What I Wish I’d Known
The modern workplace requires skills we don’t learn in school
Now that I’ve been a professional coach for several years, I’ve started to notice some common topics that clients want to work on during sessions. They are most often soft skills, or interpersonal skills, or how to manage themselves and others. Whether it’s a small nonprofit, or a Fortune 500 company, whether they’re a new manager, or a seasoned CEO, often the challenges they want to address relate to how they show up for themselves and with others.
How many of us are actually taught the essential emotional intelligence skills we need to navigate the workplace? We kind of learn them through real-world experience in school and life. But what about that first time you have to give difficult feedback to a direct report or a manager? How are we prepared for those human interactions that have a significant impact on our career?
I’m curious what skills you wish you’d had when you entered the workplace.
Please respond to this newsletter or email me. My intention is to write more about these skills that are so essential to our success, but we don’t really learn until we’re on the job. Or maybe we learned about them, but never practiced them.
Here are some of the common skills I’ve observed we don’t learn before entering the workforce:
How to…
Build a professional reputation or brand
Listen effectively
Have a difficult conversation
Manage my time
Manage up
Manage others
Overcome Imposter Syndrome
Navigate office politics
Say No
Work with a disinterested or micromanaging manager
Think strategically about my career
Have a coaching conversation
Balance friendship with professionalism
Give excellent presentations
Manage conflict
Manage my emotions
Prioritize my physical and emotional wellbeing
Lead a team
Inspire others
Network in my industry
Balance work and life
Create psychological safety for my team
Develop a growth mindset
Plan and lead an efficient meeting
These are just a few of the topics I’ve covered with clients during coaching sessions. How many of them have you developed on the job? How many are you still working on? What would you add to this list?
If you were to sit down with a young person who is about to enter the workforce, what wisdom would you impart to them? What should they develop or focus on so they can have a fulfilling career and life?
This week, take inventory of the skills you’ve acquired since you started your career. How would you teach those skills to others? Please send me your thoughts so we can help create a more conscious workplace together.
Work happy. Live happy. BE happy.
Meredith
The way we work and build teams is rapidly changing. Leaders often feel unprepared to navigate the transition. As a conscious leadership coach, consultant, and communicator, Meredith helps leaders and their teams create new ways of working and relating so they can prepare for the future by consciously co-creating it.
Contact her to develop your conscious leadership and transform your organization into the workplace of the future.
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