Peter Cullen is currently the author of the Career Doctor articles appearing in the Institute of Managers and Leaders publication named Leadership Matters. The columns on this page have appeared in Leadership Matters. Peter also wrote a weekly column on Workplace Behaviour for the Courier Mail in Queensland. The ebook containing the Courier Mail articles is a free download.
Skills Required to Support Your Career Progression
“How can I identify the new skills I will need to support my career progression?”
Your ability to accurately determine the skills and attributes needed to fulfill the requirements of your career progression requires research, honest self-reflection and time.
Where practical, your research will involve discussions with the person currently in your chosen role, their peers, the person they report to, HR and anyone else you think is relevant to better understanding the role. This assumes the role is with your current employer. This will be more difficult for external opportunities where you will need to rely on the internet and any industry or company contacts you have.
The majority of your research should focus on the skills required for the role. It is best to break them down into the technical (hard) and interpersonal (soft) skills. Technical skills may relate to IT, science, mathematics and trades. They are trained skills necessary to complete given tasks with the more common ones being the use of software, typing, analysis, accounting and operating machinery. Interpersonal skills involve our ability to communicate openly and honestly to build meaningful relationships. They are of great benefit during times of conflict, coaching team members, networking and reporting to those up the line.
As you start to build a picture of the skills required for your desired role you should consider the use of a capability matrix. The matrix is designed to contain all the technical and interpersonal skills and attributes required for the new role. It needs to be factual as there is no room for assumptions and it will help you to clearly identify any skill gaps that need to be covered to ensure your readiness and employability.
As an example the top row of the matrix may contain the labels Position, Leadership and Management. The secondary row under Leadership and Management may contain two columns each named Technical Skills and Interpersonal skills. Below these are the lists for each skill required in the role.
It is now time for some honest self-reflection and feedback from trusted colleagues, friends or family to help you confirm your current skill set. Once you have consolidated this simply tick off all the skills you believe you currently possess. The skills left blank are the ones you need to learn and develop.
There are skills we do not readily consider which are vital for our progression. The way we think and do things needs to progress to thinking conceptually, strategically and organisationally with a strong dose of self-reflection. This enables new thinking and ideas and how they may fit and strengthen the strategic direction of your team and the organisation. This can be quite difficult if you are not used to thinking this way.
When all is said and done, if you want to make the best decision for you and your career progression, take the necessary time to research and reflect on where you want to go and why you want to go there.
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