Chapter 11 Upskilling and talent acquisition. What does this mean to Timsy?

Time is precious – we all know that. We either had the opportunity to learn our skills in our twenties, or we missed the academic boat and jumped right onto the corporate bandwagon – but whatever the situation (and there is no right or wrong way), Timsy, your modern day 30/40 year old woman, is now reaping the seeds she sowed. Skills are a funny thing … we cant always buy them. Sometimes we learn them through a structured study program, sometimes we develop them in practice and other times we realize we inherently have them. Often enough though, we also realise that we are lacking in some skills, that if we had them, would make us faster, better, more efficient at what we do. So we look for ways on how to upskill and acquire new talent.

This is the fast track to self improvement. Timsy, in her busy multi focused day, requires an array of skills to keep her going. A few obvious ones include time management, focus, being organised, stress techniques and smarter working. These are probably the main tools she needs every day to ensure her daily success. Ofcourse, if she knew how to better manage her data electronically, she would spend less time looking for things and having to repeat a task. If she had more tenacity to wake up earlier and have her training session before breakfast and work, then she wouldn’t have to also think about that pilates class at 6pm, in the midst of extra curriculum pick ups. If she used part of her Sundays to be more organised with freezer food batching for the week, she could use that extra hour daily to provide more attention to a particular client or work project that needs closing off urgently. If she had more self confidence and trust in herself, she would accept the new project handed to her by her employer, or we would be in a better position to refuse it if she genuinely felt she was working at her max.

Such are a variety of skills, soft skills as we refer to them in HR, that build a persons character and provide true return on the employer’s investment. Timsy is also interested in hard skill acquiring – maybe a new language, a new IT program, a new law that impacts her work – an external influence to enrich her portfolio of skills, to the benefit of the organisation as well her very own feather in her cap. Nowadays organisations have become very open to talent acquisition – they encourage this and they provide platforms for such to take place. But at the core of upskilling and talent acquisition, lies an individuals desire to truly want this. Timsy and her friends, chat about these things, even compare to one another and admire skills in others that they may not necessarily have or ever had the opportunity to acquire. Some skills are innate, some are learnt. But to learn new things, Timsy requires confidence in herself. With a renewed sense of confidence, Timsy is sure to thrive. Bring on those new skills!!