Going beyond technical skills: Soft skills matter in the workplace

The combination of technical and soft skills are in great demand for today’s competitive labour market and businesses. The ILO piloted its new learning programme to help companies integrating soft skills into their human resource development programmes.

News | Jakarta, Indonesia | 08 October 2018
Soft skills training at PT TMMIN, followed by a total of 44 participants
Strong communications skills, building positive relationships with stakeholders and showing leadership qualities are, among others, becoming essential skills for workers in science, technology, engineering and mathematic sectors. Understanding the importance of soft skills for business, the ILO in collaboration with PT Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indonesia (PT TMMIN) piloted a series of soft skills trainings for employees of PT TMMIN.

These series of soft skills training, “Soft Skill Training for TMMIN Future Challenge”, consisted of three soft skills trainings raising two different modules per training. Each training was followed by different participants from different departments with a total of 44 employees of PT TMMIN joining the training.

These trainings are in line with the need of PT TMMIN and it is also in line with the future vision of the company. As a company, PT TMMIN is focused on continuous improvement and development of its human resources."

I Made Surya, Head of Human Resources Division of PT TMMIN
The first training held on 26 September, focusing on interpersonal communication and reaching consensus. The second training held on 2 October, focusing on creative thinking and critical thinking & reasoning; while the last training on 4 October was about time management and managing upward.

I Made Surya, Head of Human Resources Division of PT TMMIN, emphasized the importance of the soft skills development for improving future competitiveness and productivity of PT TMMIN. “These trainings are in line with the need of PT TMMIN and it is also in line with the future vision of the company. As a company, PT TMMIN is focused on continuous improvement and development of its human resources,” he said.

He also highlighted the improvements of speed and collaboration as the future priority of PT TMMIN. “Thus, in line with these priorities, we have chosen soft skills that are suitable with our future needs, such as interpersonal communication and reaching consensus as well as time management,” I Made added.

The ILO’s soft skills programme is called In Business Soft Skill Training. The programme is aimed to support the development, growth and enhancement of enterprises and individuals through peer-learning networks. Designed by the ILO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific in Bangkok, the In Business soft skills learning programme consists of 14 modules of soft skills.

Hirania Wiryasti, the Project Coordinator of ILO’s Workforce Readiness & Development Programme, said that different from other training programme, each module in In Business programme sets out techniques and worksheets to guide participants through four practical steps—starting from learning a business case and concluding with development of action plans.

In this programme, participants go through these steps by working in small group, with the assistance of a facilitator selected from among themselves. Using a participatory approach, the programme also allows participants to share and learn from each other by reflecting on existing practices, knowledge as well as their own experiences

I really appreciated this new training technique where the participants are allowed to speak, share and discuss their own experiences and knowledge. It has developed a sense of ownership and the participants feel that we are being involved and heard."

Dwi Sukma Saputra from Human Resource (HR) Department of PT TMMIN
“The programme is unique because of its learning without a trainer. By having a facilitator selected from the participants themselves and by using practical, participatory steps that are easy to follow, the In Business programme is a low cost training method. The companies can conduct these soft skills trainings by themselves and do not need to hire a professional trainers or facilitators,” said Hirania.

All of the participants admitted that they had never participated in learning without a trainer. They appreciated the working groups that allowed them to share and find solutions to the case studies presented in the modules. They also enjoyed the role plays and benefited from the individual lessons learnt and action plan that each participant developed based on their interaction with their group.

“I really appreciated this new training technique where the participants are allowed to speak, share and discuss their own experiences and knowledge. It has developed a sense of ownership and the participants feel that we are being involved and heard,” said Dwi Sukma Saputra from Human Resource (HR) Department of PT TMMIN.

Similar appreciation was given by Kem Trimaya Vanani who is also from HR Department. “The training technique has pushed us to think about our daily work practices and how we can find solutions and find improvements,” she said.

The training technique has pushed us to think about our daily work practices and how we can find solutions and find improvements."

Kem Trimaya Vanani from HR Department of PT TMMIN
Future implementation of the In Business soft skills training plans to include more audio-visual materials and illustrations to have a more engaging material and to increase the frequency of engagements between small groups to strengthen knowledge sharing between different divisions and functions of the organization.


The ILO’s Workforce Readiness & Development Programme aims to empower, connect and support career development of women. Funded by J.P Morgan Chase Foundation, the programme is focused on four programme strategies: skills gap identification, skills upgrading, job placement and in-company developing and mentoring. This regional programme covers three countries: Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand.