MOST IMPORTANT SKILLS TO HAVE FOR 2020
Anytime now, we would plunge into the year 2020. I can imagine some of us already writing our new year, new me list. However, the list will be incomplete without adding some of the most important skills to have for 2020.
Next year is an opportunity to do-over. Therefore, you need to seize the opportunity to get ahead in your career. Besides the world keeps changing, hence you need to develop skills to help you stand out in this ever-changing world.
So, strap yourself and hold tight as we quickly dive into the 10 most important skills to acquire for the future.
10. Cognitive Flexibility
This deals with logical reasoning, creativity, being sensitive to problems, and adaptation to communicate based on who you are talking to. Employers will like to know what you think critically, listen deeply, and tailor communication with who you are talking to.
How then do you build cognitive flexibility? Learn new things, particularly a new way to think. You can learn this by widening your interest, read outside your interest point, and embrace people who challenge you intellectually.
9. Negotiation
Social skills are becoming highly needed and desirable by employers. This is because in a world where machines and artificial intelligence appears to be taking all our jobs. There’s been an increase in interpersonal skills.
Finally, something we can do better than robots. Employers need someone who can negotiate with not just clients, but also with team members and colleagues.
8. Service Orientation
Interpreted as the ability to display positive attitudes and behaviors, which demonstrate an awareness and willingness to respond to customers in order to respond to and meet their needs, requirements, and expectations.
This could easily be translated as getting into the mind of a customer and thinking just like them. What do they like? What’s their value? What do they dislike? Therefore giving them the best of users’ experience.
7. Judgment and Decision-Making
The whole concept rounds around the fact that you are quick to analyze situations and make intelligent decisions.
Big data is now the craze. As more companies get hold of data, it is required that these data through insights are analyzed efficiently to draw strategies.
To improve your judgment skills, start getting comfortable with large data. Then, build your use of excel skills.
6. Emotional Intelligence
Remember I already talked about social skills becoming highly needed. Emotional intelligence is the overall of all social skills. Emotional intelligence builds every single interaction we have.
It helps us adjust to our basic human emotions, thereby altering our behavior to match the mood of our colleagues, friends, family, and even self.
Employers would rather employ someone who is conscious of others’ reactions as well as the impact of their own reaction.
5. Coordinating with Others
Again, another social skill. Coordinating with others is just a fancy word for teamwork. Employers put more emphasis on hiring people with strong interpersonal skills, people who play well with others and can easily collaborate to get the job done.
4. People Management
Employees are a company’s most prized possession. People management means reading people enough to know when they need motivation. It also includes maximizing productivity and developing the talents of employees. Also, picking the right people for a job and how to respond to their needs.
3. Creativity
Creativity is not exclusive to just the artsy types of people; designers, writers, actors. If you are able to find hidden patterns from given information and then make connections to unrelated phenomena to get a solution, then you are creative.
Employers need people who can easily figure things out and bring improved and new solutions.
2. Critical Thinking
Critical thinking is another fancy way of saying logic and reasoning. This means, using logic and reasoning to analyze an issue, evaluate different solutions to the issue and weigh the pros and cons of the strategy.
Employers want people with a critical mind who would manipulate the power of technology and use them to benefit the company.
Honorable Mentions
- Growth mindset
- Cultural awareness
- Focus mastery
- Innovation
- Storytelling
- Leadership
1. Complex Problem-Solving
The most important skill to get for 2020 is complex problem-solving skills. What it means is- identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
Solving complex problems can be done by asking the right questions, analyzing that question and drawing appropriate solutions to the problems.
I hope this list has changed your new year resolution. Go through it again and arm yourself with as many as you can for next year.
