As important as these principles are to effective communication, an additional concept is also important. You will notice that the MATE Skills Evaluation and Reflection Instrument at the end of this paper states: “ Kindness is an integral part of my communication .” This statement demonstrates how central kindness is to meaningful communication. Communication that does not have the elements of kindness such as being considerate, courteous, helpful, and understanding of others cannot be meaningful. On the other hand, showing care, compassion, friendship, generosity and treating others as you would like to be treated is the definition of kindness. Adaptability Adaptability refers to the ability to adjust to different conditions or circumstances, often without sufficient time to think. In health care, unpredictability is predictable, and health care providers must be able to change course depending on the priority of the moment. Clinical case studies can provide opportunities for students to practice thinking critically about quickly evolving priorities. Instructors may also provide opportunities for students to practice being adaptable by requiring an unexpected change to some aspect of the class. Importantly, after students have responded to the change, the instructor must discuss the purpose of the change (i.e., to provide students an opportunity to adapt quickly) and debrief them to provide an opportunity to discuss their feelings and behaviors during the change. As students move through their course of study, they will also likely have opportunities to experience unexpected changes that were not manufactured. Faculty should be available to help students make the necessary decisions and evaluate their responses in these circumstances. Time Management Managing one’s time to be most effective is also a critical soft skill. This skill requires a person to differentiate between what is urgent or not and what is important or not. The important and urgent items must be done first, followed by the important, non-urgent tasks. Those items that are urgent but not important should be done third and the non-important, non-urgent tasks should be done last, or not at all. Faculty can make this point by requiring students to evaluate tasks they must complete according to the urgent- not urgent, important-not important quadrants. In this assignment, instructors must encourage students to make a to-do list and avoid multi-tasking. In addition, faculty should help students estimate the amount of time required to complete a task and to accurately develop to-do lists that fit the students’ schedules. 5 (https:// squareup.com/us/en/townsquare/7-time-management-skills-practiced-by-successful-people). Empathy Empathy is the ability to identify with another person by sharing in their perspective and feelings. Teaching assignments related to the development of empathy should focus on the feelings of the student and the extent to which students can sense the emotions of others. For example, the instructor might ask students to share (virtually or face-to-face) how they use one of the soft skills, along with a time that they felt the skill made a difference in an interpersonal interaction. Developing empathetic relationships begins with small talk that encourages sharing of non-threatening personal information. To help students learn the art of small talk, instructors can ask them to develop notecards with general questions one might use to start a conversation written on them. Instructors give students the opportunity to practice small talk in a variety of settings (class, clinical experiences or externships, or any place where students may not be accustomed to conversing with people they do not know). Students should be required to practice the “three p’s” of small talk: being polite, positive, and professional. After these “small talk” assignments, the students should be required to reflect on the assignment. Reflection helps students find relevance and meaning in learning and make connections between educational experiences and real-life situations. The instructor can support this reflection through: § Drafting a one-minute paper § Writing a journal entry or blog § Creating a video § Reading the reflection aloud in class or small groups 6
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