How to develop your skills - Crack Your Career - EP3

Hey, I'm Jazzy George and you're tuned in to Crack Your Career. This episode's all about skills. We're going to look at hard skills, soft skills. We're also going to catch up on your skills capital. And to top it all off, I'm going to give you the secrets for improving and honing your skills. And we're even going to talk about friends. You've definitely come to the right place. We'll be there for you. Adaptability, organisation, emotional intelligence, stress management, teamwork, compassion. Sounds like my best friend's checklist for dating apps. But in reality, you see them all the time in the soft skills section of job ads. OK, so where did the idea of soft skills even come from? It wasn't such a long time ago that they weren't really considered a priority. However, they were around in my parents' day, so they are pretty old. After the Industrial Revolution and up until the 1970s, when people would flock to the dance, rocking flares and floral prints. Technical skills ruled the roost. Workers stood at the production line and the managers were there to manage and oversee administration. The term soft skills wasn't used formally until 1972. And this wasn't even in a job ad, but in a training manual for the American Army. We owe it all to Dr. Whitmore, who used it at a congress of the US Army's high command. But it's really over the past 20 years, especially as digitalisation has taken off, that we've really seen a rise in the need to develop skills around learning, thinking and interacting. In fact, previously, the key idea was just to rack up as many skills as you could. But the internet has made this pretty pointless. Thanks to Google, knowing who landed on the moon with Neil Armstrong is really not that impressive anymore. And yes, it's Buzz Aldrin. The important thing nowadays is really the way we use our knowledge. But don't forget that hard skills are also important. For instance, when we hired our cameraman and editor, we couldn't just rely on their soft skills. So we need a combination, a balance of both. Back to soft skills. So we know their history, but what are they exactly? Now, there's actually not one definition, but thankfully, a consensus has formed around a few models in particular. One is the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, better known as P21. Another is Assessment and Teaching for the 21st Century Skills. These two models cover various skills, but they have four right at the centre. The four Cs are creativity, critical thinking, cooperation and communication. As well as being an asset in the workplace, soft skills can also be of great assistance when figuring out your career. But remember that they're also context dependent. For example, a student living in a rural area far, far away from their uni will have to develop skills related to navigation and getting around. That might not be such a big deal for students living in the city. There are a lot of exercises you can do to get an overview of your skills, including cognitive, psychometric and aptitude tests, and also role play. You might do a self-assessment based on your perception of your own skills, and this could sound simple enough. It's easy to organise, but be very wary of any biases you may have. Overconfidence, also known as the Dunning-Kruger effect, is not always your friend. You can also think reflectively to assess your skills. You might put together a portfolio where you'll list all your experiences, personal and professional, to identify the skills that you've developed. Back up each of your target skills with some evidence. You don't have to list absolutely everything that you've done in your life. Just choose some of the more important stuff. No need to talk about the time you managed to put on a duvet cover all by yourself without crying, or when you nailed that perfect TikTok routine. Also, don't forget to share this stuff with your friends and your colleagues, as this will help make sure you just aren't a million miles wide of the mark. Our researchers have created the perfect tool to help you get a better idea of your soft skills capital. Hester. Hester will help you get to know yourself and tell your story, and you can use it to highlight your talents and the things that make you unique. If you identify your soft skills, you can present them all the better and talk about them in interviews. We go into this in more detail in our learn how to tell your story tutorial. Go ahead and click if you're interested. Contrary to popular opinion, soft skills can be improved. Our brains are plastic, so that makes it easier. And when I say plastic, I'm of course talking about brain plasticity, which is our brain's ability to change in reaction to our lived experiences. But let's start by taking a quick look at how the brain works. In simple terms, our brains are made up of lots of different connections, all linking everything up. Our soft skills come as a result of all of these interactions. Scientists now reckon there are about seven networks, all with connections inside and between each other. It's even more complicated than the London Underground. In our interconnected human brains, our neocortex is particularly well-developed. Evolution has preserved the brain functions which let us interact with our fellow humans, because let's face it, we're a profoundly social