This is the third article in the series discussing the
future workplace and the skills and competencies you want to develop in
college, and then demonstrate in your resume´ and in interviews.
Students tell me that more of
their classes are now structured for experiential learning or working in groups. Believe me when I say this is not how college
courses were taught even five years ago. You are fortune to have this
experience before you enter the workforce. Because this is how the workplace
works. The more experience you gain in
working in groups the more prepared you will be for the workplace. Here’s why.
Being able to quickly assess the emotions of those around you and adapt
their words, tone and gestures accordingly is a highly valued skill that not everyone has. It is not a skill
you can fake. This skill has always been
essential for employees who need to collaborate and build relationships from
engineers, surgeons and lawyers to designers, mathematicians and teachers. As
you look to start your career and enter the workforce, you will be called upon to collaborate more and with
larger and diverse groups of people in different settings. Your ability to
connect to others in a deep and direct way that inspires and motivates will
be one of the ways you can differentiate yourself from other job candidates in
interviews.
Let’s break it down.
Understanding
the language of many disciplines
Today issues
are too complex to be solved by a person or one discipline. You will be called
upon to collaborate with people from departments and disciplines across the
company. Dave, an econ/finance major described it this way.
“I was assigned to a group where most of the group had majors in other
subjects. I was pretty sure we were
doomed. That’s not what happened. It really took sharing what we each knew
from our majors to work on the project. We listened to each other. I learned a
lot about marketing from the communications major on the team. We all agreed it
was a great experience.”
Dave learned the language of
marketing not the skill. When he is
working and assigned to a project team, Dave will understand how people in
marketing think and the value they bring to the solution.
Can you describe a situation
where you had to work with people who had very different skills than you? What
happened? What did you learn? What were the results?
Many
countries. Many cultures.
We’re not quite there yet but we
are becoming a globally connected world. You will work side-by-side with
co-workers from different countries and cultures. And you will market and sell products made
around the world to countries all over the global. Have you studied aboard? Is your roommate
from another country or culture? (The number of international students
increased five percent to 723,277 during the 2010/11 academic year.) How did
you communicate with your tone and gestures? How did transcend differences to
build relationships?
Fluency in another
language was once the standard. The
standard now is social IQ.
Virtual
teams.
When your team is all over the world instead of in one
building, different rules apply. And in a globally connected world where technology
makes it easier to work and share idea regardless of where you are working in
virtual teams will be the norm.
Some time ago I worked on a 6-month long project with people
located across the country, in London, Paris, Amsterdam and Chile. We started and completed the project without
every meeting each other in person. Today’s technology would have made our
working together a lot easier; not necessarily more successful. Technology will
never replace leadership, adaptability, flexibility, reliability, trust,
decision-making, empathy and understanding— the emotional and social skills
required for collaboration.
As an employee in matters:
- How you communicate
- How you give and receive feedback
- How you build trust
- How you set and understand objectives
- How you drive participation and participate
- How you recognize and how you are recognized
- How you reach decisions
Your emotional and social IQ is a
vital asset.
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