The Assist

The world cup is just finished. There were 172 goals scored at the 2022 World Cup, a new all-time competition record, surpassing the 171 scored in both 1998 and 2014.  Lionel Messi has been directly involved in 21 goals at the World Cup for Argentina (13 goals, eight assists), the outright most of any player for any nation at the finals on record (since 1966). For the source of these numbers, go here.

From the above sentence, "Involved in" means assisted indirectly in the scoring of the goal. Here's what it looks like on the football field. 

The art of assisting does not get its sufficient credit in football. Now though, with video tech and analytics, fans are beginning to identify how vital these second-last passes can be and the skill it takes to thread a ball by breaking defensive lines.  

Similarly, in our regular lives, we sometimes tend to forget that we got to where we are because of the assists of particular people.  I'm not just talking about the cheerleaders, but also the ones who challenged us rudely, rejected our views and ideas or just created roadblocks for us where none were expected.  These negative assists really made us UP our game, and have also played a key role in bringing us where we are by getting us to use our strengths knowingly, as well as differently.

So as  2022, draws to a close, I thought it important to thank all those who assisted me, both positively and negatively in my journey.  You may wish to do the same.

Have a great 2023.

Merry Christmas 2022

 

Participant Feedback - The Selection Discussion (A Behavioural Event Interviewing Workshop)

Thrilled to share participant feedback and learning for one of my key workshops, "The Selection Discussion", which was conducted for an IT organization.

This program was conducted on Zoom for about 35 very enthusiastic and curious participants from HR Recruiters to Function Heads, who made the workshop more interesting by the participation and interesting questions. My workshop designs always focus on learning and application, not just learning or smiley sheets, and this was no exception. So, since recruitment is a sales role, we spent most of Day one identifying and articulating the selling points of the organization, and how to showcase them to prospective candidates. Day Two was spent in designing BEI questions, assessing responses, role plays,  

I used Zoom breakout rooms, Jamboard, and Mentimeter to increase the participant's engagement, and they really worked well, as you will see from the participants learning.

Please reach out to me on +919820155778 or ryanbbarretto@hotmail.com if you want to run a similar workshop for your organization.

The 10 Most Creative Resumes that helped people land their dream jobs

 Great examples of creative resumes prepared by different candidates who really showed off their skills.

Since one of my services is Strengths-based Resume Writing, I must say that I was intrigued and impressed with the resumes shown here.  I know that I would have definitely interviewed them in person.

My word of caution (1) - such resumes are best handed over in person or by email directly to the person instead of the ATS.

My word of encouragement (2) - make sure that in showcasing your creativity, you also showcase your strengths.

Read the article here.

Top Behavioural Skills for the Leader / Employee of Today / the Future

Pic Credit - Ryan Barretto Oct 2011

I'd like to talk about a topic that comes out nearly every year around this time, in the media.  The topic is 'Skills for the year _____".  After going through them over the past 4/5 years, I noticed that the skills that get mentioned there are pretty much the same (when you think about it), and are simply renamed and given a different ranking by whoever generates the list.

Based on my experience (it's a fair amount - go see my LinkedIn profile to know details) in HR and now as a Strengths-based Career Coach, HR Consultant, Trainer, and Facilitator, I decided to come up with my own list of Behavioural skills for the future, though with some detail so that readers are clear about what the skill means in life and at work.  Behavioural skills are what help ensure that candidates are selected / rejected, but let's be clear - poor demonstration of Functional capabilities (skills related to your function i.e. Finance, Marketing, Sales, IT, HR and so on), will definitely ensure that you get rejected or won't be able to stay in the organization very long.

There is no particular order, because in my view, you better go about developing them as best as you can, and as a lifelong habit.  This list also doesn't include functional skills because they will be different for every job.  As a candidate, you should be on top of your game in this area, in order to stand a chance.

Now, as an individual employee, you might think - I'm a seasoned professional, so this may be suitable for a fresher or a junior person. Let's be clear - These are skills which if used throughout your personal and professional life, will earn you rich dividends.  