species. We're always down for a drink with friends. We've organised ourselves to be cooperative so that we could survive in the natural world. Our complex brain functions have enabled us to cooperate, and that's basically what soft skills are all about. Namely, communication, empathy, resolving conversations, flexibility, and team spirit. Okay, let's get practical. The best way to improve is to keep working on different techniques over time, depending on the skills you want to boost. We've decided to give you two exercises to work on your active listening skills when you're having an argument, and your creativity when you're choosing the job you want to do. Let's start off with listening. Active listening is a key communication skill. When done well, you're giving your attention to what other people say without butting in, so you can take the time to really understand what they're telling you and create the right atmosphere for dialogue. For the first exercise, let's step into the TV show, Friends, specifically the famous, we were on a break scene with Ross and Rachel. Long story short, she works all the time, he wants to see her more, and they constantly argue because of it. So Rachel suggests they take a break. Ross goes out all night and ends up sleeping with another woman, which he then justifies with the line, we were on a break. So now you've got the context, let's do the exercise. Yes, there is a point to me telling you the whole story. Try watch the famous argument scene. It's easy to find on YouTube. Then take an objective look at Rachel and Ross's points of view, pause whenever they get annoyed and take a step back. Write down the facts about what really happened, the arguments they make and the emotions each character feels. You can do it with a friend and compare notes. This way you'll be able to work on your own perspective by assessing two different viewpoints on the same situation. Spoiler alert, Ross and Rachel are not good listeners. It's harder to do when there's feelings involved. Here are a few tips. Try to remember these when you're looking to resolve a conflict with someone, a colleague, for example. Don't interrupt, adapt to the other person's personality. So if you're talking to someone who's calm, don't snap at them. Ask questions to make sure you've understood what the other person is saying. Show that you're totally open to dialogue. Reformulate what the other person has said to you. There you go. These are my top tips. Now let's work on another one of the four Cs, creativity. There are tons of ways to boost your creativity, of course, but we want to give you an exercise that's based on career development. The context we'll use is looking for a job or internship. By learning to generate opportunities, you can recognize information in a way that helps you understand situations better. Okay, let's put it into practice and you'll see what I mean. Step one, mind mapping. Your mission is this, list as many criteria as possible that you should take into account when you're choosing a job. Come up with as many as you can. Some ideas might be working with a cool team, having responsibilities, using your creativity, flexible hours, working for an ethical company, being able to rock up in your trainers, having a good restaurant nearby. I won't do it all for you. You list whatever comes into your head. And here are a few tips for being even more creative. Don't self-censor. Don't limit what you write down. Write down everything that pops into your head, no matter how bonkers. It's all about quantity. The number of ideas you come up with matters. Here comes a twist. Use the ideas you've already come up with to generate new ones, inception style. You've got eight minutes. Should give me enough time to get on with my puzzle. Once you've done that, let's move on to step two, convergence. Select the five criteria in your mind map which you consider the most important. You're going to use this hierarchy as a comparison. Step three, sharing. Share your criteria with as many people as you can to gather lots of feedback. Of course, this idea generating exercise can be applied to all kinds of questions. But the key is to get out of your usual way of thinking and be creative by setting yourself a framework. We've suggested those two exercises today, but you can also explore the four Cs in new hobbies. Don't want to state the obvious, but acting can help with your public speaking and basketball can help with your teamwork and cooperation skills. Art, sport, your mates, all those cool different parts of your life could be a great way of working on your soft skills. Okay, let's get back to the world of work and how to navigate it with as little hassle as possible. We have one last thing we wanted to tell you and it's a biggie. One of the reasons why soft skills are so important is that 85% of jobs won't exist anymore by 2030. That's according to a study by Dell and the Institute for the Future. Our roles in technology are changing super fast. And as human beings with a top quality neocortex, we're going to have to learn how to question ourselves all the time and use this to adapt. This means taking a more flexible approach to our careers and being more open to economic changes. This is why soft skills, but also career development skills, like knowing which jobs are out there and which ones to choose are also essential.