7 Fundamental Skills for Success

There are 7 fundamental abilities that are necessary for success in every aspect of life, including social, family, professional, and spiritual aspects. These are the skills we should be teaching our children, our students, and our employees because they empower an individual to live proactively. In fact, we could all benefit from learning these abilities ourselves. Because of the power of these abilities, the individual, organization, or society that does not learn and use these abilities will be surpassed by those who do.

Fundamental Abilities

1. Learn - People must have the ability to gather, understand, and synthesize relevant information. With the ability to learn, a person can obtain knowledge that will enable them to more effectively perform all other abilities listed below. 
2. Set and work toward goals - The capacity to set and work toward a goal is absolutely fundamental to success. Without this ability, and individual loses all capacity for success.
3. Make decisions based on data - Humans have a tendency to jump to conclusions (something I discuss in more detail here), but successful decisions are based on the data available to us. Action is most effective when based on reality, and data can help us gain a picture of what that reality is. (See also my post on 6 principles for making data-based decisions here).
4. Design - The ability to conceptualize and articulate a desired state, process, or thing. This ability enables a person to change the environment and influence the people around him/her.
5. Problem-solving - the ability to analyze a problem, articulate the causes, conceptualize a solution, and implement the solution. We live in a world that is complex - problems and issues will continually emerge - and we must have the capacity to solve those problems.
6. Technology adaptation - the ability to adopt and leverage a technology to make work or life more effective and efficient. We live in a world that increasingly demands our time, and if used appropriately, technology can reduce that time burden.
7. Communicate - Because we live in a social world, the ability to communicate knowledge effectively is absolutely crucial. This includes the capacity to share knowledge effectively, and the capacity to understand what is being communicated.

I believe that these abilities are foundational to success in any field. These abilities give the individual the tools needed to proactively succeed in our currently competitive environment. What is more, these abilities are crucial to living an exciting life of fulfillment.

There is no doubt that these abilities must be learned in some kind of a context, and these abilities can be learned on the job, at home, in school, and on the street. These skills can be learned within an academic program at a university, regardless of the content that is being taught. The fundamental skills are all the same, but the context in which they are applied might change.

Regardless of where or when they are learned, shouldn't we focus more of our energy on teaching and acquiring these abilities?

Instructional Design in the Knowledge Society

I recently presented my thoughts on instructional design in the knowledge society to students in the Master of Learning and Innovation at Rotterdam University. I presented from my office in Columbus Ohio via Skype. Here is a slightly edited recording of the presentation:

The Toxic Coworker

Updated May 9, 2016

Can you identify and deal with toxic coworkers?

Lately, I have been thinking about the Toxic Coworker. You probably work with others, and dealing with personalities of all types is absolutely critical to your success. But sometimes the people we work with can be extremely toxic. In this post, I will describe how to identify toxic coworkers, ...

My Past Experience with a Toxic Coworker
Let me start by sharing an experience I once had with a toxic coworker. (This is one of a couple of examples that stand out). This person was over a project that was interesting to me, so I added it to my regular workload. But as I worked with this person, I noticed several classic characteristics of a toxic coworker:

Classic Characteristics of the Toxic Coworker  

• Constantly critiques you and others
• Complains daily about work situations
• Gossips about and slanders other coworkers
• Finds fault with most everything you do
• Is regularly angry and uses foul language
  
• Tells lies to you and about you and others

Actions Bring Results
What is interesting is that even though toxic coworkers are often extremely intelligent and work on interesting projects, eventually most of those people working with them stop participating in their projects. It may seems obvious, but as a general rule, your words, attitudes, and actions always bring some kind of reaction. This is how it always works - if you do something, then something happens. These were the results of toxic behaviors:

• You don't feel good when you are around this person.
• You know the person is probably gossiping about you, so you do not trust that person.
• You feel like you are being controlled and belittled. You feel like the person does not respect your knowledge and skills.
• You are worried about presenting anything to this person because you don't want to expose yourself to unhealthy critique.
• You (and most other people) avoid talking to this person because you just don't want to hear the complaining.
• You feel this person is manipulative, so you don't trust the authenticity of the person.

What do People Want in a Work (or any) Relationship?
In any work, social or family relationship, I believe that most people generally want to have positive interactions that bring positive results. this doesn't mean that giving and receiving critical feedback does not happen- it can and must happen for positive results- it means that the critical feedback be delivered by someone who seems genuinely concerned about the success of the project and about the success of the individuas.

People generally want the following in their relationships with others:

• To be around people that like or respect them.
• To be around people that build them up, that help them learn and grow.
• To have positive, productive interactions with others.
• To have autonomy in their work and a sense of unity with others in their overall purpose.
• To be able to succeed.
• To trust and to be trusted.

If people don't have these things, they will eventually move on, even when the project or activity or relationship is interesting or important to them.

Avoid Toxicity
Sadly, toxic people have excellent knowledge, skills, and experience. They have a lot to offer, but instead of sharing knowledge and building others toward better things, they person belittle others, control the work, and squeeze out the life and potential enjoyment. If you work with someone like this, my advice is to avoid them at all costs. My experience is that you must preserve your own positive attitude, excitement, and self-respect. If you work for a toxic coworker, it might be worth moving on to something bigger and better.

You probably interact with others every day. And in those interactions, you have a great deal of power to foster positive, proactive, building relationships. You have the capacity to positively influence others and bring them along in your quest for excellence. But you must avoid the toxic attitudes and behaviors that kill healthy relationships. More importantly, we must be willing to contribute to and encourage the success and happiness of others.

Photos from ISPI 2012 Principles and Practices of HPT Workshop

This post is part of a multiple part Series on the 2012 Performance Improvement Conference.
#ISPI2012

Here are several photos from the ISPI Principles and Practices of HPT Workshop, taken by Tunde, one of the participants. You can read more about my experience with this workshop here.

The workshop was facilitated by Dr. Roger Addison (shown in the photo below) and by Dr. Miki Lane. Also in the photo is Angeles, one of the participants in the workshop.

A nice action shot of several participants (with me looking incredible on the left).

Most of the participants in the workshop. This photo was taken on the final day.