There is no doubt that we are operating in a profoundly changed reality, in which the state of continuous and immediate change has become the “new normal.” 

In this new normal, your eagerness, individuality and Adaptability will be your superpowers. It will be the survival of the fittest & the quickest.  

If you are genuinely keen to get a sneak peek into the future, then get this clear – In this era, stop looking for “certainty”, “job security”, “direction clarity” as many don’t have an idea of what is coming – Gear up for ANYTHING!! 

Also, remember – your degrees aren’t as valuable as your skills; so, be skillful (master of your domain).

Develop your abilities to sell your skills at Multi-Platforms. Example, earlier a Chef sold dishes in restaurants. Now, Chef can sell their skills on e-recipe books, YouTube channel, Online training. Hence, Chef needs to refine both Hard Skills (learning new dishes) and Soft Skills (Training, Presenting, Personal Branding, Collaborating, Coaching etc…)

How quickly you can learn, unlearn, and relearn, forestall how successful you will be in this new normal.  

Let’s start with Hard Skills.

What are Hard Skills?

They are the technical skills that are acquired through formal schooling, training, or certifications, and are reinforced through on-the-job experience. They also happen to be one of the essential skills listed in your resume.

Don’t be a prisoner of your past successes, learn to let go of your old working styles and start with a clean slate or reskill yourself with a new set of Hard Skills. 

If you’re having trouble assessing your new Hard Skills needs, look at websites like Indeed or LinkedIn, search your role, and evaluate necessary Hard Skills that show up on job postings. You can cross-reference these skills with ones on your resume to see your strengths and potential gaps.

Now let’s look at the Soft Skills.

What are Soft Skills? 

Soft Skills are the “people skills” or “interpersonal skills.” These skills help you get recruited, present you as a high potential employee or can be used to convey ideas and messages effectively. 

These skills are vital for your success, as they help you transform into an outstanding resource to the organization or your start-ups and make you more employable and productive. 

Are you mindful of the list of new Soft Skills needed in the new normal?

The Soft Skills Needed in the Post COVID Era

1)   Emotional Intelligence (EQ): Learn this core skill and be self-aware of your ability to be smarter with feelings. This skill helps you to relieve stress, practice optimism, communicate effectively, empathize, overcome challenges, and make the best use of your Hard Skills. 

2)   Creativity: Creating a tailor-made best practice for your business is a crucial skill in this era that will help you take a unique approach. 

• Creating Blue Ocean Ideas – Be that best mind that can generate innovative ideas by lowering the cost and simultaneously increasing the value of the services and help you capture new demand. 

 3)   Persuasion: The ability to discuss and put your point across with assertion and without being aggressive is the key. By learning this skill, you can win the support of others, and encourage your team to work together. Below mentioned programmes can develop your persuasion power:

•  Writing Business Case – Learn how to pitch your ideas for investment and projects persuasively and professionally to your senior managers.
•  Tale like TED – Excellent public speaking skills remain central to excelling personally and professionally. Develop your ability to connect with the audience by adding punch, presence, projection and powerful finish. 

 4)   Collaboration: With so much focus on Hard Skills among students and executives, getting excellent knowledge/skill employee is easy, but getting all the knowledge/skilled employee working together is hard. Below programmes can build your ability to collaborate:

•  Hands-on Trainer – Develop your ability to write and communicate standards, which helps you to communicate and collaborate with your team.
•  Teambuilding Activities– Know your team communication strengths with DICS profiling or with EQ Personality Assessments. This will help you know your team’s EQ strengths and challenges, and be more effective in planning, communicating, and collaborating.
•   Be a Coach – Develop your ability to inspire your colleague by showing how amazing they are. Give up micromanagement, instead develop insights, empower, encourage ideas, skills and initiatives.  

 Also, develop your ability to be reversely coached and learn from each other. My point of view – In the new normal, the “best skilled” team that will create the tailor-made “best practices” for the operations, will be a combination of all the generations (Baby Boomers, Generation X, millennials, and Generation Z). Refer my previous blog on Reverse Coaching

• Be a Mentor – During these volatile and ambiguous times, develop your ability to Mentor. Help your team overcome the concerns related to health, wellbeing, stress, and lack of focus by showing a big picture. 

 5)   Adaptability:  Adaptability is about being curious; curious about your job, role, your business, knowledge, skills. Below programmes can build your Adaptability: 

•   Crisis = Opportunity – Be mindful on the crisis, VUCA world and what competencies you required to survive. 
•  Resilience, the Art of Bouncing Back – Setbacks will be part of the new normal. Businesses and executives that have been successful are often reluctant to change. Learn to adjust to the fast-paced change and master the skills of bouncing back in your businesses and your careers. Remember, change is risky, but not changing is riskier.
• Lean & Agile – Learn the skills of being Lean & Agile. This skill will help you make smart and effective decisions in a rapidly changing world by using Kanban method and help you turn your ideas into reality.

 Also, to be future proof, you may choose to hire an executive coach that can help you build skills to see – yourself, your goals, and the future path more clearly.

 Folks, in this era your grades don’t measure your intelligence, age doesn’t define your maturity, problems don’t limit your life; so never stop learning, as growth is the only sign of life. 

Follow me for more content – Tripat Mehrotra & www.deants.org