Leadership - Skill development
Skill development
Inertia
We have already met Newton's first law which states that:
‘If a body is at rest or moving at a constant speed in a straight line, it will remain at rest or keep moving in a straight line at constant speed unless it is acted upon by a force’.
This postulate is known also as the law of inertia.
This is also true of develop in any field. For skills development you can carry on adding to your knowledge and experiences until you are prevented from doing so by an external force.
This force may well manifest itself in a variety of forms.
For example.
Fear, apathy, lack of personal vision, poor planning etc.
As you move further up the ladder of your career you will encounter new challenges that will require new skills in order to perform at your best.
Your next career move may involve increased accountability, less hands-on skills, leadership as opposed to management skills.
You may need knowledge in wider areas, for example, legal issues, environmental or health and safety measures, personnel skills, employment law etc.
When you first start out on a career path your skill base will largely consist of acquired knowledge as experience naturally takes time to obtain. As you move upwards you are bound to encounter a skills gap.
Where am I going?
If you apply for a new position and do not know what skills that position requires you are way behind in terms of planning your future.
Let us say that you have acquired the necessary ‘experience’ to apply for the position.
You apply, your Curriculum Vitae appears adequate and you are fortunate to receive a first interview.
What next?
A competent interviewer will not only want to find out what skills you currently possess but will ask you what skills do you think are required in the new position. This sort of question may come in a variety of guises, for example.
‘What do think you can bring to the position?’ ‘How do you think this position differs from your current role?’ ‘What do you see as your biggest challenge in this new role?’
They are trying to find out if you have planned ahead in your career and taken on board the idea of self development and not left it to others. Like the game of chess, you should be thinking about 2 moves ahead.
If you are on the shop floor and can see your career along the lines of:
- Supervisor
- Team leader
- Manager
- Site manager etc
You should be aware of the skills required for the supervisor and team leader position.
If you know what these are you ought to try to bridge the gap by acquiring them.
If you then go into an interview you will not only be better prepared you will impress with your proactive style.
Many managers expect recruits to have career plans and to move on. They will be looking for the new person to add value to the organisation and leave it in better condition than when they arrived.
A range of skills you might want to consider are.
- Leadership
- Budgeting
- Project planning (see ‘The Complete Project management package’)
- Risk assessment (see ‘The Complete Risk management package’)
- Communication
- Marketing
- Negotiation
- Time management techniques (see ‘The Complete Time management package’)
There is nothing wrong with experience it is a very valuable asset.
It is based upon past acquired knowledge.
Don’t fall into the trap of ‘doing things the same old way’ based upon past experiences.
You must learn to adapt and evolve.
If you wish to catch the eye of your senior managers learn higher level skills and apply the principles to your current position.
Change
When you take on a new position you will encounter change.
This may involve.
- Increased hours
- More accountability and responsibility
- Control of bigger budgets
- Different personalities
- More challenging objectives
In order to meet these challenges as efficiently as possible you will need additional skills.
Skill source
There are many ways in which you may improve your skills.
- Training classes
- E-learning
- Correspondence courses
- Seminars
- On the job training whilst actually doing the job
- Assessment of past experiences
- Use of a mentor
- Use of a coach
- Encouraging feedback from suitable persons
- Reading a variety of material
- Video training
Until you know what skills you require you can not look for the best method of learning.
Choosing a particular method depends on many aspects.
- Are you paying for it under self development? If not is it affordable within the budget?
- What level of training do you need? Is it basic, intermediate or more advanced?
- Are you based at home and want to train via the internet or on a laptop etc?
- Your preferred mechanism of learning may be visual rather than role play etc.
Motivation
Not everybody wants to improve. Even within their own job they feel quite happy and do not wish to think proactively to the future [see The Complete Motivation package].
There can be many reasons for this.
It can be a conscious decision to alter a lifestyle or a fear of change.
The latter might find the person resisting skill development because they do not welcome the consequences of change.
This can contribute to stagnation of that person’s performance in the position. Whilst the person might be happy this situation may be obvious to those around them. This may translate into a lack of confidence in the person with a resultant loss in respect as a leader.
It is much better to properly assess what the change may mean in terms of its negative affects and positive benefits once you have identified the skill levels needed.
When there is change we go through a curve of emotions. This usually begins with denial of what is or might be happening.
This quickly turns to anger at the situation with blame apportioned on someone (or yourself for not noticing what was happening).
This then turns to doubt then acceptance of the situation.
Finally, you realise that you have to get on with the situation and start to formulate plans (see the diagram above).
The severity of the curve will depend upon the individual and the type of change.
Change can be seen as ‘revolutionary’ (completely different to what has gone before) or evolutionary (building on what has gone before).
The curve represents a final realisation of what is important and not what is urgent.
Assessing your need
We have already mentioned some skills which you may need.
Depending on the level you are aspiring to you may also wish to consider.
- Mergers and acquisitions.
- Change management.
- SWOT analysis.
- Influencing skills.
- Meeting skills.
- Specific analysis techniques (force field analysis).
The first step is to be proactive and seek out the training you need.
Consider your future career need and the skills attached to them.
What are your gaps or do you need a refresher course?
Make a list of preferred skill areas for training.
You may want to finalise your list by talking to your boss, depending on your relationship.
This is a useful exercise as much of the training may be in house and your boss will control the budget.
If your boss’s leadership skills are poor it is still worth a discussion. At the very least he will know that you are proactive and keen to invest in your own future and see you in a different light.
What skills do you need?
Ask yourself some basic questions and list the resulting potential skill gaps that materialise.
- What is your next possible career move?
- What skills do you anticipate for this position?
- Will there be any developments in your current position?
- What new skills could you use right now?
Even ahead of this you must have come to terms with the change that is about to happen, either by your design or by that of another.
Apart from the above assessment consider what skills you have currently.
Seek out job advertisements for positions you may be interested in for the future.
Perhaps seek additional details so that you can assess the skill base required for the position.
Why not approach recruitment agencies and ask them for details and skills required for certain positions?
There are other ways to obtain skills and experiences that do not involve courses.
For example.
Mentoring and coaching have already been mentioned. You may be able to get tips even if you are not in the appropriate position to justify the use of a coach.
Do you know of any other people that will be able to give you information?
Perhaps another department, similar job holder elsewhere or a good friend you can confide in.
You may find you wish to pursue a ‘sideways’ move into another job in order to gain the required knowledge and experiences.
Summarising
Once you have a list of possible choices of changes and skills that may fill gaps it is a good idea to examine their benefits and negative aspects.
Consider the benefit first, for example, personal freedom, increase in salary, greater recognition and then think about the negative aspects or cost of obtaining each of these benefits.
For example, longer hours, increased travel, worry over presentations to the board, more distant personal relationships.
Once you take the plunge and accept some of these negative aspects activities will usually get easier as experience is gained.