If you want to become a competent performer here are 5 skills that would help you become one.
- Cognitive Flexibility
Cognitive flexibility, sometimes referred to as cognitive shifting, is the capacity of your brain to adjust to novel, changing, or unexpected situations. The capacity to shift from one way of thinking to another is a component of cognitive flexibility. Changing tasks is another name for this (Miller,2021).
Catherine Smith, behaviour change expert at professional coaching consultancy Equal Talent, outlines three questions to ask yourself to measure your mental agility to respond to circumstances
- Do you grab unpredictable moments positively and resourcefully or do they derail you?
- Can you cope with and manage lots of balls in the air?
- When responding to the unexpected, are you able to adjust your thinking and your behaviour or is your response linear and rigid?
If you are able to switch your thinking from one concept to another, and respond to changing circumstances, you have a good cognitive flexibility
- Digital Literacy
The ability to communicate and obtain information in a culture where digital technologies like internet platforms, social media, and mobile devices are used more frequently is referred to as digital literacy (WSU,2020).
When you are confronted with so much information, in different formats it requires your critical thinking skills in order to process the information you see digitally.
- If you actively use technology to achieve your daily tasks and goals,
- If you know how to represent yourself in the digital world,
- If you know to use digital tools to finetune your knowledge,
- If you are constantly finding new ways to enhance your critical thinking and cognitive skills,
It indicates that your digital skills are competent (Leonard, 2022).
- Judgement and Decision Making
Regardless of your profession, department, or business, having the ability to pass solid judgment and make wise decisions is a skill that is useful to everyone. Whether you work as an ER physician or a social media intern, how you gather information, evaluate its importance, and make decisions affects a lot more people than just you. As a result, improving your abilities in this field is essential to your success (May, 2021).
In order to be a good decision maker, be it at your workplace or on day to day life, do check if you have the below
- Ability to analyse and understand a situation unbiasedly
- Have an understanding of the impact of your decision to different parties
- gather others’ feedback and opinion regarding a decision that might affect a group of people
- Take into consideration past experiences at the needed time. But remember, NOT ALWAYS.
- Emotional and Social Intelligence
Emotional and Social Intelligence (ESI) is defined as a set of competencies demonstrating the ability one has to recognize their behaviors, moods, and impulses, and to manage them best according to the situation (Cozart,2022)
Analyse if you have the below in order to assess if you are emotionally and socially intelligent.
- You recognize people’s bahavior
- Accept criticism constructively
- Apologize when you are wrong
- Adaptable to different situations and are less reactive
- Creative and Innovative Mindset
An innovator’s attitude is that creativity is the solution to problems, rather than a traditional scientific method. Having a creative mindset would help organizations in the long run, as this promotes a culture with employees that has the ability to provide solutions.
Researchers claim that in order to have a creative and innovative mindset, one must have some crucial traits.
- Creative curiosity
- Collaborative and empathetic attitude
- Agility
- Long term commitment
Do you have what it takes to be a competent performer?
References
Miller, L. (2021) What is cognitive flexibility, and why does it matter?, What Is Cognitive Flexibility, and Why Does It Matter? Available at: https://www.betterup.com/blog/cognitive-flexibility#:~:text=Sometimes%20known%20as%20cognitive%20shifting,also%20known%20as%20task%20switching. (Accessed: November 14, 2022).
NP (no date) what is Digital Literacy?, Western Sydney University. Available at: https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/studysmart/home/study_skills_guides/digital_literacy/what_is_digital_literacy (Accessed: November 14, 2022).
May, E. (2022) Sound judgment and decision making: A universal and learnable skill, Niagara Institute. Niagara Institute. Available at: https://www.niagarainstitute.com/blog/sound-judgment-and-decision-making#:~:text=Sound%20judgment%20and%20decision%2Dmaking%20can%20be%20defined%20as%20one’s,conclusion%20or%20make%20a%20decision. (Accessed: November 14, 2022).
Cozart , L. (2022) Emotional and social intelligence, Coursera. Available at: https://www.coursera.org/learn/emotional-and-social-intelligence (Accessed: November 14, 2022).
Eriksson Björling, M. (2018) 5 key steps to creating an innovation mindset – ericsson. Available at: https://www.ericsson.com/en/blog/2018/5/5-key-steps-to-creating-an-innovation-mindset (Accessed: November 14, 2022).
Leonard, S. (2022, July 19). What is digital literacy and how can it be assessed? Retrieved November 17, 2022, from https://www.taotesting.com/blog/what-is-digital-literacy-and-how-can-it-be-assessed/
10 traits of an innovation mindset to cultivate at your association. (n.d.). Retrieved November 17, 2022, from https://www.wbtsystems.com/learning-hub/blogs/10-traits-association-innovation-mindset