If people really are your greatest asset ...

what are you doing about it? Are you continuing to build their skills, and your own?

Anyone remember the days when we had training on how to use Word?  Or Excel?  Or just about any piece of software, actually?  Now we just expect people to be computer literate.  Or to learn in their own time.  And we also expect them to know how to be 'good at work'.

Not just good at the technical parts of their job, but also good at getting things done.

As people progress in their career, they are often given increased responsibility.  It may be a new project.  Implementing a change.  Leading a team in a new direction.  In many cases it spreads to include the performance of other people too.  Perhaps you are required to run meetings.  Speak at conferences.  Have high-stakes conversations.  Develop staff.  These are not innate skills for many of us.  Often we need not only the new skills, but the personal confidence to use them effectively.  Often both need to be learned.

So what exactly are these skills that we need to keep developing, to be 'good at work'?

For a start, it's about being engaged.  Motivating yourself and those around you.  It is about getting the job done well for your own reasons, rather than because someone is wielding a stick.  It's the cliche of 'going the extra mile'.  Taking personal responsibility.  It's the stuff of collaboration, communicating well, influencing, delivering on high priorities ... consistently.  Setting goals effectively, so they are achieved.  Visualising and communicating success so you build positive momentum to reach your targets.  Confidence, passion, humility, focus, inspiration, trustworthiness.  They can be lumped together as: Performance skills.  And they can be learned and developed.

At it's core, performance is about self-leadership and personal effectiveness, irrespective of the title on the business card or the organisational rung.  Sometimes these skills are called the 'soft skills' (though there's nothing 'soft' about better customer relationships, project success through collaboration, sky-rocketing team performance, increased sales, low turnover and absenteeism ... the list goes on ...).

'Soft' is a misnomer.  Exhibiting 'soft skills' may mean making the hardest calls of all.

Let's take the often misunderstood area of 'emotional intelligence' as an example.  This isn't about being 'emotional' or 'nurturing' or 'kind'.  Or getting in touch with your feminine side.  It is about understanding ourselves and what is driving us (and others), so that we can respond appropriately to what is happening, rather than react in a knee-jerk fashion to how we are feeling.  We may decide to respond strongly and passionately because that will yield the best results.  Or pause to provide space for others to give their views.  Or take a long, slow, deep breath.  Literally.  The EI difference is that rather than being run by our emotions in the moment (like anger, sadness, frustration, overwhelm ...) we notice them, understand them, and then take the most useful action, consciously, in order to achieve the best outcome.

If you are interested in building this array of skills - for yourself, your team, your business - we'd love to talk with you.

• Are you trying to re-shape your culture?  
• Implement some important changes?  
• Develop useful mindsets to stay competitive?
• Support your people to achieve in a demanding environment, as their workload soars?  
• Upskill to increase innovation and creativity?  
• Build goal-achievement as a key competency?
• Prepare key staff for succession? 
• Get out of a rut: re-energise, re-invigorate and set a compelling direction? 

... If so, it's soft skills you need.

At HMP, this is our specialty.  Not just theory so you can say 'yep, that makes sense, I understand', or 'yes, I agree that's important', but the step-by-step 'how' so that you can actually do it.  It is practical.  The guided reflection, the planning, the skill-building, the feedback, the support, the encouragement.  The back-up of academic research to keep the analytical part of our brain tuned in.  The regular space to actually develop skills, habits and new ways of thinking in order to become proficient.

Success is not just about what you do (although action is critical).  To be sustainable, it's also about what you think and who you are.

We loved the recent McKinsey Quarterly paper, "How centred leaders achieve extraordinary results".  It sets out 5 dimensions the researchers found were strongly linked to business performance.  Interestingly, each of the 5 dimensions - Meaning, Engaging, Connecting, Positive framing and Managing energy - is addressed in our 'Action on Purpose' program.  Yes, we also think they're important.  And we show you how to build them for yourself, so they work in your specific context.

As we have mentioned in previous posts, our action is driven by our thinking and our self-concept.  Both can be dusted off and given a shine.

Learning effective thinking strategies helps us take consistent action towards business success.  And towards our personal dreams.  Many useful bite-sized strategies will be posted in this blog - so why not enter your email address in the sidebar, so that we can let you know whenever there is a new post.

For a face-to-face personal experience, plus individual coaching, come along to a workshop (see side panel for places and dates).  It will accelerate your results, and we'd love to meet you in person.

To get started, try this:
Are you living in the place where you belong, with the people you love, doing the right work, on purpose?
Ponder this question.  What does this look like, for you?  For your business?  Do you have a clear and compelling picture?

Is your current behaviour - on a daily basis - taking you towards this vision of what you want, or further away?  Is there anything you need to change?

Sit quietly with a pad of paper.  An inspirational setting works particularly well.  Or a comfy arm chair.  Somewhere you feel relaxed and have space to think.  Then start writing, or drawing, or both.  Coloured pens work well.  Have fun with it!  The clearer you are on what you want, the easier it is to move towards it.