Day 40 – Q 3.What are social skills? How are they helpful in the administrative functioning of a civil servant? Examine.
3. What are social skills? How are they helpful in the administrative functioning of a civil servant? Examine.
सामाजिक कौशल क्या हैं? वे एक सिविल सेवक के प्रशासनिक कामकाज में कैसे सहायक हैं? जांच करें।
Introduction:
“Good communication is the bridge between confusion and clarity” – Nat Turner
Social skills are the skills we use to communicate and interact with each other, both verbally and non-verbally, through gestures, body language and our personal appearance.
Body
A good relationship starts with a good communication. Civil servant at the forefront empowered with public resources must be an effective communicator for its effective and efficient utilization and bring transformative change in the society.
The important social skills identified by the Employment and Training Administration are:
- Coordination – Adjusting actions in relation to others’ actions.
- Mentoring – Teaching and helping others how to do something (e.g. a study partner).
- Negotiation – Discussion aimed at reaching an agreement.
- Persuasion – The action or fact of persuading someone or of being persuaded to do or believe something.
- Service Orientation – Actively looking for ways to evolve compassionately and grow psycho-socially with people.
- Social Perceptiveness – Being aware of others’ reactions and able to respond in an understanding manner
Social skills helpful in the administrative functioning of a civil servant
- Negotiation: an important role of a civil servant is to negotiate with various stakeholders E.g. Diplomacy by foreign secretary, trade deals with private companies etc., an effective communication builds rapport and helps in achieving the goal.
- Inter-department coordination: A civil servant usually heads a department which works in coordination with other departments. A positive attitude with effective communication will help achieve timely coordination and thus help attain synergy. Lack of communication leads to inefficiency and grave mistakes. E.g.
- Aspirational district prog requires synergy of central, state and district officers’ efforts and effective communication is a key.
- Lack of communication and coordination between intelligence agencies led to Mumbai terror attack.
- Public persuasion: a civil servant would only be as successful as the public allow him/her to be. An effective communicator will gain public trust and implement the policies and programmes with effective public participation. A civil servant has to hold awareness campaigns, seminars etc., to bring awareness among public and effective communication is a sine qua non.
- Financing: The resource allocation is only as effective as the persuasive ability of the civil servant which is contingent of effective communication.
- Intra-department relationship: the morale of the entire department is dependent on the civil servant. An effective communication by the one heading the department would bring clarity, commonality among the workers and hence boost the morale.
- Persuasion of Public representatives: A minister/ a elected representative is the ultimate authority in approval of projects and scheme. A good communication would help the civil servant to build rapport and sanctions development projects for his/her department.
Conclusion
Social skills, though being an important determinant of our social well-being and success, must be combined with a sense of reality and a socially responsible self-conscience to make sure that the social success is not achieved at the price of personal satisfaction. Stephen covey observes ‘the art of communication is the language of leadership’
