Soft Skills Training for Public Engagement

Port of Vancouver

The Event:  Each summer, the Port of Vancouver trains a team to go into the community to educate the public about the Port. This year, for the first time, they wanted to build in soft skills training, specifically brand ambassador excellence, and entrusted KindCo to create and deliver it. Knowing it’s not easy to strike up a conversation with a stranger, our aim was to help the team strengthen their ability to engage with the public and build rapport.

The Format: KindCo developed a custom soft skills training program for the Port of Vancouver team, focused on meaningful brand engagement and how to build strong working relationships. To prepare them for the job ahead, we explored best-in-class examples, reviewed the social cues and behaviours that communicate openness and foster connection, and role-played the situations the team might encounter.

We also covered the foundations of building trust and worked with the team to build a plan for how they wanted to show up for one another. Through the lens of Charles Feltman's Trust Framework, team members contributed ideas on how to build trust, which we then turned into a charter of behaviours to guide the team through the summer.  Interactive games made the material memorable, and hands-on exercises gave team members a real chance to get to know one another before heading into the community together.

The training was such a success that the Port of Vancouver has asked KindCo to return and lead the program again next summer.