As you may already know, being good enough at your job to keep the business ticking over isn’t always good enough anymore. In our hyper-capitalist society, managers and their higher-ups want growth on growth and for people to hit new heights.
Luckily, the world of business does make it clear that additional skills do make employees more valuable and thus more likely to be kept on should changes need to be made. While you may not have some of these skills already, there are ways to pick them up, improve on them, and showcase them in the workplace. These are the top skills that you should consider building to enhance your standing as an employee.
Take language lessons in your spare time
It’s all well and good to say that you want to learn a language, but knowing how to learn Portuguese, for example, is the biggest hurdle to overcome. Anyone can get a gamified app, but so few stick with it. With a detailed plan and the help of a personal tutor to practice with and provide essential tips, learning a new language in your own time can both be enjoyable and provide a tremendous boost to your employee status.
Having the status of being bilingual automatically makes you an asset beyond the role that you’re employed for. You can help with international business relations, casually teach others, and clearly showcase that you’re willing to work hard to earn new skills. Portuguese is a good one to add as it’s considered to be a simple language to learn for English speakers, and beginners can start to pick it up with a few basics.
Actively seek to improve your strategic thinking
Some think that strategic thinking is just for the higher-ups and those who can use the skill to directly influence the direction of the business, such as when new technologies emerge, but this certainly isn’t the case. Anyone at any level can benefit from getting into the strategic mindset, and when used often and in the right moments, it can open doors to better positions.
There are four steps to improve thinking strategically, with the first being to take the time to explore internal trends, draw in data offered by fellow employees about their experiences, and then see it all in the scope of the company. After that, you need to ask more questions about dilemmas and your position, including the tough ones that may lead to unfavorable answers, as these are what you’ll need to focus on.
Get better at written communication
Written communications are only becoming more and more important as business becomes an increasingly digital environment. Even if you’ve mastered search engine optimization, your written communication skills may still be a bit lacking. The grammar may be perfect, but a lot goes into written communications that need to be perfected to ensure that each of your messages is read and received as intended.
There are eight best practices to enhance your written communications, starting with how to plan the message ahead of typing or writing a single word. You need to consider the most effective way to relay the message that’s fit for its purpose – would formatting tricks like bolding or bullet points help? After writing, read it as the recipient, as you need to make sure that you clearly get every point made to the extent that you intend.
Become a better, stronger, and more desirable employee by picking up the skills above.
