If We Could Only Do One Thing for our Business, What Would It Be?

Skills we need to have or foster for the future growth of our businesses. Are colleges teaching and developing workers for the future?

As our companies grow, our needs for various skill sets change. I recently read a great article about the Skills For The Future, where the future is now - what are those! Where can we find them, or do we build them?

Skills for the future:

1. Essentialism—Focusing on the vital few

2. Grit - the sum of passion and persistence

3. Learning agility - learn, test, and repeat

4. Data Science/Data Analytics - Creating knowledge from big data

5. Decision Making - Making Decisions supported by informed analysis

6. Complex Problem Solving - uncovering innovative solutions in complex settings

7. Design thinking - problem-solving with empathy

8. Contract Skills - Rapidly acquiring skills as needed

Essentialism is a mental model that acts as a filter to help us make better decisions. Business leadership is about making good decisions and staying focused. Essentialism is an ideal tool to have.

Essentialism is the skill of focusing on the vital few and ignoring the trivial many.

The book Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less states the way of the essentialist is the relentless pursuit of less but better. It isn’t about how to get more things done: it’s about how to get the right things done. It’s about making the wisest possible investment of time and energy to operate at the highest point of contribution by doing only what is essential.

By investing in fewer things, the essentialist has the satisfying experience of making significant progress in the things that matter most.

Skilled essentialists have the ability to:

Streamline activities and simplify the complex procedures.
Identify and eliminate time-wasters and energy-robbers
Make more explicit, more focused decisions.
Execute strategic initiatives faster and with fewer unanticipated problems.
Sort through competing priorities to focus on the vital few that have the highest impact
Communicate the right things to the right people at the right time.
Solve costly problems before they have a severe impact on profitability

The essentialist defines a strategy by answering, “If we could only do one thing, what would it be?” Everyone on the team is aligned toward a common goal. When teams are unified, they have the power to break through to the next level of contribution.

When they lack clarity of purpose, it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to discern which of the myriad opportunities are vital.

For more information on Skills for the Future, contact Donna Hover-Ojeda at donnahover@mightyunderdogs.club

Mighty Underdogs is a private 501c3 delivering tools, templates, and tutoring to small businesses under $1.0 million in revenue.

Categories: : Leadership, talent development