When it comes to sorting out which skills are ones that employers across the board (industry wise) value, it can be a bit troublesome. And of course, language matters too – using outdated language causes as many problems as not using the skill terms at all. This is why the federal government routinely studies and comes out with more general skills that employers are looking for, based on research and surveys.
For a long time, the nine essential skills were:
- Numeracy
- Oral communication
- Working with Others
- Continuous Learning
- Reading text
- Writing
- Thinking
- Document Use
- Digital
Now, you can see the problem with these as they stood for a long time. They were quite vague (digital?), they were a little ableist (oral communication?), they implied that people should be going back to school (continuous learning) and they didn’t mean much (document use?) But these were the nine essential skills as they stood, and they were quite open to interpretation which could cause problems.
Recently however, these nine essential skills have been retooled to be both a little more specific and more widely applicable. Let’s take a look at the new nine essential skills.
Adaptability
One of the buzzwords which has come out of the covid-19 pandemic has definitely been to ‘pivot’ or to be able to change directions quickly. In other words: adaptability. Adaptability is the ability to adjust goals and behaviors whenever change occurs, both expected and unexpected. It gets used on the job all the time: changing deadlines, learning to use new tools, and improving our skills come performance review time.
The ability to adapt has always been important, but with the pandemic and new technology taking the place of the way things have been done in the past, it’s been highlighted as an Essential Skill. Businesses that cannot move with the times are threatened with closures and employees who refuse to adapt are quickly let go.
This can be a hard skill to develop, especially when you are under stress, but doing things like keeping your eye on your goals, looking at everything as a learning opportunity, and talking it out with others can help you keep perspective and look for opportunities where others see a horror show.
Collaboration
Working with others in other words. Collaboration means being able to ‘play well’ with others, but that doesn’t mean you have to be a sunny extrovert who can chatter with anyone! Collaboration also means the ability to contribute and support others to achieve a common goal. This can mean anything from actively talking to others and brainstorming with a group to quietly working in the background to ensure that the final details of a project are tied up. Collaboration is also useful for maintaining positive relationships and to manage difficult interactions with your team, customers, or supervisors.
We could easily stick the ability to handle digital tools like instant messaging, Email, Zoom, and Teams under here too since collaboration means being able to work with people across a broad spectrum of mediums.
Communication
Thank goodness they finally lumped more of the communication together! Under this banner, we have not only oral communication (talking), but also listening, and interacting with others. Communication is tied directly to the notion of being able to share ideas – in one way or another – and solve problems rather than simply talking and listening. This makes it less ableist towards people who have difficulty talking or hearing and broadens the scope to cover things like active listening, and engagement, and even problem solving.
At the end of the day, being a good communicator – in one form or another – is also all about being good at problem solving. So, if you can get your point across, you’re communicating!
Creativity and Innovation
But creativity has always been important. It’s how businesses come up with new products and ideas and how problems can be solved in new ways that turn them into advantages. Creativity is also important to working with diverse groups of people who may not respond in the ‘usual way’ to methods of work. And creativity tends to be contagious – the more people who are practicing it, the more other people will too and that leads to a stronger workplace overall. The main challenge with creativity is that employees have to feel empowered to do it and that falls on the management. So it’s good that that innovation is being formally recognized as an essential skill so that businesses see it that way as well.
This is a new one in the list, but it’s one that employers have been talking about for a while. Creativity and innovation helps you to imagine, develop, express, encourage and apply ideas in ways that are new or challenge existing methods. Covid-19 really brought this to the forefront with people having to suddenly change to online models, online delivery, and ways to work with the restrictions while still keeping a business viable. Therefore, being able to think outside the box because key.
Digital
Still pretty vague, but this skill covers the ability to use digital technology (computers, phones, tablet, software, internet) to find, manage, create, and share information and content. Digital literacy is incredibly important now as more and more businesses shift to an online or online-hybrid model of work, or at least using the internet do things like scheduling, correspondence, and managing remote employees. It’s also important to have a basic understanding of social media etiquette, online safety, and communication.
Numeracy
Math is still as important as ever, though most of the time we are looking at things like calculators, budgets, estimates, and sometimes analyzing data. This can also cover things like understanding statistics, managing and using point of sales equipment and tracking things like inflation, cost of living, and sales prices (or lack thereof it sometimes feels like!)
We use math all the time in our lives, often without thinking about it. If you cook or bake, you use math! If you go shopping, you use math! Being able to use a calculator at the very least is very important.
Problem Solving
Problem solving means the ability to identify, analyze, propose solutions, and make decisions. It’s tied up with things like creativity, communication, and collaboration as well. Problem solving has always been an important skill to have, but with the new challenges of the day, it’s become even more important. How do you get nervous customers in the door and feeling safe in your business? How do you pivot from one business model to another? What do you do when the internet goes down? Problems like that often require fast solutions.
Problem solving also covers the ability to gather information and lead others to making better decisions as well. And the better you get at it, the more adaptable you will become as well! Problem solving really does encompass a lot of the most important skills in all workplaces.
Reading
Reading is of course very important in any workplace. It’s used in everything, from reading schedules and email, to reading instructions, to locating information on forms, on the internet, and in manuals. It’s also important to not only be able to read, but to use problem solving and creative thinking to sift through what you’re reading and think critically about what it is and how it will impact your life. You can practice reading anytime, anywhere!
Writing
Writing is still kept apart from general communication. This skill is the ability to share information specifically through the use of written words, but also symbols and images. Writing is used all the time, especially in a more remote world where email and instant messaging is so important. In order to strengthen your writing skills, it’s important to do it regularly, read regularly (Reading regularly helps teach better writing skills) and practice grammar, spelling, and style.
These nine essential skills are found across all industries and can be practiced anytime, anywhere. Certainly, going back to school will hone all of these as well, but if that’s not an option, you can do simple things like read the morning news and think about what you’ve read, looking at a problem and coming up with all different solutions to it, and practicing listening to others. It’s definitely worth your while to practice these skills for the workplace and for life in general!
