Powerful Words of Wisdom – The Power of Skills
The 2023 European Year of Skills will run until May 2024, with the aim of promoting the visibility and uptake of further education and training in adult life. At Irish Times Training we seized the opportunity to support this strategic imperative for individuals and organisations and reinforce the need to focus on critical soft skills.
To delve into the true power of soft skills, in collaboration with expert faculty, Irish Times Training created the Power Hour Skills Series of webinars. Over 1,000 attendees tuned in over the course of the year to build understanding of the topics and access the latest thinking in core skills that can drive behavioural change and personal and professional development.
David Magee, Managing Director of Irish Times Training commented, “With learning now very much in the flow of work, we devised a short, bite sized series of impactful sessions with our team of faculty. Thematically we covered areas of skills that are in demand, from change, communication and coaching to resilience and digital readiness. Indeed, digitisation and the ever-evolving climate agenda will require increased and continued upskilling and reskilling across all industry sectors.”
We are delighted to share some words of wisdom from those sessions here with you and, as in the webinar sessions, we have condensed into a bite-sized read below.
Change & Transformation
You’ve heard the adage: if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. It’s as true today as it ever was and is particularly true in the case of managing change within organisations.
Not all change is equal: it can be incremental or step-change. Incremental change is gradual, where processes, structures and culture appear to evolve over time. Step-change involves major, transformative changes in processes, structures and culture are implemented at a specific time; this type of change can be recognised within an organisation as ‘before and after’ scenarios.
Knowing the type of change that is required by an organisation, and being aware of the impact this will have on the change management plan, employees and stakeholders, ultimately plays into the plan’s success.
Coaching
Over early 21st century we’ve seen the ‘Authoritarian’ model become replaced by styles that reflect the increasingly interactive and co-operative leadership styles in contemporary business settings, including the Coaching style of leadership. Of course, there are plenty of instances visible today where evolution has not been embraced; some business leaders prefer the familiar methods of the past, but the benefits of evolved thinking are clear, across all sectors of business.
As a leader, you have an expectation of performance from your team, and you will rightly hold your team accountable for results. Is it possible to be a Leader and Coach at the same time? Yes, it is. Leaders do not need to solve every challenge themselves; their team can help shoulder the responsibility and share the credit. But remember – trust is essential, and open and honest dialogue are key.
Communication
If we take a minute, we can all think of someone we’ve encountered who was a really good communicator, someone who seemed innately capable of getting a message across clearly and in an engaging manner. We can also think of someone who lacked the ability to communicate effectively, and who might have struggled to bring their audience with them. The choice of who we want to model ourselves on is ours – and developing outstanding communication skills is a goal we can achieve.
Take a minute to honestly assess your own communication style, and model yourself on a communicator you admire for their effectiveness. Practice can make perfect – or at least makes way for improvement.
Digital Readiness
The rapid pace of technological developments has led us to rely even more on analytics, cloud technology, interaction with mobile technology, and a small group of highly powerful platforms. But there’s more to digital transformation than technology. Digital transformation and readiness are all about people. Human capital and potential are powerful tools in any organisation, and they can be honed – through creating a solid strategy and providing opportunities for upskilling and reskilling – to be solid business assets.
Growing capability through fostering a culture of innovation and building skills across the organisation and executing the strategy with a clear outcome in mind all work towards the ultimate goal of business growth.
Resilience
Have you ever had the feeling that you’re always on the run? The feeling that external forces, not you, are regulating your energy and focus? Well, you’re not alone. The ideal state would be to thrive, rather than just survive – and there are tools available to help you to adopt Adaptive Resilience.
We live in the age of mass distraction, and uncertainty is an ever-present element of our data-overloaded lives. Recognising and adopting Adaptive Resilience into our perspective can help us to be more present and in control of how we spend our energy across all areas of our lives.
Being kind, developing a balanced perspective on where our energies are spent daily, and letting go of unhelpful or outdated mental baggage, while easier said than done, can help us to become more present and control our energy expenditure.
The Power Hour Skills Series will continue in 2024 and we look forward to introducing more hot topics and new thought leaders to audiences throughout the year.
