HOT READS FOR THE PRACTITIONER
Title: Competency Development – Part III Â
Competency: self-development
Who benefits: employees at all levels, those seeking to enter or reenter the workforce
Consultant Usage: reference material
What’s it about? Today is the last post of the year. If you make New Year’s Resolutions you are probably writing down a (short) list of things to work on in the new year. Today’s posting is the last in a series of three looking at a semi-random list of common workplace competencies. Somewhere in this series is bound to be a good book, article or audio for self improvement next year.Â
Today’s competencies are mainly focused on personal skills.
Oral Communication – I like two books that are similar in approach and both deal with the more difficult end communicating with another person: Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High and Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss what Matters Most (yes, this is a repeat suggestion — fits two competencies quite well).
Oral Presentations – There are thousands of books out there to help you become a better speaker. Many are just a matter of personal taste. A new book that covers all the bases is 101 Ways to Captivate a Business Audience. But to cover oral presentations we need something oral. If you are presenting a relatively high level you might like the CD-Rom from Harvard: Communicating for Results.
Written Communication — If you are looking for the basics, The McGraw-Hill 36-Hour Course in Business Writing and Communication: Manage Your Writing would be a good bet. My own personal favorite, while not covering everything, has some very good advice on selected topics: Harvard Business School Publishing Guide to Better Business Writing.
Listening— Active Listening: Improve Your Ability to Listen and Lead is a short and practical book written with managers and leaders in mind. However, the information applies to anyone and the author’s credentials are outstanding.
Adaptability/Stress Tolerance – There are a variety of ways to address this combined competency, but personally I would start with The Answer to How Is Yes: Acting on What Matters. If you are in the mood for some time management to help organize your life, I recommend the unusual but effective book The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, Is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal.
Self-Control – Hard not to fit this book in to a list of competencies: 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change.
Self-Development – This final entry into this three part series on competencies is the broadest and most difficult to nail down. Really, all of the suggestions so far are self-development. But there is a need to focus on continuous personal improvement and so I conclude with recommending you start with Go Put Your Strengths to Work: 6 Powerful Steps to Achieve Outstanding Performance.
And there you have it – a three part series with 19 competencies and 29 recommendations and the New Year only two days away!
Happy Development!
[tags] competencies, work competencies, personal development, self development, self-control, oral communication, oral presentations, listening, active listening, listening skills, written communications, effective writing, business writing, bill bradley, william bradley, bradley[/tags]
Bill Bradley
Bill Bradley (mostly) retired after 35 years in organizational consulting, training and management development. During those years he worked internally with seven organizations and trained and consulted externally with more than 90 large and small businesses, government agencies, hospitals and schools.
