No matter the industry, some skills are standard and universally beneficial for anyone who wants to be successful at work. Whether you are working at a non-profit, tech startup, or even retail; these skills are sure to help you be more effective, productive, and stressless.
Although often overlooked, people skills can get you very far in the workplace, more so than any technical skills. We live in a collaborative world where you must juggle different projects with people of different personalities and perspectives of the project, which also means different interpretations. Having the ability to see the world through different lenses will allow you to work well with others. Of course we all have typical personality types that we “gel” with, but the better you can communicate with someone who is “different” from you, the more you’ll be heavily relied on to get the job done.
How do you master “People Skills”? Here are a few guiding thoughts to get you started.
I remember putting together simple excel spreadsheets for experiment data in high school Chemistry lab. For a while, that was the extent of my experience, two columns/two rows and a bunch of numbers to create a chart. However, once I got to college I gathered how to filter data and use spreadsheets more efficiently to organize a budget or even a mailing list.
Basic skills as these are helpful in analyzing data and effortlessly navigating spreadsheets given to you by your supervisor. Learn these basic excel skills to feel confident in database and analysis competency:
Have you found yourself talking to your boss and quickly trying to repeat ten commands in your head throughout the conversation? Random conversation can strike at any moment, prompting you to think fast, work efficiently, and rely on your short term memory to get the job done. At one time, I diligently kept a notebook in hand at all times in anticipation of these moments. But that’s an ideal situation, and rarely is everyday at work ideal. Keeping your mind sharp will help with unexpected work. Download a mind game to your phone to exercise your brain muscles. My favorite game for this is Elevate.
“Time is money.” We all know the phrase but do we really understand the concept of properly using our time for productivity. There have been many studies to show, to the point of corporate adoption, that most jobs can be done in a 25-30 hour work week. This is contrary to our typical 40 hours. This means to me, that I have additional time to strategize, brush up on skills, and better plan out my projects.
We should all have a decent understanding of how our mind works and what promotes productivity for ourselves. Is it background music? Prioritizing items on a to-do list? Or how about taking short breaks every 30 minutes? Maybe it’s simply taking out time to organize your thoughts or tasks each afternoon following lunch.