for Improving Professional Image
Photo courtesy of WTO
...and much more!
Think you are good in soft skills?
Imagine you run a multinational with 20 branch offices in 10 countries.
How can you make sure your local people and your expats can work smoothly together, knowing they have different cultural background, and may also have different expectations?
If you say you would train your people, how can you hire trainers in different locations and expect consistent training results? What would be the benchmark that you measure against?
IITTI is a standardized, independent testing system for business image management.
It is like GMAT, TOEFL, or ISO. It provides a uniform way for employers and job-seekers to measure soft skills that are critical to business success.
With a global standard, you can more easily hire trainers in your various locations that would train towards the same standard.
Employees can just learn on-the-job. Look at all the employees now; they are doing ok.
Soft skills are just fluff and any training is nice but not necessary. There are much better ways to use our money such as advertising.
When Harvard University presented the first MBA program 100 years ago, some laughed and thought it was not necessary. After all, people can just "learn on the job".
But Harvard argued that a scientific approach was necessary for companies for the 20th century. Soft skills training is the same now for the 21st century companies. It is a must have!
Soft skills build habits. Habits build culture. Culture builds brand.
This standardizing won't work!
My country really takes pride in our own identity. We don't like to be the same as everyone else.
The IITTI standard is designed for international commerce where different people from diverse background can get along comfortably.
Our company spent a lot of money in hiring an image consultant to come in for a 3-day semniar on business etiquette, but I don't see any long-term changes in their behaviour.
The worst is that our employees now see soft skills training as a joke! Our training manager feels she is losing credibility.
True, a 3-day seminar may not be effective. That is because it is too short!
Soft skills and company culture are hard to do. It takes a long time...and it is expensive!
But if you want your company brand to stand out, the earlier you start, the further you pull away from your competition.
How can we ask job-seekers or employees to get certification when there is no widely accepted benchmark?
If only there is an open exam just like GMAT, TOEFL and SAT for benchmarking soft skills.
We understand what can't be measured won't be done!
IITTI is an open exam, just like other standardized exams such as GMAT, TOEFL, and SAT.
IITTI is also an open-source standard, which means any trainers can get it free-of-charge. This translates into a large pool of IITTI exam takers, and more qualified job candidates in terms of soft skills.
