Over years, the world around us has changed irreversibly. Several things that were good enough few years back are now either obsolete or have diminished in importance. At the same time, several new things have come up which have changed the dynamics of the world we live in. With changing times, it becomes important for everyone of us to attune ourselves with it and acquire skills that can help us succeed.
Some questions I always ask myself at the beginning of any year are– What new skills have I acquired? Have I learnt something new? Or have I become better at something? Am I adapting myself to the changing ecosystem around me well enough?
And I think, this holds true for all of us, especially young professionals who are in midst of setting foundation stones for their career. We need to be constantly adding new skills and becoming good in our existing skills. Here are some skills I believe will go a long way to climb the ladder of success
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Adaptability
This is the single most important factor that differentiates high achievers from the rest. Star performers always adapt themselves to the changing environment & changing realities of the world around them. They can adapt themselves to any new situation – be it in terms of work environment, cultures, changing economic scenario or changing technological landscape. Adaptability also assumes importance in the context of increasingly globalized world and global careers.
If you are adaptable, you can work on and acquire other skills needed to succeed.
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Analytical Thinking
A star performer thinks strategically, takes a macroscopic view of the situation and then is able to simplify things into specific actionables. They are able to analyse any situation & take a holistic view, and get the larger picture to put things in perspective. While hiring people, I always look at people with good analytical skills.
As you move up the ladder, this analytical thinking helps you in objective decision making and can enable a high performer stand apart from the rest.
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Team Work
You will always need to work in a team. As your role and responsibilities grow, these teams are increasingly going to get diverse and cross functional, Cross geographical – with different types of people with different behaviours and attitudes. Successful people have the ability to work well in a team and be effective. Few things that can help you become a better team player are empathy, listening & interpersonal skills. In addition to this, you also need the ability to respect diversity and work with people who come from varied backgrounds, culture, age group etc.
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Ability to Prioritize
There are many things that demand your attention, and as you grow professionally and personally, these things are bound to increase. You must be able to separate high priority things from the low priority ones. Ability to delegate work and good resource management will always help you get your priorities right.
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Keep Learning New Things
As Stephen Covey would put it – one must always keep on sharpening the saw. With time, some of your skills get redundant, some get outdated and some might need to get some polishing. Take time out periodically to brush up your skills. In addition, you always need to keep on acquiring new skills – be it on subject matter or technical skills or a soft skills. This especially gains importance in today’s digital world where several things you see today were not even imagined couple of decades back. Personally, I believe that my reading habits have been instrumental in helping me learn new things & gain new skills.
Learning is a never ending process. If you are adaptable, you’ll focus on learning new skills too!
Most of these skills are something that cannot be taught in a classroom or through any formal training. You need to learn and master them yourself. Some conscious effort in that direction, coupled with some experience can set the ball rolling.
There are bound to be times when you will not see results and there will be times when you’ll make mistakes. But as long as the efforts are in the right direction, these skills can go a long way in helping you succeed – professionally as well as personally.
