BEING THE PROFESSIONAL WORKER (3)

Intrapersonal Soft Skills

In our introductory post on this series, I mentioned that soft skills are personal habits and traits that shape how you work, on your own, and with others. They are not taught but are possessed and developed over time.

According to research, over the last twenty years, employers of labour are now five times more favourable to applicants with proven excellent soft skills that are requisite for available openings than they once used to be. This is because employees with proper soft skills ability tend to be more effective and productive on the job and in handling tasks assigned to them.

In this post, we aim to speak a bit on relevant (intra)personal soft skills. These are skills that you develop on the inside and apply them when working alone or being by yourself. They are focused on you as an individual and what you bring to the table when discharging duties solely assigned to you.

Let us take a look at some of these abilities and how they affect your work ethic

1. Time Management

This is simply your ability to manage your time. It refers to how you utilise the 24 hours in a day that we all have.

Time is the only resource we all equally have in the world, irrespective of colour, background, financial status or even political affiliation. The president and his bodyguard have the same 24 hours in a day, and it is what they make out of it that determines the direction their life goes in.

A lot of people do not realise how important every second of their life is. they forget that seconds make minutes, minutes make hours, hours make days, days make weeks, then months, then years, then ultimately a lifetime.

People who are conscious of their time are people who are given to proper planning and implementation of their schedules and plans. It doesn't matter if it is a long, medium or short term plan; they are consistently tracking and are accountable for every second of their time. They have a set time to work, rest, play, study, eat etc.

As much as most people want to have their time well managed, a large percentage of people fall short of the mark. Some fail at the planning stage, while others fail at implementation. One sure way to manage your time properly is by applying the Time Management Matrix Quadrant. To do this, you classify your tasks and place them into four groups.

Quadrant I: Urgent, Important

Quadrant II: Not urgent, Important

Quadrant III: Urgent, Not important

Quadrant IV: Not important, Not Urgent

Allocating appropriate time as is necessary to your daily tasks according to their quadrant would be a huge time and life saver.

2. Analytical Skills

These refer to the ability to  collect, organise, visualise, and interpret data in a bid to observe research and interpret a subject.

Analytical skills help in investigating complex issues and boost your problem solving ability.

According to Indeed, the analytical thinking process involves the following steps:

a. Identifying a topic, problem or issue

b. Gathering information through testing and information

c. Developing solutions or deepening your understanding of the topic

d. Testing solutions or new ideas based on what you have learned

e. Post-analysis, or reviewing what solutions worked

Common analytical skills are: critical thinking, research, communication, and data and information analysis.

3. Problem-solving Ability

Problem solving ability refers to how you can identify and analyse problems at work and present the best possible solution to solving those problems in an effective and timely manner.

A good problem solver should be should be able to save his employer time and money by possessing and developing this skill. As every business is out to solve problems of individuals, a staff with a high problem-solving ability is held in high regard by his employers and an applicant who can display such ability in an interview has a high chance of getting employed

Some key problem-solving skills are: active listening, communication, decision-making, and research.

4. Creativity Skills

The ability to think in and out of the box concerning a problem or a task is referred to as creativity. It is the use of the mind, intellect, imagination and instinct to find unique ways of approaching and solving problems.

A creative employee is a forward-thinker, and as such, is very valuable to company growth. Creative thinking increases collaboration, increases efficiency of staff, and also improves problem-solving ability.

Examples of creativity skills include: networking, experimenting and testing, and making observations

5. Organization

This  is the ability to keep a clear picture of tasks and completing them by having a well-defined system to perform your duties.

An organised person works according to plan. Being organised is a subset of proper time management, and is a huge time saver as well. An organised person is also effective in planning, goal-setting, and prioritisation.

That's where we stop today, I am sure you now know the skills you would need even if you are working by yourself. Next week, we talk about interpersonal skills.

Stay smart!