Articles : Skills Not the Key to Workplace Success

An Article by Colleen Clarke<

In the 1960s and 70s, rock solid company loyalty was valued and rewarded in workplaces across America. In the 1980s, excellent people skills and the ability to communicate across generational lines were in high demand.

In the 1990s, the ability to think out of the box and a willingness to work long hours and do the work of two or three people was highly valued. These are intangible values that one doesn’t learn in school or by reading a book - they are street smarts or life values and employers are putting a lot of weight on these criteria during the hiring process.

ACP International, a global organization of career professionals, polled its membership to find out what intangible values are of importance to employers in this millennium. The findings revealed a new work world that is very different from past generations.

An ACP member counselled that, Employers no longer expect blind loyalty. What they do expect is your unique contribution to moving the organization forward in completing its mission and purpose. It no longer matters what you did yesterday, it is important to make a current and future contribution.

So what values are in demand by today’s employers?

• Flexibility and the ability to adapt to rapid change
• Ability to learn new skills and change jobs within the organization to meet client needs
• A positive, can do attitude
• Understanding how we make money and acting strategically to support it
• Tolerance for risk and ambiguity
• Ability to take direction from people outside the formal reporting chain
• Ability to work with a diverse group of individuals from different cultures with varying language skills
• Ability to quickly and efficiently analyze, synthesize, articulate, and apply the flow of information within the workplace
• Consistency in building and maintaining trustworthy relationships through a listening and learning mind set
• Ability to work well in teams
• Willingness to proactively seek out training and learning opportunities when necessary to perform job functions
• Willingness to be a contingency worker or independent contractor
• Ability to persuade and influence

Today’s successful professional is cooperative yet competitive; all about work and still invested in their family; focused on detail while managing the big picture. Successful employees have the ability to carry the ball forward, solve problems on the fly and manage the inconsistencies of today’s world of work, says another career professional. Well, I guess if you are invincible and can walk on water then you have a pretty good chance of being successful, whew, what a demanding list of values! How can an employee possibly fulfill all these expectations and have time to live their life as well?

Just as employer values have changed, so have the values of employees. Some of the work preferences expressed by job seekers include:

• Offer opportunities for growth and challenge
• Willingness to 'flex' to their requirements, including flex schedules, family leave, work from home options, etc.
• Be understanding when they move on for a better opportunity
• Opportunity to contribute to policy and decision-making
• Clarity about performance expectations
• Mutual respect
• Open communication

As you can see, the values of employers and employees don’t match completely, but at least now you know what is expected of you and what rights or demands you may want to present to a potential employee to ensure your next position is just right for you, all across the board.

Colleen Clarke, career specialist and corporate trainer, www.colleenclarke.com, Author of Networking How to Build Relationships That Count and Work in Progress: Work Search and Job Retention