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There is a set of personal development skills that you should aim to improve throughout your life. They help you reach your goals; may they be personal or professional, and they’ll help you become a better person in general.
Most of these skills can help you excel at your job too. Being an active listener, having great organizational skills and good leadership skills are a must if you want to become a better employee.
You probably expected technical skills to be mentioned first. While they are important, you should never forget that you have to work with humans, not machines. Therefore, having good people skills, and knowing how to communicate with others can be more important than knowing all the theories.
Abilities You Need to Advance in Your Career:
1. Active Listening
Imagine you’re in a conversation with your boss. It’s a tedious conversation, but you have two choices here. You can pay attention just enough to answer all the questions right. Or you could actively listen and find out ways in which you can improve your work—and get closer to that promotion.
In most situations, we’re used to listening to someone just to be able to respond back. But if we take a minute and rewind, often we don’t really remember the details afterward.
Being a good communicator means paying attention to what others say. You need to concentrate on what your clients or coworkers are saying. This way you will be able to both give an appropriate response and remember important information later.
How can I improve this?
Try to approach each conversation with the goal of learning something. Try not to interrupt the speaker and focus on what he or she is saying. You can even ask questions or give feedback. This way, you get involved in the conversation.
2. Be a Team Player
You like to do your work alone. You don’t need help and you don’t ask for any. However, one day, you obtain a management position. How can you lead your team effectively if you have no people skills?
To thrive in any workplace, you need to communicate well with other people and be able to work as a team. You should work on your people skills and try to build relationships with your coworkers.
Additionally, sometimes having a second opinion on your work, or a different perspective on a problem, can end up helping you a lot. It’s easy to get caught up in your own train of thoughts and miss important details; another viewpoint can be just what is needed…
How can I improve this?
If you’re not naturally a people person, then you need to get out of your comfort zone. Try to put yourself into social situations and analyze how you react to them. Identify the areas you’d like to improve and pay more attention to them when you talk to somebody.
3. Be Organized
You misplaced the piece of paper with the deadline for your task and now it’s overdue. So now, not only didn’t you finish your work on time, but the whole team is waiting for you to submit your work.
To be on top of your game, you need to be organized with your time, work, and materials. Try to have a designated area where you work and arrange it in such a way that you know where everything is at all times.
For time management, things can be a little easier to systematize. You can always use a work management app to track your deadlines and workload. This way, you won’t forget what you have to do and when you have to be done with it.
How can I improve this?
This is probably the easiest skill to improve. Analyze your desk—where should you put your items so that you can reach them with ease? Try to make a system so that you don’t have to look for anything ever again. The same goes for your tasks—you can either use an app for this or start writing to-do lists!
4. Good Presentational Skills
Like it or not, a lot of office work revolves around making presentations. So it’s always a good idea to perfect your presentational skills.
Luckily, you don’t have to put so much work into creating your own slide deck, because there are plenty of free PowerPoint templates online. However, what you need to focus on is the mood or atmosphere of your message that you want to convey.
Your presentation should match your personality—you shouldn’t try to be someone you’re not in the workplace. Yet, there might be a set of unwritten rules that you need to follow, so try to be aware of those.
How can I improve this?
Be mindful of the atmosphere in your workplace. Is it somber? Is initiative encouraged? Is it joyful and relaxed? Do you have a dress code? These are all details that can tell you how serious—or creative—you should be with your presentations.
5. Adapt to Overcome Challenges
If everything was easy, how would we learn? Try to build a positive mindset around challenges and find things to learn from in every situation.
Be open to changes and to innovation. Things around the workplace will change constantly—so make sure you’re not stuck in a rut and left behind. Try to think outside the box and find new ways of doing old tasks. This way you prevent monotony from settling in and, perhaps, even find a better way to complete your work.
How can I improve this?
When you encounter a challenge, stop for a minute and ask yourself—is this as bad as it seems? Usually, the answer is no. Try to think about obstacles as opportunities to learn something new.
Is this a Magical Recipe for a Promotion?
Short answer—there is no such thing. However, working on your personal development skills will get you one step closer to the promotion you want. Sure, these kinds of abilities can help you in your career, but they also make you a better person and a better co-worker.
Of course, there are more than five personal development skills worth improving. Depending on the people you surround yourself with, or the workplace you are a part of, you can always find something new to work on. The important thing is to always keep an open mind and accept that there is no “perfect person”—there is always room for growth.
You may also like: 3 Essential Skills Every Entrepreneur Should Have
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