15 Personal Skills You Need on the Job

Employers are looking for workers who have that special something: the skills, tendencies and attributes that help to keep productivity—and
profits—up.

What are they? Businesses are looking for employees with strong "personal" skills, according to ACT research. Keep these in mind, because employers
certainly are.

Carefulness: Do you have a tendency to think and plan carefully before acting? This helps with reducing the chance for costly errors, as well as keeping a steady workflow going.

Cooperation: Willingness to engage in interpersonal work situations is very important in the workplace.

Creativity: You've heard of "thinking outside the box"? Employers want innovative people who bring a fresh perspective.

Discipline: This includes the ability to keep on task and complete projects without becoming distracted or bored.

Drive: Businesses want employees who have high aspiration levels and work hard to achieve goals.

Good attitude: This has been shown to predict counterproductive work behaviors, job performance and theft.

Goodwill: This is a tendency to believe others are well-intentioned.

Influence: Groups need strong leaders to guide the way. Influence includes a tendency to positively impact social situations by speaking your mind and becoming a group leader.

Optimism: A positive attitude goes a long way toward productivity.

Order: "Where did I put that?" A tendency to be well organized helps employees to work without major distractions or "roadblocks."

Safe work behaviors: Employers want people who avoid work-related accidents and unnecessary risk-taking in a work environment.

Savvy: This isn't just about job knowledge, but knowledge of coworkers and the working environment. It includes a tendency to read other people's motives from observed behavior and use this information to guide one's thinking and action.

Sociability: How much you enjoy interacting with coworkers affects how well you work with them.

Stability: This means a tendency to maintain composure and rationality in stressful work situations.

Vigor: This is a tendency to keep a rapid tempo and keep busy.

Article provided courtesy of ACT, an independent, nonprofit organization that provides assessment, research, information and program management services in education and workforce development. For more information on how to assess and build upon these and other "personal" skill areas—as well as "foundational" skills such as math,
reading and writing

What is Effective Leadership?

What is effective leadership? That sounds like a question for a philosopher doesn’t it? The truth is that anyone can be an effective leader. They just need to find the right balance between social, moral and business aspects of leadership. An effective leader is generally someone that leads by example and other people just tend to follow because they believe what they do is the right thing. Think of anyone you have looked up to in the past, were they an honest individual that put others before themselves? That is a quality of effective leadership. Being honest gives a person credibility and result in other people trusting and believing in that person.

Effective leaders lead by example and merely invite others to come along with them. Keeping promises is another sign of effective leadership. They believe in others and never fail to reward or compliment someone when they see they are doing well. Effective leaders admit when they are wrong and admit when they make mistakes. Everyone is human and makes a mistake at one time or another. It’s how a person handles a mistake that gives them a certain leadership quality. An effective leader can admit when they are wrong and by doing so, allows people to feel comfortable asking them for help and advice.

Good listening skills are a big part of effective leadership. A person who is willing to listen to problems or concerns an employee or a friend may have will give them more information. Therefore, the effective leader can make a well-informed and thought out decision. An effective leader gives positive reinforcement. Effective leadership is about asking or requesting a person to do something, not commanding them. Effect leaders make recommendations to follow. Effective leaders are willing to get their hands dirty. They realize that they are more than just a figure head or a boss.

Dale Carnegie offers a 7 session course titled ”The Leadership Advantage“

Time Management to Reduce Stress

One critical habit to address in reducing workplace stress involves your productive and non-productive use of time. How do these positive work habits compare to your own?

Show Up Early
There is no downside to showing up early. When you come in early, you have extra time to gather your thoughts and get prepared, and you are sure to make a better impression in every situation. All the way around, this work habit reduces stress.

Maintain a Daily Planner
Whether you use software or plain paper, you need a daily planner to make sure that you are on top of all the daily details of your workdays. When you spend time planning, you reduce time spent executing tasks. Thorough daily planning is a key tool.

Be Present
How many times do you sit in meetings and allow your mind to wander from the subject under discussion? You are often physically present, but mentally in a totally different place. When you daydream during meetings, you end up uninformed about the meeting's topic and stressed. To avoid this tendency, sit up straight during meetings, take notes on the topic, and try to keep in eye contact with the speaker.

Avoid Procrastination
Everyone is motivated in different ways. Find what inspires and energizes you to tackle work issues, instead of putting them off. Commit to a regular schedule of work output and project completion.

Set Priorities
No one likes to leave work at the end of the day or week feeling like they didn't accomplish the most critical tasks. When you set and adhere to priorities, you avoid stress and keep on pace with the demands of your workload.

Protect Your Private Time
Some anxiety-provoking work habits, such as bringing work home or staying at work late, are more exhausting than we may realize. Sometimes it can't be avoided, but if it becomes a habit, you can start to feel like you don't have a life outside of work. Try to manage your time at work more efficiently so you can enjoy your time outside of the office.