Skills – Teachable or Intrinsic?

15 Sep Skills – Teachable or Intrinsic?

Skills you CAN teach:

According to Inc. article “Train Employees to be Exceptional: 5 Rules” companies spend billions of dollars a year on training. Much of that training is wasted effort according to sales guru Duane Sparks. Here is his list of training principles:

1. Teach Skills not Traits– Instead of trying to change who the employee is inherently, focus on giving them skills that they can easily be taught. For example, teach a customer service person how to listen actively or how to use the proper terminology that a customer might understand.
2. Teach the Appropriate Skill- For example, you should teach sales people techniques in cold calling. Those same skills would not benefit a telephone customer service person.
3. Reinforce and Support the Skill – Give the employee multiple reviews of their new skills. It takes time to develop a new skill and to break old habits. Coaching allows you to gradually reinforce the new skill.
4. Implement Skill-based Metrics – If you really want employees to utilize that new skill you must assess their performance based on that skill. As they say “What gets measured gets done”
5. Consistently Measure Progress – As you review your employees look and see if those new skills are becoming second nature. If they are not then either the training is not effective or the person is not the right person for the job.

Skills you CAN NOT teach:

According to Fox Business article there are “10 Job Skills Every Employer Wants”. After reviewing this key skill set, it became really clear that these are skills an employee should already have. For and adult professional they are intrinsic to their personality through either their own personality type or by how they were raised. Once an adult, these skills can be fine-tuned but it is hard to add these skill sets where the person has no prior basis.

1. Commitment to their job and employer is something Dennis Boone, director of Montclair State University’s Feliciano Center for Entrepreneurship at the School of Business, looks for in workers.
2. Ability and willingness to go the extra mile– Brett Good district president for Robert Half International, states “ In order to gain a boss’ confidence, employees must be willing to go above and beyond what is typically required of them on the job.”
3. Wear Multiple Hats – Kevin Watson, CEO of jobdreaming, said “Employees that will get hired more easily and ultimately succeed are those that show an eager willingness to do whatever needs to get done, not just what’s in their job description”
4. Positive attitude– Brian Goodman, director of Experis, states “Attitude drives success, and people want to be around positive people.”
5. Decision making ability– Dave Gambrill, executive coach consultant, believes that “Leaders don’t want to micromanage their employees, but often they are forced to because the employees lack critical thinking skills”
6. Passion about their job and company – According toElle Kaplan , CEO of Lexion Capital Management, “When an employee believes strongly in the company’s mission, their job is no longer a job. It’s a calling”.
7. Organized – Nick Gudwani, founder of Skilledup.com said “[organized] could mean simple ideas like naming files or folders properly, or more substantial tasks like writing high quality meeting recaps”
8. Be dependable – Wendy Pike, president of Twist, said “As an employer, we need to be able to count on our employees to show up on time and do the work we are paying them to do”.
9. Communication skills – Charley Polachi, co-founder of Polachi Access Executive Search, said “An effective communicator leaves no room for error and can exhibit thoughts in a direct manner”
10. Conscientiousness – Lynda Zugec, director of The Workforce Consultants, said “Make sure you pay attention to the details”