BUILDING POWER SKILLS Part I – MANAGING SELF
Often, when we think about what skills we have, or others have, we think about skills needed to perform a specific task such as being able to sing well,to play a game like chess, or a sport like basketball. These are referred to as “hard” skills. But there is another set of skills called “soft” skills, or “power” skills, which are needed to work effectively with others to get the most out of your hard skills.
Power skills are valuable for getting jobs and advancing in your career because employers seek and reward employees who are creative, who can work well with others, and who are able to make sense of complex issues. Power skills are also important for professional networking and building professional relationships because they help you relate and interact with others.
While there are many good lists and descriptions of power skills, we use the four categories (with slightly modified titles) described in an often-cited study called “The Bases of Competence: Skills for Lifelong Learning and Employability” by authors Evers, Rush and Berdrow. These categories are 1) Managing Self, 2) Managing Others, 3) Communication, and 4) Creative and Innovative Problem Solving. We will discuss each of these four categories of competencies over the next four months of newsletters. This month, we focus on Managing Self.
What Are the Skills Associated with Managing Self?
People are complex. We are all trying to make sense of our own internal emotions, life experiences, capabilities, and we work with others who are doing the same. As we think about managing ourselves within the workplace and building professional connections and relationships, several specific skills are worth highlighting:
- Showing initiative to learn new things
- Being self-aware and knowing our strengths and weaknesses
- Time management and organization
- Professional behavior, and
- Ethical behavior
Why is the Ability to Manage Self Important for Your Career?
We think that these skills are important for career development because they can help build trustworthiness on the job – if you say you can do something, others know it will get done on time and in a professional manner.
Beyond the job, being able to effectively manage yourself also helps build professional relationships as trust and self-awareness are two of the key elements for establishing professional relationships (see our September 2024 and November 2024 newsletters). And professional relationships are one of the keys to career satisfaction and economic mobility.
What’s on our mind – Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Work
In December, a Congressional Task Force issued their long-awaited Report on artificial intelligence (“AI”). It is a massive report spanning almost 300 pages with 66 key findings and 89 recommendations and outlines a long-term vision for our country. One of the areas that the report addresses is Education and Workforce. The report states that “training and educating American learners on AI topics will be critical to continuing U.S. leadership in AI technology and to the country’s economic and national security.”
Some of us are scientists …
When most of us hear AI, we think about Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education and jobs such as software engineers and data scientists. For learners interested in those types of jobs, there is a relatively clear path in higher education (including certificates) to acquire the necessary science and math skills, and it is somewhat clear as to who learners can try to build professional connections with to learn about those professions.
And some are not …
For young learners who are not strong in math or science, or who may not have a strong interest in those subjects, how can they prepare for the future of AI? And who can they speak with to learn about jobs that might not even exist today?
First, not all AI-related jobs will require deep science or computer expertise. A lot of AI computer models can appear to be “black boxes” where it is not entirely clear how they develop their responses. To ensure that AI benefits society, then, we expect jobs such as compliance specialists, auditors, lawyers, ethicists, and policymakers to be essential. We also expect jobs that facilitate human-AI interaction to be important. A good article about some of these jobs and the required skills was written by Ken Jee and appears in Medium.
As young learners think about career exploration and building professional connections, we think that having at least some basic understanding of AI is necessary. While you do not need to know how to code AI computer models, recognizing that what data goes into those models shapes their conclusions, and that the data can be manipulated, are some good places to start. Similarly, recognizing that what questions you ask the models can influence their output is also important to know. Learning basics such as these can give you some ideas about what AI jobs of the future may look like. They can also give you a great way to start a conversation with professional you want to connect with.
LET’S STAY CONNECTED
We would appreciate your thoughts on our initiative and welcome opportunities to collaborate. You can reach us at info@youthworkconnect.org and we look forward to staying connected.
