Do You Possess the Number One Skill Set Most Desired by Business and Industry?
It is time for a reality check. Do you have the required skill?
The number one skill set. Schools don’t teach it at any level, Kindergarten through PhD. It’s the skill business and industry rarely spends funds or the required time to properly train people in. Yet, it’s the skill rated number one when making a hiring or promotion decision. It’s a skill given short shrift in education and business. It’s a skill considered a social skill. It’s a skill relegated to a “soft” skill. So why does research continually show it as the number one skill employers seek.
The skill is defined as the process of understanding and sharing meaning. It is the process where both the sender and receiver understand the same information. I am referring to face-to-face communication skills. The education industry emphasizes the importance of teaching math and science – two skills – which continually end up at the bottom of the list of desired skills in making hiring or promotion decisions.
Pew Research Center identifies communication skills as the number one requirement for being hired or promoted. Carnegie Mellon research reports that 85% of one’s professional success is based on communication skills. The GMAC (Graduate Management Admission Council) GMAT 2014 survey of nearly 600 employers revealed what they want most from new graduate business hires—they want people who can speak well, write well, listen to others, present well, sell ideas to others, and negotiate with others in the course of running a business—in other words, they want communicators, with a capital C.
Remember, the one thing more important than a big idea is your ability to communicate/sell that idea to others.
For example, research scientists are now learning how to be mindful to clearly and effectively communicate their research and data to non-scientists like funders, regulatory agencies, and constituencies affected by their work. Scientists are being coached by communication professionals like actors, storytellers, vocal teachers, dancers, and improvisational artists.
Are your communication skills on par with your ambition?
Zoka Training ® is all about mind, voice and body in sync through mindfulness.
As a coach, trainer and consultant, Larry Blumsack partners with people and organizations on the move and those already there to accelerate their communication, presentation and speaking skills to be on par with their ambition. Through one-on-one coaching and group training Larry helps leaders and aspiring leaders elevate their presence and communication skills to influence more people, sell more products-services-ideas and inspire others more successfully than they ever imagined.
Larry is the bestselling author of Face-to-Face is The Ultimate Social Media and founder of Zoka Institute and Zoka Training®. Zoka Training® — Mind/Voice/Body/Mindfulness in sync — is the result of Larry’s 45 years as a coach, acting teacher, actor, voice-over artist, theater and TV director/producer, radio & TV commentator and show host, speaker, trainer, serial entrepreneur, and syndicated columnist. Larry was a founding member of the theater department at Northeastern University.
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