You Got Skills (Wait, Not Everyone Can Do That?)
Are you aware that not everyone knows what you know? Are you aware that not everyone has the same skills, experience, perspective, wisdom as you?
Maybe you’re thinking ‘Duh’ Sarah, obviously.
Sure it seems obvious.
And …
I can not tell you how many times in a conversation with a smart, highly capable, successful, caring leader … they’ve underestimated their contributions, skills, knowledge, etc.
And/or they’ve forgotten things they have learned but aren’t taking advantage of currently.
It is really easy to assume that what we know is no big deal.
That’s because it is the water we swim in. It seems like a no-big deal to you because it is what you live and breathe day to day.
Then we assume everyone knows that thing and we can end up:
Discounting our skills, knowledge, background
Getting annoyed when it’s not easy for someone else
Forget that they are skills that can be taught and/or further developed
For the sake of today’s writings, let’s look at the first bullet - discounting your skills.
The consequence of not seeing what you bring to the table can include not advocating for a promotion you have been eyeing, not applying for a role because you think you aren’t qualified, deferring to others in meetings/conversations/decisions, being unclear on what your next is (to name a few).
That’s where self-reflection + skills inventory comes in handy.
When I am working with someone, regardless of where they are at in The Committed Leader Cycle, we invariably do a re-lead skills inventory.
Re-Lead Skills Inventory
While I will tweak it based on the leader I’m in conversation with, the re-lead skills inventory process typically includes:
Document: Make a list of ALL of the skills you have gained over the course of your life. It could be the skills you learned working at a pizza restaurant when you were 16. It could be the skills you gained from a hobby. It will include all of the skills from your work. And so on. This part is designed to be a fairly exhaustive list of skills. All skills are fair-game.
Highlight: Highlight all of the skills that jazz you up to use. Highlight all of the skills you like to leverage.
Star: Of the ones highlighted, now star the ones you are currently using in your work/hobbies/life.
Reflect: Of the ones that are not highlighted (the ones you don’t love/like to use), what about them don’t you like?
I have found that these can fall into two camps.
I don’t like them because I don’t think I am good at them and if I could further develop this skill I would be down to leverage them more.
I can’t stand having to use this skill and I daydream of the day I can say good riddance to it.
Cross-Out: The ones that you’ve done some self-inquiry on and would still fall into the good riddance camp, put a line through.
Let’s pause. There is a lot that can be done from here with the re-lead skills inventory depending on the person, what challenge and/or opportunity you are navigating, and where you find yourself in the leader cycle. Below are some examples of where you could take your skills inventory.
New Role
If you are in the New Role phase of The Committed Leader Cycle where building your trust in the role is a priority, you could look at the highlighted ones and lean into those. You could compare the skills you have with what this new role/company/industry requires and create a plan to fill the gap.
Established and Upleveling Leadership
If you are in the Uplevel Leadership phase of the cycle where increasing your influence is a priority, you could look at the skills where you can have the most impact - double down on those - and mentor/train/coach/delegate the other skills to members of your team interested in them.
What’s Next
If you are in the What’s Next phase of the committed leader cycle where creating what’s next from alignment is a priority, you could take the skills you have and see how they can translate into the role/business/work/purpose you have been daydreaming about.
Being aware of what your contributions are (in skills, knowledge, perspectives, awarenesses, insight, etc.) allows you to get perspective on what you may consider inconsequential but in fact is what makes you uniquely qualified.
And that can open up all kinds of things for you.
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