Even if you have a reputation as being the best at what you do, it will amount to little if you are unable to work well with others. According to recent research from the Deloitte Access Economics report, while the Australian workforce has a strong soft-skill base for now, the current rate of training around soft skills will not be enough to keep up with the demand for soft skills in the future.

What are soft skills? Unlike hard skills, which can be proven and measured, soft skills are intangible and can often be difficult to quantify. The report from Deloitte revealed the specific types of soft skills many employers will be looking for now and for years to come. These mainly included analytical thinking, verbal and written communication, and leadership.

With the demand for soft skills on the rise, it is important for everyone to consider how the focus on these often difficult to quantify skills will affect their career progression in the future.

One of the reasons that soft skills are now so revered is that they are the best tools to help facilitate better human connections, and therefore encourage closer and more productive working relationships between teams and colleagues. Critical soft skills for this development of positive interpersonal behaviour such as communication, presentation skills and conflict management abilities should be the focus of any training in the soft skills area. While these skills have been identified as essential for the future, often employees are seldom given the opportunity to develop these soft skills for their own benefit.

However, if you are given the opportunity to develop your soft skills through training and development, you will be taking advantage of improving a suite of skills that will steer you closer towards your larger career goals. Some of these key soft skills may be:

• Honing of a more positive attitude – generation of strong, positive energy throughout a workplace encourages others to be optimistic and upbeat in the face of difficulties. The Performance Edge is a key course to cultivate an ‘Above the Line’ attitude in work and personal life.
• Ability to work under pressure – the ability to still do your best work under pressure is an invaluable asset to yourself and others.
• Better problem-solving skills – stronger problem-solving skills will allow you to become more resourceful in times of trial, thereby making you a better resource for others around you. Advanced problem solving skills are fundamental to being an effective manager, the Challenge of Leadership course delves into this in more detail.
• Better flexibility/adaptability – the ability to adapt to changes and new situations is an invaluable skill now

Although soft skills can’t be ingrained in the same manner as hard or technical skills, the good news is that they can still be developed. To benefit from soft skills and develop a successful career, the foremost step for any professional is to develop their self-awareness regarding their own behaviour and gaps in their soft skills knowledge and practice. The ability to direct and fill in opportunity areas highly depends on career ownership and effective management of your own skill gaps, and understanding how these can be filled for your future benefit.

To start your people on the journey to better soft skills, both Thrive Alliance and LMA have a range of short to longer term courses that can help you to achieve your goals. For a course designed to develop the ‘total person’ through permanent behavioural change and a deeper development of soft skills, learn more about LMA’s The Performance Edge course. To learn more about how a better understanding of emotional intelligence in the workplace can assist your leaders and team members, visit Thrivealliance.com.au and view the available short courses here.

We are very excited to announce our partnership with Genos International to deliver their Emotional Intelligence short courses and assessments through the Thrive More product range.

As a world leader in emotional intelligence assessment and programs that enhance self-awareness, empathy, leadership and resilience, Genos were the obvious choice provider to extend our offering in this exciting area.

In the modern workplace where change is constant, the benefits of Emotional Intelligence development occur within and outside of the workplace. When strong emotional intelligence is displayed relationships improve, stress is reduced, change occurs more efficiently and performance increases.

In the workplace, Emotional Intelligence is fundamental to strong self-awareness, empathy, leadership and resilience. People who work on developing their emotional intelligence feel better at work, facilitate a more productive work environment, and better lead and engage others.

To facilitate the development of emotionally intelligent behaviour our short courses provide cutting-edge content, assessments, frameworks and tools which transfer into real, practical behavioural changes that create lasting results.

Available as a half, one or two day course, in an Open environment with Participants from other organisations, or delivered in-house for a selection of your team members, our Emotional Intelligence short courses help participants explore and practice tools and techniques for applying emotional intelligence at work and outside of the workplace.

Click here for more information and upcoming open courses.

The end of financial year signifies more than just an opportunity to close off another official tax year; it presents the perfect opportunity to review the year that has been. Analysing the performances that got you there provides you with the opportunity to develop plans for further success in the next financial year.

In order to carry out an effective analysis of the previous year’s performance and results, you need to review your business performance against very clear measures; measures that give you an understanding of every relevant aspect of your business.

