Bringing 3 skills together

A skill on its own is good. Another skill... even better. Three skills? Three times the goodness! 

The skills and capabilities we have work well on their own. But when they’re combined and integrated - even better. 

Working with a group of business analysts recently, we took the three skills of :
- questioning 
- facilitating
and
- visualizing 
and integrated them. 

Beyond just using the skills on their own individually, one then the other, then the other ... we used all three at once. Integrated. 

Engagement was better. 
Elicitation of requirements was easier. 
Progress was faster. 

These three skills can work well with each other, leverage each other and make our roles and challenges easier. 

For the team of business analysts, it was an experience I call a ’skills lift’.

Greater confidence and capability. 

And an exponential return on one, two, three skills, multiplied and amplified when they’re working together. 

When everything is important

‘What do I do first - everything is priority one!’, said Wendy. 

‘Have you visualized your work?’, I asked. 

‘I’ve got a to do list. Is that visual enough?’, she said. 

‘Does it include everything... everything you have on your mind?’

Wendy said, ‘Well, no. It’s just got the things I need to do today.’



And there it is ... the thing that makes us feel like everything is important. 

The partial to do list. The list for today only. 

When we only capture some of what we need to do, we capture the immediate and pressing, and it’s all important. 

But if we capture everything we need to do - yes, everything - we create a more realistic collection. 

Looking at everything, it’s clear some of them aren’t as important or don’t need to be done today. 

If we haven’t visualised the work to be done, we are going by what’s in our head or our inbox and that can feel like everything is important. 

Until you truly capture everything, you won’t know. 

We get distracted by the noise of so many tasks bumping into each other, gathering importance and urgency from each other - even when they don’t deserve it! 

Get it all out. 
Visualize it all. 
And then pick a top 3, 5 or 10. They’re the priority. 

Fresh skills we want to learn

How does a team adapt in an environment of change like the world is experiencing now? 

What skills do leaders need to better lead in these times?

Remote work, extreme uncertainty and ongoing complex change are impacting so many sectors and organisations. 

Old learning topics like body language, negotiation skills and time management are being overtaken by more contemporary, practical and inspiring skills. 

These skills are more related to today’s workplace and aligned to the capabilities people need to be able to work better together. 

Plus they’re the kinds of skills people want to learn!

They are: 
Ingenuity 
Empathy
Creativity 
Curiosity 

Facilitation 
Visualization 
Experimentation 
Improvisation 

Sensemaking
Listening
Learning
Collaborating.


These kinds of skills help us stay relevant and motivated in the learning ... as well as the daily application. 

Notice when you have an idea

Do you capture them... the ideas and thoughts you have while you’re reading, listening or thinking? 

We overestimate the number of ideas we think we’ll remember. Our train of thought is interrupted with the mundane ... and boom, the thought is gone! 

Worry less about a perfect system for collecting ideas and start with ANY system! 

> Write a few words on a post it 
> Say a few phrases into a voice memo
> Jot a note in a journal. 

We undervalue the creative thoughts that come to us - either by not noticing them at all, or noticing them but judging them as unworthy.

Still after the perfect system? But having it may not mean you firstly notice when you’re having an idea! We can have a shed of tools and not use them. Or a device of apps we rarely tap!

The point is, to become more aware you’ve had an idea or thought that could be captured ... and could be useful in the future. 

Notice ideas and more ideas will come. 

Minds in a fog

If you had to get a lot of information across to someone... how would you do it? If you had to explain a complex thing or a detailed project or the purpose of something, how would you do that?

We usually start with words, the verbals. Now that many more of us are in online training, meetings and workshops more frequently, it’s becoming clear we need to use tools that go beyond the ‘blah blah’ of talk.

Many of us are experiencing a kind of brain fog. It’s not a normal communication situation. Many people have already done my 90-minute online workshop, where I show you plenty of options and ideas for bringing more visuals to help convey information.

It’s available as a tailored session with your work team too. ‘How to use visuals in workshops and meetings’ doesn’t require you to be an artist, but it does get you doing something a little new.

The impact, engagement and influence you’ll gain will be worth it.