What skills or abilities do you want to learn the most? What would bring the most benefit to your personal or professional life?
I’ve performed some extensive research on what abilities people want most in order to improve their personal and professional lives. It’s interesting to see that the abilities people want don’t always match up with the skills employers want people to have.
#5 Plan, Organize, and Manage Your Time and Projects
- Always complete the most difficult task first.
- Use Tasks and Calendar from Google or Microsoft Outlook.
- Ask What, Why and How to establish priorities, stimulate motivation, and to initiate a simple plan of action.
- Cultivate flexibility/adaptability; companies always say this is one of the most desired traits they want in employees.
#4 Use Critical Thinking for Creative Problem Solving
- Always ask What, Why, and How questions to increase your understanding + acumen.
- Be specific: A well-defined problem is already half solved! Simply ask, “What is causing this problem?” Too often, we fail or forget or refuse to ask it!
- Read more fiction. Think of fiction as “What may be!” Assume nothing: ask the questions others are too lazy or too afraid to ask.
- Distrust social proof: don’t follow the herd over a cliff.
#3 Learn New Software & Technology Fast
- Don’t buy a book or read it front-to-back.
- Do Internet searches for the specific task you’re trying to learn. For example, search create pivot table Microsoft excel.
- Use free, 30-day trials of software and put yourself through your own bootcamp to learn it in one month.
- Ask someone who already knows how; this is fast and free!
#2 Lead, Manage, and Supervise People
- Don’t ask anyone to do something you’re not willing to do yourself.
- Make better decisions: slow down, get advice, list risks & rewards, commit to decisions.
- Understand what accountability is and figure out how to get team members to embrace it.
- Learn to inspire and motivate people by defining a goal or vision.
#1 Communicate Confidently & Clearly
- Repeat back what the other person has said, but in your own words.
- Reflect the emotional aspects of the information they share.
- Read out loud 10 to 15 minutes each day. Always have your purpose defined before speaking.
- Use a simple story or personal experience to make or reinforce your main point.
- You sound better when you smile.
Looking for a way to develop your professional communication skills? Take a look at the online course created by Didactable.