything under the sun apart from technical skills.
To make it a little descriptive, the soft skills trainer has to bring about a reformation. This reformation leads to a revolution in the mind of the trainee. Since they are not just external acts, they involve acts of commission to be replaced with the current oblivious acts of omission. This requires a change in all or some of the below listed viz. behaviors, attitude, thought process, environment, leadership styles management and a lot more. It’s more than pedagogy, its cognitive behaviors, social abilities, motor skills and mostly the effectiveness in the average speed of answer that the trainer needs to be a pro in. The trainer needs to calm the inner strife and boost the external, quench the thirst of conceptual clarity and be a facilitator for the continual rigor that is needed from the trainees for optimum results.
To sum up; as usually the answer to most difficult question is the most simple, “Seek first to Understand and then to be Understood.”
Q3. What do you think makes you stand out from other Soft Skills Trainers on UrbanPro.com?
Ans. I would like to go on further to state that I stand out not only from other Soft Skill Trainers on UrbanPro.com but from most other trainers in the most unassuming ways, “I do things differently, I perform the tasks tagged ‘greatest’ in the most simplest manner with the greatest ease”. This has surprised my family members, friends, team members and colleagues and it still continues to surprise people around me till today.
If you would not mind a small explanation, it’s just active listening that helps me to comprehend intrinsically and subsequently communicate effectively, leading to timely articulation of feedback, regular coaching and connecting with the trainees on an individual level even within a group of 40 people.
Q4. How you came across UrbanPro.com?
Ans. I was searching an online portal for teachers and tutors or trainers, I was looking for something like LinkedIn. UrbanPro.com was my answer. About the Trainer: Melissa Francis is an excellent Soft Skills Trainer from Mumbai. With 11 years of rich experience, Melissa has headed a number of local, regional and national training institutes, enriching the lives and careers of lakhs of professionals. Highly original, creative, energetic and inspiring, Melissa is known for conducting interesting, engaging and participating training classes. She usually provides high-quality training materials that help her students learn and revise every aspect of Soft Skills, long after the training classes are over. Melissa holds a Bachelor degree from SNDT.
