The 6 areas of professional skills development

These are the main areas of professional skills development in the world of work.

How can we progress in our professional life? This is the question many people ask themselves when they notice a certain stagnation at work, either because of the lack of prospects for economic improvement or because of the frustration of feeling at a dead end when it comes to continuing to develop one's potential.

Here is an overview of the a summary of the main areas of professional developmentThe following is a summary of the main areas of professional development, i.e., the fronts that must be addressed in order to advance in the context of work.

Developing professional competencies: areas of learning and preparation.

In any professional context there are always areas through which we can continue to learn in order to make significant progress. Knowing them helps to invest our efforts, time and resources wisely when we plan to take our careers a significant step forward. They are as follows.

1. Boosting personal productivity

Knowing how to promote habits and ways of working that boost our personal productivity is key.

This includes a wide variety of psychological resources, such as mnemonic rules, study techniques, the establishment of sequences of goals and sub-goals, the creation of adequate work spaces, the creation of appropriate work spaces, etc., are included here.The creation of adequate work spaces, foreseeing the possible problems that the environment may pose, etc.

2. Planning and time management

In many cases, training our ability to detect bad habits that make us waste time and apply new ways of approaching our tasks can lead us to perform twice as well as we would like to. can lead us to double our performance in a matter of a few weeks.We can use the resources at our disposal in an intelligent way and make healthier use of our free and rest time (which in turn leads to greater productivity).

Here we can highlight the use of action triggers, psychological tools that help us to work in a disciplined way according to our plans so as not to give in to distractions, for example. These are resources that psychologists work with on a regular basis when helping our patients and clients.

Stress and anxiety management

Professional development always involves setting ourselves goals that have never been achieved before.This is why in this process it is essential to develop stress and anxiety management skills.

The way in which we "relieve" these tensions can make us self-sabotage, or take advantage of this kind of phenomena in our favor. In the end, if they exist, it is because if we do it well, they help us to react in time to risks and opportunities.

4. Communication techniques, persuasion and influence

Communication techniques are those that allow us to connect with others allow us to connect with others and demonstrate that what is going on in our heads has real implications in the world.. Considering that the professional context is a world of interconnected gears in which what happens in one place can significantly affect what happens in another that is far away, it is important to know how to skillfully transport the most relevant information.

Linked to the above, influence is the facet of the facet of communication that appeals to feelings and expresses vectors of action.What we convey is not just descriptions, but also ideas that can mobilize others. This is one of the most important elements of professional development in professions associated with dealing with customers, on the one hand, and in the development of projects as entrepreneurs, on the other.

Thus, it is not only a matter of informing: it is also a matter of knowing how to translate our ideas into emotions and an aesthetic that transmits a lot in just a few seconds. After all, in the context of work, time is also a resource that we must know how to manage, and being aware that we are dealing with people and not machines is fundamental.

5. Leadership

Gone are the days when economic incentives were the only way to mobilize people. Mastering leadership styles is fundamental precisely for this reason, because leaders are not leaders because of their place in the organization chart or their ability to pay a salary to others.

It is the leader who can make the difference between a team of seemingly incompetent people who do not reach their production goals, and a team of professionals who have finally found the workflow that allows them to "fit in" with each other. This involves much more than knowing how to communicate well: It has to do with knowing how to diagnose problems in the way they work, untapped talent, risks and opportunities, etc.

6. Managing a job change

The ability to adapt to new jobs is also part of professional development. A person who can only perform in a very specific professional role in which he or she has been working for a long time may believe that he or she has all his or her needs covered in the work environment, but the truth is that this is just an illusion.

Even if you never need to adjust to new areas of professional performance, being aware that there is a clear dependency on what you do will affect the way you experience your work and the decisions you make.and the decisions you make in this area.

This is a constraint that you must learn to overcome, and this is achieved by maintaining a certain flexibility, even in tasks that are not related to your current job.

In the same way, at the moment when the change of employment finally takes place, it is important to have the psychological skills that will allow us to put in order the uncertainties that we face in such situations, and to orient our actions to the achievement of specific goals while maintaining a realistic view of what we can and cannot do in our current situation. in our current situation. This entails knowing how to organize ourselves, on the one hand, and learning to deal with the cognitive biases that give us a vision of what our abilities are that is not in line with reality.

Looking for professional support?

Having psychological assistance from experts in behavioral sciences and emotion management is very effective to make a qualitative leap in the way of working and dealing with projects.

If you are interested in developing habits that will allow you to take your professional development forward, please contact us. At UPAD Psychology and Coaching we have been helping for years to satisfy needs such as performance improvement, management of work stress and emotions related to the work environment, the establishment of a work or training discipline, the organization of time and objectives to be achieved, etc.

Therefore, we work with high-performance athletes, students of competitive examinations, artists, influencers, entrepreneurs, and other profiles whose daily life involves facing challenges and striving to achieve medium and long term goals.

You can find more information about us, and our contact details, on this page.

Bibliographical references:

Heckman, James J.; Kautz, Tim (2012-08-01). Hard evidence on soft skills. Labour Economics. European Association of Labour Economists 23rd annual conference, 19(4): pp. 451 - 464. Levasseur, R.E. (2013). People Skills: Developing Soft Skills — a Change Management Perspective. Interfaces. 43(6): pp. 566 - 571. Moretti, E. (2004). Workers' Education, Spillovers, and Productivity: Evidence from Plant-Level Production Functions. American Economic Review, 94(3): pp. 656 - 690. Nelson, D. (1980). Frederick W. Taylor and the Rise of Scientific Management. University of Wisconsin Press. Zhang, A. (2012). Peer assessment of soft skills and hard skills. Journal of Information Technology Education: Research, 11: pp. 155 - 168.