In today's changing and competitive world, one of the essential things needed to get used to success is the development of new skills. A person who can develop new skills according to the demands of time and circumstances can get used to the changed or new environment and achieve success. Otherwise, he/she can be replaced by a worthy person at any moment. That is to say, he has to fight hard to survive. On top of that, he does not have enough opportunities. And eventually, failure occurs. How to develop new skills? How do we master new skills development?
Table of Content
- Be clear about the need:
- Finding learning style:
- Seeking expert help:
- Starting with small:
- Thinking:
- Teaching others:
- Maintain patience:
According to experts such as Heidi Grant Halverson (social psychologist and author) and Joseph Weintraub (professor of management and organizational behavior), to develop new skills, the following principles can generally be adopted:
Be clear about the need:
Developing new skills is an investment of time, energy, and money. Be clear about what results will come from it. Likewise, ensure that the new skills you want to develop are irrelevant to your career, organization, or both. Suppose you joined the army. What if you aim to learn music because you're developing new skills? Your purpose cannot be result-oriented. The reason? The army should learn to build weapons and not machinery. This does not mean that the army should not learn music.
Finding learning style:
New skills cannot be learned quickly. The style should be matched mainly. According to the study of multiple intelligence, there are three learning styles. The first is to learn by listening. This style can be learned by listening to lectures. The second is to learn by watching. This style can be learned by watching pictures and videos. Third, to learn by doing. This style can be learned by using your hands and feet and practicing yourself. Determine your key learning style if you're learning a new skill. Be clear about whether you learn more by listening or watching. For this, meditate on how you learned in the past. If you've found evidence that you've learned more in the past, be physically active when developing new skills. Be diligent in doing various exercises and tests.
Seeking expert help:
Trying to develop new skills in a single effort is a tough task. Expert help should be taken for facilitation. Let's say you are working in a reputed organization. Let's say you are responsible for leading a group but have not developed leadership skills and are committed to developing leadership skills. In such a situation, you should look for a trusted expert within the organization. Ask yourself, 'Who in this organization can give me appropriate feedback and advice besides the executive director?'
"I am very impressed with your ability to lead. Right now, I am also in a leadership role. I am actively involved in leadership development to play that role successfully. I want to spend time with you to make this task more powerful. I look forward to learning many things from you and seeking knowledge, advice, suggestions, and feedback. ’
It's good if that person is willing to help. Otherwise, you will have to look outside the quality specialist institution.
Starting with small:
New skills cannot be developed at once. Not only this but many skills cannot be developed simultaneously. There is no alternative to starting with a small one. This means developing only one or two skills at a time. Being involved in more than two skill development activities is not wise. Suppose you aim to learn painting. There are many types of paintings, such as oil painting, sand painting, watercolor painting, digital painting, etc. In such a situation, you should choose a kind of painting. After mastering the skills to make one type of painting, try a different kind only after mastering it. Similarly, suppose you aim to learn dance along with painting. That cannot be practical. Learning of that nature does not yield any positive results. So, while developing new skills, start from a small one.
Don't indulge in the temptation to show your abilities to others by developing multiple skills simultaneously.
Thinking:
New skills cannot be developed through indiscriminate learning. What you learn is not long-term. It is essential to be thoughtful to enter the mastery phase of new skill development work from the testing period. What skill do you mean by saying that you are learning? How complex are your learning skills? You have to be aware of that. You have to think minutely. If you're learning a new skill, communicate with someone who can provide informative and emotional support. You can respond honestly if someone does not give you the desired help. Your progress details can be checked. Then, think about the feedback and progress details received. It is essential to make you accountable for new skill development and keep your changes intact. Therefore, while engaging in new skill development work, think regularly.
Teaching others:
There are many ways to help you learn new skills quickly and to develop. One of them is to teach others what they know. Let's say you are learning video editing skills. To speed up your learning, teach people interested in video editing. Similarly, you are learning and developing skills about effective communication skills. Now, you should share everything you know and understand in your group in a big way to speed up this learning. Have intense interaction with colleagues at the right time. If necessary, conduct training. When you move forward with a strategy to teach others, you get an opportunity to practice. As a result, you can develop new skills in a short period. Therefore, teaching others and giving knowledge should be given top priority. Implement this action seriously.
Maintain patience:
Skills cannot be developed in a hurry. Trying to do so is ignorance, even the height of foolishness. It takes time to develop any new skills. That time may be at least six months or more. In some cases, there may be less. What matters is the personal abilities and skills being developed. Let's consider some examples. For some, it takes three months to build driving skills; for some, even six months is not enough to get a driving license.
Another example is that some people take six months to develop oratory skills, while others do not even have it for two to three years. Therefore, developing new skills is not the work that will be started today and completed tomorrow. Another interesting fact is that people around us see only 10 percent of the changes that have occurred while developing new skills. For these reasons, we should maintain patience in the campaign to develop new skills. Don't rush. Invest more time and energy.
