The impact of technology and automation on the work environment is already a fact. Digital development has brought new jobs, new generations of employees, and unprecedented organizational changes. More and more companies are demanding employees with new professional competencies and skills who can face future challenges successfully.
The World Economic Forum estimates that by 2025, technology will be responsible for more than 50% of the tasks executed by employees. Faced with this future, both employees and the heads of company departments must focus on developing traditional professional competencies while focusing on developing technical or digital skills.
In short, ‘human’ or professional competencies such as communication, empathy, the desire to learn, and more technical skills will provide the necessary knowledge to drive the technological and digital advances society needs. Do you want to know the essential professional competencies and skills your team needs for the future? We’ll tell you everything about it now!
What are professional competencies and skills?
In today’s world, it’s not enough to have academic knowledge or training to face constant changes and a competitive work environment. Aspects such as leadership, assertiveness, or creativity make a difference; these elements are known as professional competencies and skills.
The word skill means “the ability of a person to do a thing correctly.” A skill can also be the ability of an individual to perform a specific task or do something correctly. Skills can be technical, such as the handling of digital tools, or more general and related to each person’s performance, such as assertive communication or time management.
On the other hand, competencies are characteristics or knowledge that allow a professional to perform their job better. In other words, they are the “how” it’s done rather than the ability to do something. Therefore, if the definition of skill is the ability to do something, the purpose of professional competencies would be the ability to do something with excellence.
Difference between professional competencies and skills
The concepts of professional competencies and skills can be confusing, as they are often used together. However, there is a fundamental difference: Skills enable people to perform a task, while competencies will allow them not only to complete that task but to do it effectively and efficiently.
For example, an employee may be able to sell a product. Still, if they also consider the importance of the task and try to improve each step of the process to achieve the best results, they have competency. Skills make people capable of performing tasks, while competencies make them competent.
Must-have professional competencies and how to develop them with isEazy Skills
Professional competencies empower employees in their daily work and are indispensable for the growth of organizations. Training programs should focus on learning critical skills and professional competencies to develop employees’ talent and boost the organization’s success. It’s about upskilling employees to stay at the front of today’s labor market and be ready to face a fast-changing work environment.
Companies committed to developing their internal talent should train their employees to help them increase productivity, favor corporate culture, improve the work environment, and make each individual more creative, empathetic, and communicative. Some of the most in-demand competencies and skills that will undoubtedly make a difference in the future of work are:
1. Enhancing Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence helps us build effective relationships at work and know and manage our emotions better to identify the triggers that can affect professional performance.
It is one of the professional competencies of personal development essential for balancing any work team. By promoting emotional intelligence habits, we will avoid conflicts, misunderstandings, insecurities, or fears, and it will help us to have more confident employees capable of regulating their emotional state.
How to achieve this with isEazy Skills? Offer your team practical and dynamic courses that allow them to develop their emotional intelligence, such as:
- How to create a healthy work environment
- How to build your emotional intelligence
- Self-confidence as a lever for achieving your goals
- Emotional self-control: the key to your well-being
2. Adaptability to Change
This professional competency is vital in the digital era, where changes occur quickly, and we need to adapt to prevent the risk of becoming obsolete. Did you know that more than 80% of transformation processes fail due to the need for a digital culture of employees? The combination of ‘soft’ and technological skills is the perfect mix to face organizational changes successfully.
We are not only talking about technical skills such as knowledge of e-learning management software, big data, or artificial intelligence, but also the ability to adapt to the inevitable digital transformation of companies. Therefore, it’s essential to promote the development of digital skills, such as digital identity and reputation, leadership 2.0, or learning agility, to boost your team’s talent, making them the engine of the transformation of your company.
How to achieve it with isEazy Skills? Developing these competencies implies commitment, dedication, and constant practice, but above all, the training aims to adapt to new changes in the labor market. Some of the courses that isEazy Skills offer you to achieve it are:
- Digitalise yourself. Become a professional 2.0
- Digital change management and adaptation
- Boost your development with new technologies
- Cybersecurity for dummies
3. Time Management
Do your employees know how to deal with interruptions, distractions, or unexpected events? 56 is the average number of times a modern learner is interrupted at work, and approximately 25% of their working day is spent checking their email and phone. Time management is an essential skill for organizing and prioritizing tasks. It also includes choosing the most convenient means to accomplish the task, making decisions in advance, and setting realistic deadlines.
The demand for this skill is the logical response to most companies’ accelerated work pace. Professionals must know how to self-manage to achieve the organization’s objectives.
How to get it with isEazy Skills? This skill is obtained through training that improves efficiency, daily productivity, versatility, and organization. isEazy Skills will help you to develop them through these courses:
- Personal organisation in digital environments
- Make intelligent and sound decisions
- Persistence and tenacity as tools for achieving your goals
- Improve your daily efficiency and productivity to achieve better results.
- Effective problem-solving
4. Assertiveness
An assertive professional can clearly express what they think and convince other people. It is a communication and public speaking skill that conveys clear messages to customers, employees, colleagues, and managers.
Assertiveness and other power skills, such as persuasion, public speaking, and empathetic listening, are valuable for organizations. It is essential to develop them in person and in the digital environment.
How to get it with isEazy Skills? It carries out training aimed at improving the effectiveness of communication, perfecting empathetic listening, and enhancing persuasive communication through courses such as:
- Communicate with assertiveness
- Speaking successfully in public
- Master your ability to influence others with your communication
- Perfect your empathetic listening
5. Self-Motivation and Constant Development
For professionals, having a constant development mindset is a rising value in any organization. Facing any challenge, having a development mindset, and a commitment to continuous learning enhances our capabilities and team strengths.
How to achieve it with isEazy Skills? Encourage the creativity and innovation of your employees, develop learning agility or the ability to learn in an agile way, adapt to what each situation requires, and promote self-motivation habits with these four isEazy Skills courses:
- Self-motivation: the secret of successful people
- Learning agility to boost your self-development
- Creative Curiosity
- Persistence and tenacity as tools for achieving your goals
While only some possess natural skills and abilities, everyone can develop professional competencies, and the key to doing it is through training! Are you ready to provide your team with the most in-demand professional competencies, soft skills, and digital skills? At isEazy Skills, we help companies to train their professionals