Then, if you happen to be a recruiter for an organization, you may not think this to be relevant. I can say with confidence that your organization will become more successful and effective by incorporating these skills into the Employee Development Plan.  As proof, notice that successful people around you (especially those you know well and without prejudice) will also have these same skills, no matter what their age, background or industry is.

Another thought to consider : To execute these skills, you have to develop a subset of related skills.  For example, to be able to Communicate with Clarity, you must possess / develop Listening Skills, develop the ability to appropriately Apply a vast Vocabulary, Clear Diction, the ability to State your point Concisely and Precisely, a level of Analytical skills to be able to provide a detailed response when required, applying the appropriate emotion and tone to your words, and as with any communication, the skill of timing your response.

As you can see, the skills are layered with other skills, and some will even be interconnected with the ones I have mentioned. You are going to have to go deep.

So, here are the skills for the future (whatever the timeline may be):

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Digital capability skills are non-negotiable today i.e. being familiar with a computer, applications like MS Office is a base requirement no matter where in the organization you are joining. If you have learnt some statistical tools and are keen on analytical roles, make sure they're upto date. 

Pexels Photo by Anna Shvets

Analytical skills are becoming more relevant, along with the ability to think first and then act.  If you are into specialist analytical roles, then some statistical tools are going to be required tool.

Pexels Photo by Pixabay

Constant learning, followed by reflection (introspection) and application - why? knowledge is growing by leaps and bounds daily, and we must be relevant to the times and our work / careers, or get left behind because of redundancy.  This also means being open to viewpoints that are vastly different from the beliefs you hold.  

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Communicate with clarity - because if you cannot communicate your knowledge (jargon free), experience and perspective clearly enough to be understood by others, then why should you be hired or promoted?  In fact, why should anyone pay attention to what you say?

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Influencing others - this is what I term as advanced level of communicating with clarity.  Simply put, you are able to get other people to agree and work with your point of view.

Pexels Photo by Pixabay

Emotional Intelligence - to understand  yourself, your emotions and the emotions of others without getting carried away & making ineffective decisions.  

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Flexibility in approach - this allows you to sense and act based on external environment situations that shift quickly. If you are stuck to your ideas & brilliance too much, you may not be able to provide quality work, listen and work well with others and be effective in your role. As the song goes - "The Future's uncertain and the end is always near".  So how adaptable can you be?

Pexels Photo by Hilmi Işılak

Working well with others - a.k.a. Collaborate.  This is a very critical skill because today, no single person is 100% talented in all areas of life and work, nor does one person, at any level have the all the answers.  I will include the ability to respect others here, because it is very hard to collaborate with someone you don't respect.

Photo by Ryan Barretto Oct 2013

Resilience - The ability to bounce back from failure to failure with a positive, can-do mindset, until you reach success.

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Consistently delivering value - It is the skill of applying all of the aforementioned skills with thought to provide service which the world finds value in.  Your ability to do this effectively will define how successful you become.

So there you have it.  Working on these areas, particularly with a strengths coach will definitely find success. You may find it difficult to build and excel in all these skills because your strengths aren't going to be aligned with each of them, so a basic level of competence would be required for all these skills.  This is also where the ability to collaborate is critical, so that you can contribute your strengths to enable a colleague to play around their weaknesses, and they will do the same for you.

Recruiters (including managers and leaders) - don't forget to assess these skills when you are interviewing candidates.  Your organization's long term growth depends on it.

Want to know more on how to develop these skills for you and your team / organization? Contact me at +919820155778 or ryanbbarretto@hotmail.com

Participant Feedback - Holistic Decision Making

 It was a wonderful experience to design and deliver this critical workshop for the participants of a manufacturing organization.  It was a two-day workshop and was attended by junior, middle and senior level participants.  They enthusiastically participated with questions and points of view and made the entire workshop an experience to remember.

I used a blend of facilitator led discussions, facilitation processes, Decision-making tools and Group discussions that enabled participants to articulate their understanding of the topic, as well as their action plans.

I'm grateful to Skalent India for the opportunity to do this workshop.

Here are a few pictures of the action and their learnings from this (life-skill) topic.  Do click on the images to see details of their learnings.