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“What are your strengths and weaknesses?” If you have prepared for job interviews, then you’re no stranger to this question. There has been an increasing focus on personal questions in job interviews. Recruiters are no longer interested in only technical know-how. They want to see if individuals can rise to complex challenges in the workplace if and when required.
In addition to technical acumen, your business skills also hold a lot of significance. They have the power to accelerate your career growth. Wondering what these skills are and how to develop them? Read on!
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What Are Business Skills?
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Why Are Business Skills Important?
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What Are The Top Business Skills?
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How To Improve Your Business Skills
What Are Business Skills?
Success in the workplace isn’t always tied to how hard you work or how smart you are. Important business skills such as communication, negotiation, marketing and management are the real determinants of success. They’re instrumental in career progressions and exceeding workplace expectations. Whether you’re a business owner or an employee, essential business skills positively impact your performance and productivity.
In a nutshell, business skills help individuals understand both internal and external factors that influence an organization’s growth and profitability. They help in carrying out business objectives that contribute to performance. While they’re especially important for entrepreneurs, leaders and managers, any professional can benefit from a strong understanding of business needs and expectations.
Why Are Business Skills Important?
In today’s world, professionals are expected to step up and go beyond their job descriptions. A majority of workplaces encourage employee training and development as it benefits both the individual and the organization. Through continuous learning and skill development, organizations are able to retain employees for longer periods of time as it helps with employee engagement and job satisfaction.
Important business skills help professionals tap into other aspects of skill development such as behavioral, social and cognitive skills. The ability to communicate effectively, navigate stressful situations and display empathy, resilience and good character are highly valuable traits. When you have a strong foundation, it leads to self-confidence, which further opens the door to multiple career opportunities.
Therefore, strong business skills give you:
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More attention from recruiters
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Ability to transition into a new field
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More responsibility at work
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Career advancement opportunities (promotions)
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Positive workplace culture
The advantages of business skills are not only limited to experienced professionals but also recent graduates. Regardless of the field of study, these skills can help students become more marketable in their job search.
What Are The Top Business Skills?
In our increasingly globalized and fast-changing work environments, technical skills don’t suffice. Take the discussion and debate around ‘leadership in crisis’, which gained popularity in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to leading a team or the business, what else can a leader bring to the table? Similarly, modern businesses expect you to go beyond your job description and utilize your full potential. Consider this list of top business skills that can help you kick off and manage a successful career, no matter what industry you’re in:
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Communication Skills
Communication allows the spread of ideas, opinions, outlooks and innovation. It helps you build strong interpersonal relationships—both internally (for example, coworkers) and externally (for example, clients). It helps you write meaningful emails and construct clear arguments when needed. To communicate effectively, you need to grasp written, verbal and non-verbal communication.
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Leadership Skills
One of the most important business skills, leadership is the art of influencing and managing people with the aim to set and achieve common goals. Every successful organization depends on a strong foundation of effective teamwork. As a leader, you need to be able to motivate employees and encourage them to be their more efficient and productive selves. Recognizing their strengths can help you use them to the business’s advantage.
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Management Skills
Leadership and management skills often go hand in hand. Management skills are not limited to planning and executing projects or managing a team; it also includes taking responsibility and initiative when problems arise. At an individual level, management skills include managing your time, prioritizing important tasks and delegating responsibilities as needed. Most of all, these skills help you stay organized and plan your work smartly.
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Decision-Making Skills
Changing industry demands require businesses to shift priorities. In such situations, you need strong decision-making skills that’ll help you navigate complex situations and arrive at logical conclusions in a time-efficient manner. Moreover, allocating resources, creating and leading a team and implementing new initiatives require careful consideration. Critical thinking and data-driven decisions lead to beneficial outcomes.
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Emotional Intelligence
Studies show that emotional intelligence acts as a catalyst for improving workplace performance and productivity. It includes four central components: self-awareness, self-management, relationship management and social awareness. The ability to understand and recognize emotions not only enhances your communications skills and interpersonal relationships but also helps build trust. It further influences your ability to persuade and increase collaboration and cooperation.
In addition to these essential business skills, there are several strategic business skills that can help you accelerate your career and exceed everyone’s expectations.
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Learnability
One of the most important 21st century business skills, learnability is the ability to learn, unlearn and relearn. In an environment that’s being constantly influenced by multiple factors, the ability to expand your knowledge base and respond appropriately has become necessary. The more you’re open to learning more and acquiring new skills, the easier it is to keep up with the times and stay productive.
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Resilience
Setbacks and failure are inevitable aspects of professional life but the way you deal with them is critical to your success. The ability to bounce back and face your challenges is known as resilience. Being resilient helps you focus on long-term goals, navigate roadblocks and handle stress more positively. It helps you look beyond the ups and downs and prioritize solutions.
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Agility
With the growth of startup enterprises, the work landscape has shifted to a great extent. The ability to be critical, look ahead and keep an open mind are crucial in dynamic environments. Agility skills include being aware, responsive and attending to the changing needs of your clients, customers, workplace or industry.
As you can see, a multifaceted skill set can set you apart from others in a competitive landscape. You can develop some of these business skills on the job and find ways to improve them.
How To Improve Your Business Skills
Many people think that business skills are innate—you’re born with them. That’s completely untrue! You can learn how to develop business skills through patience and practice. Let’s look at the various ways to strengthen your business skills:
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Do Your Research
The best way of recognizing industry-specific business skills is to read up and do your research. Start by determining the skills you already have and the skills you’ll need moving forward. If you’re a recent college graduate, it’s best to look at websites of organization’s in the industry you are in and study the job descriptions closely. Regularly researching will help you stay updated about industry demands and stay abreast of emerging business trends.
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Find A Mentor
Mentors are individuals who have extensive business experience and can guide your efforts to develop professionally. They can provide you with both advice and support and direct you toward the necessary business skills that are crucial for your career trajectory. Several organizations have a mentor-mentee system in place already. However, it’s important to be clear about the expectations and results you want to achieve from the relationship. Choose someone who is aligned with your career objectives, skills and experience.
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Pick A Course Or Class
In an era when the education technology sector is booming, virtual learning and education have become an accessible reality. You can learn from anywhere in the world as long as you have the necessary technological tools and resources. A great way to learn new business skills is to take a course or a class that specializes in your industry. Many such courses are self-paced, making it convenient for you to accommodate them into your schedule.
Harappa provides a one-of-a-kind learning experience that goes beyond formal education. The courses are designed to help you unleash your true potential at work and accelerate professional growth. The Expanding Networks course, in particular, will help you achieve new heights in your professional career. It’ll help you go beyond exchanging business cards and let your collaboration skills become your workplace superpower. You’ll develop constructive relationships and leverage your connections to achieve professional goals. Effective communication, networking and strong interpersonal relationships are important business skills that are cornerstones of professional success. So, what are you waiting for? Start building a robust professional network today!
Explore Harappa Diaries to learn more about topics such as The Importance of Building Relationships, What Is A Rapport, Characteristics Of An Extrovert & Advantages Of Being An Ambivert to build strong professional networks.
