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March 31, 2021 By cs

How human skills contribute to professional and personal success

In today’s fast-paced — and often virtual — work environment, advancing your technical skills alone isn’t enough to ensure professional relevancy.

Whole-person development is the key to thriving in your career, whether you’re an experienced professional or a workplace rookie.

Whole-person development, also known as holistic learning or personal skills training, is the development of “human skills”— such as intrapersonal communication, adaptability, and conflict resolution — in addition to more technical skills — things like C++ programming, data set analysis, or process mapping. Developing the whole person, rather than just the skills that directly correlate to tasks or projects, will not only improve your knowledge base but will also allow you to navigate challenges, thrive in your workplace, and produce innovative solutions to drive your organization forward.

Adapt to New and Changing Demands

By investing in a wider variety of personal development, your mind will begin to connect parts of itself that were previously disjointed, naturally strengthening your mental flexibility and resilience. For example, connecting your skills in software engineering with your skills in intrapersonal communication may help you to complete projects more efficiently or weather unexpected challenges more smoothly.

This adaptability and agility will help you to thrive in your career journey and become a leader in your sphere. As challenges come your way, your ability to meet them head-on and produce effective solutions will give you a competitive edge, positioning you to advance more easily in your organization or industry. Being more well-rounded and versatile will also open the door to other transitions, whether it is to new types of positions or even a different industry altogether.

Furthermore, becoming proficient in both technical and human skills will allow you to navigate the multi-faceted demands of hybrid work, a growing trend in the workplace today, which combines multiple disciplines into a single position. Hybrid professionals are expected to bring both technical and soft skills to their positions, and because of this, their jobs are far less likely to be replaced by automation.

Strengthen Company Culture

Personal skills training has also been shown to bridge cross-cultural differences, optimize intrapersonal communication, and increase empathy, creating a more fulfilling work environment. As you grow in your understanding of the way your mind works—where you excel and where you need to improve—you will also grow in your ability to appreciate and relate to this in others as well. This empathy creates an environment in which people feel more comfortable admitting to mistakes or confusion, which allows you and your organization to move forward more efficiently. As a result, the organization thrives, and you and your co-workers enjoy a stronger sense of support and trust at work.

Additionally, whole-person development may also contribute directly to company culture, because the soft skills it teaches include ways to handle problems and ways of achieving and maintaining a positive attitude. When every employee possesses tools to approach or avoid problems, such as time management and conflict resolution, they will not only experience a more rewarding office environment but also will be able to tackle stressful situations more calmly and effectively, knowing that there is room for growth and a network of support.

Produce Growth

Holistic learning, by increasing your adaptability and improving stronger company culture, ultimately helps produce growth for your organization. Creating a habit and culture of continual learning and development opens the door for fresh ideas and innovative solutions. As you invest in soft skills such as adaptability, creativity, and conflict resolution, your ability to think of new ideas will skyrocket. As you encourage your co-workers to do the same, you will help create an environment where these new ideas can come from all levels of the organization, as people are less hesitant to point out problems.

Furthermore, holistic learning helps you and your organization grow in ways beyond profit. By widening your skillset and perspective, your capacity to see beyond technical processes will help you strengthen your work strategy and contribute to your organization more effectively. In fact, a recent study with Fortune 500 CEOs found that 75% of long-term job success depends on people skills, while only 25% on technical knowledge. Your leading the way in the adoption of this mindset for your organization will help it advance overall. Companies that care more about people than profit have been proven to be more successful, enjoying lower staff turnover rates, lower occupational stress, sharper decision making, more effective leadership, better team performance, and higher productivity.

Taking the First Step

The benefits of approaching your professional development from a whole-person perspective are numerous, for you personally and for your organization. If you’re interested in taking steps toward your overall self-improvement, take a look at these upcoming opportunities, all designed to increase your resilience and adaptability, enhance your leadership, and foster your well-being.

  • Organizational Effectiveness Conference, Part 2: Improve (April 30) – Learn how people, structure, and processes play into the success of an organization and how you can optimize all three through continuous learning and improvement.
  • Upcoming courses from our Emotional Intelligence & Resilience certificate – Stress Success and Falling in Love With Life – Strengthen your ability to handle stress and rediscover ways to enjoy life, while also getting a sneak peek into our Emotional Intelligence & Resilience certificate.
  • Cross-Cultural Communication Certificate – Learn how to navigate cultural nuances of English communication as a non-native-speaking professional seeking to meet the leadership and communication demands of today’s world.

Source: https://pe.gatech.edu/blog/working-learning/benefits-of-holistic-learning

Filed Under: Georgia Tech News Tagged With: continuous improvement, continuous learning, holistic, organizational effectiveness, professional education, skills, training

December 30, 2020 By cs

GSA releases finalized federal data skills catalog and ethics framework

The General Services Administration has released a finalized data skills catalog and ethics framework to assist agencies in developing data management competencies and officials in making ethical decisions under the Federal Data Strategy.

The Federal Chief Data Officers Council will maintain the skills catalog and work with the Interagency Council on Statistical Policy to review and update the ethics framework every 24 months.

Publishing both documents fulfills Actions 13 and 14 of the Federal Data Strategy 2020 Action Plan, after months of work by governments data experts.

The catalog consists of two parts: a common vocabulary of data roles and skills in the federal data ecosystem, as well as select data training and course opportunities across agencies. Resources are also provided to help agencies develop training programs of their own.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.fedscoop.com/gsa-data-skills-catalog-ethics-framework/

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: acquisition workforce, ethics, Federal Data Strategy, GSA, skills

September 20, 2016 By AMK

PSC: Next POTUS should give more attention to acquisition workforce

A significant portion of the report released last week is devoted to improving the federal acquisition workforce’s professionalism and competency. 

PSCThe Professional Services Council (PSC) issued the report, consisting of a set of recommendations to the next President of the United States to improve the operations, effectiveness, and efficiency of the government.  The PSC is an industry association representing technology and professional services businesses.

Among the recommendations made in the PSC publication, entitled “PSC 45:  An Agenda for the Next President of the United States,” is a call for the federal government to improve tradecraft in services acquisition by:

  • Creating standards for the acquisition workforce that are widely recognized and adopted across multiple domains (government, industry, and academia) as a framework for best practices.
  • Creating programs and services to help people enter into and progress within the contract management profession. The desired outcome is for the contract management profession to be recognized as a career field in which education, professional development and advancement opportunities exist for long-term practitioners as well as recent entrants into the profession.
  • Making wider use of special hiring authorities to bring highly skilled practitioners from industry into government.
  • Focusing Contracting Officer incentives on program outcome/mission success to minimize risk avoidance strategies that might make the contracting process simpler but that won’t achieve the desired results.
  • Amending the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act to give OFPP statutory authority over the entire acquisition workforce, including clear authority and responsibility over program managers.
  • Creating a clearly defined career path for program management in the civilian agencies.
  • Instituting new acquisition workforce requirements to include mandatory cross-functional rotations and training.
  • Creating an “Acquisition Excellence Council” with responsibilities including redesigning and restructuring the federal acquisition training system and developing a common evaluation and assessment process.
  • Aligning acquisition workforce requirements and certifications to the type of acquisition the employee will be conducting.

Other recommendations made in PSC’s report have to do with: using technology and new business models to modernize government’s service delivery; improving government operations to better compete globally; and building a better engagement model to bring the best ideas and solutions from industry into government.

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: acquisition reform, acquisition workforce, best practices, cross-functional rotation, industry feedback, OFPP, procurement reform, PSC, skills, standards

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