Review

Different businesses spend the lead up to June 30 in a variety of ways. However, there are some close to universal actions which all businesses can apply to successfully review the undertakings of the year and apply these finding towards analysis and planning for the future:

• Review your actual business performance against your budgeted performance, including all your known variables. There is no better place to start to improve than by knowing exactly how well you did, according to how well you thought you would perform.
• Review the key drivers of the business and compare how these may have changed according to the previous five years. Have you been doing something differently that may have spiked or slumped your performance this year?
• Prepare a forecasted budget for the coming financial year, including your known variables as far ahead as you can see them. It’s impossible to predict the future, but you can forecast into the year by looking back on what you know has happened in the past.
• Consider the current state of your business plan and strategy. Has the core nature of your business shifted, either slightly or dramatically? Are there gaps in the market you can take advantage of with a clearer business vision for the New Year?
• Review your key staff and their performance. Your staff members are one of your most important assets. Are their performances in the expected range, or is extra training and support necessary to achieve your individual and collective goals? Review if you have been checking in with them regularly about their role, or decide whether you may need to review how you are tracking performance for the best information. This essential staff member review stage can be actioned through the engagement with The Performance Edge course, which will enhance existing capabilities of your high-performance team members as it focuses on crucial interpersonal and professional skills such as productivity, performance and personal leadership.

No one is capable of growth or improvement without self-reflection. Businesses are no different; they require constant maintenance and reflection to be able to plan for a better and brighter future.

Plan

Once you have reviewed the technical and operational aspects of your business leading up to the end of June, you can proceed to the planning stage.

Set your priorities

No matter what type of business owner you are, narrowing down your ideas from among all the worthwhile possibilities (whether it’s an opportunity to expand to a new market or choosing a better time management strategy), it can be difficult to focus on one thing at a time.

At the same time you review and update your business plan for the coming year, focus on what are the most important things for you to achieve this coming year. With your new priorities in mind, break them down into written goals, and then break them down again into smaller milestone tasks. By following this priority setting pattern you will maximise productivity, and enjoy the little successes that lead to big changes.

Think outside the box

Your priorities in the coming year may be to hit an ambitious revenue target, tap into a new market or relaunch your brand with a fresh new face.

Whatever they may be, an important thing to keep in mind, as you make plans to move your business forward is how you’ll stay relevant and engaging in an increasingly competitive market.

As part of your planning process, spend some time on market reconnaissance and research. Look back into previous SWOT analyses and see how you can plan new business moves that swing success in your favour. Understand what your unique selling position is and include it in as many plans as you can for your future moves.

GO!

At this stage you’ll be excited to get your ideas out there and enact all of your carefully considered plans. While you can do much as a one man band, you can’t do it all alone. Before you can really hit the ground running you will need to rally your team, no matter how large or small, to drive the best performance you can into this coming year.

How are you managing motivation in your business?

Motivating staff at any time throughout the year is a bit of a management art. However, the EOFY time is a perfect one to check in with what is driving your staff members to perform in the roles, and see how your new plans for the year can fit into their own individual goals.

• Have one-on-one meetings with all of your staff to communicate any new points of direction with them that may be happening in the business, as a result of your reviewing and planning stages
• Provide an opportunity for staff members to express their concerns and ideas coming into the New Year
• Determine what are the internal drivers of each of your staff members and allocate new or changed tasks from your review process, to better suit team members’ different strengths and interests

By properly reviewing the year that has been, planning ahead with priorities and focus, and engaging your team in your plans for the future, you will truly be ready to hit the ground sprinting towards your goals for your business.

In a time where a business can thrive or falter depending on a few vital decisions, it is important to be aware of what proactive moves you can make to stay ahead of your competition.

To remain competitive, a business must continually search for ways to improve it’s overall bottom line. Most companies aim to improve their position through two simultaneous methods; growing revenues and increasing efficiencies.

What many people don’t see is that the people you have working with you are the common thread that links these two methods.

When your people are performing at their highest level, they are working to achieve both the aims of increasing revenue and increasing efficiencies. Your people are your brand, your reputation, your networks and the future of your business. Luckily, if you invest in their skills and future you will also be investing in the continued success of your business.

LMA’s The Performance Edge (TPE) course is the ideal way to invest in the essential skills your people require to perform at their very best. The TPE course will enlarge the already existing capabilities of your high-performing team members, while opening them to new possibilities in their own performance, both in their professional and personal lives.

With a unique focus on The Total Person® Concept, the TPE course allows participants to achieve results in all areas of their lives. Previous participants of LMA’s TPE course have said they felt happier, less stressed and achieved a healthy work/life balance as a result of their engagement with the course. All have noted the considerable ROI that comes as a result of the TPE, with many gaining hundreds of thousands of dollars in measurable productivity improvements per year.

The TPE successfully brings out the best in your people by focusing on essential interpersonal and professional skills such as:

• Productivity and Performance
• Organisational Skills
• Communication
• Team Development
• Personal Leadership

By helping your people focus on these key areas, you can experience a Slight Edge – oftentimes that small difference in performance that makes all the difference in results.

A proactive business is a business that has that Slight Edge. A proactive business is one that knows that it’s employees are it’s greatest assets and that they can generate this Slight Edge.

The TPE course is one that works to improve the existing skills of your team members, while also ensuring they are prepared to take on any future challenges.

Knowing that you value the improvement of your bottom line and the continued security of your organisation’s future, you might consider the TPE course as an ideal investment for you and your team members.

Gain that Slight Edge – check out the TPE here.