Category: Team Building

Fireside Chat: Emerging Skill Needed for 21st Century Career Sector

What does it take to succeed in today’s 21stcentury job/career sector?  What is different from yesterday when many of us were entering the job “marketplace”? I actively seek out answers to these are questions to assist graduate students and post docs.

I don’t need to tell you that in the future, more jobs will require an education beyond a four-year degree.  In just a few short years – we know that millions of new and replacement jobs will require a graduate degree.  That is definitely different from yesterday.

Recently, I had the opportunity to serve on the National Academy of Sciences Committee, “Stem Education for 21stCentury” and a panel at the National Summit on Developing a Stem Workforce Strategy. This panel included leaders from a variety of technology industries. We discussed the challenges businesses face in developing the work force and how the skills and knowledge of graduate students are needed and valued even more today.

You read the word stem and you are in social sciences or the humanities, this information is as relevant to you as it is to all graduate students.  How do I know this?

My research comes from interviews and conversations with CEOs and industry leaders; participating on the Council of Graduate Schools Committee “Pathways Through Graduate Education and into Careers”; listening to graduate students, post docs, alumni; attending a conference, “The Future of Work” and engaging business leaders in conversation about this topic.

I have been asking these questions for years and what I recently discovered is that there is a new skill that emerged.  Of the three skills, two were consistently mentioned to me over the years. They are 1) Communication skills both oral and written, and 2) Teamwork, especially interdisciplinary.  The emerging skill that is needed is agility or flexibility.

Communication. It’s important for students and professionals to acquire the capacity to communicate the significance and impact of their work to the public at large. It’s what I call the “So What?” factor. Your work is important to you, but how does it relate or impact me or my stake holders? That’s what the public and policy makers want to know.

Interpersonal communication skills are a critical component of being able to work across disciplines or in diverse groups or committees. They are necessary just to get along in the office or the lab.

Industry leaders emphasized the importance of being able to discuss technical issues with nontechnical individuals.  This essential skill is needed for job success and career advancement. Tied with that are presentation skills. How does one present their information to engage the audience?

It is critical that all graduate students be able to communicate across generations – from Millennials to GenX to Boomers. Each generation has a different style and way in which they like to communicate from texting to face-to-face meetings. It is incumbent upon us to understand how to communicate across different generations and with diverse intelligent lay audiences. We are trained to communicate effectively with those in our disciplines.  We need to expand our skills.  The 3 Minute ThesisTMis an excellent way to practice this.

Teamwork. Why is teamwork so important? Andrew Carnegie said it well.  “Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision.  The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives.  It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.”

Developing the ability to work collaborative in a team involves having depth in your discipline and being able to work effectively with colleagues with expertise in other disciplines from diverse cultural backgrounds. You need to be able to work with different research methodologies and work styles. That is the lay of the land today.  This is different from yesterday.

“No problem can be solved alone.”  I heard that repeated numerous times over the last few years.  “This is how industry works” – is what I also heard.  Numerous studies and reports in the literature have documented the importance of the ability to work effectively in teams. Today industry puts people together in teams to solve complex or “wicked” problems or issues. Thus, you need the communication skill set I described above as well as the ability to listen.  Yes, problems are more complex today and that is different from yesterday.

Agility or Flexibility. Being agile or flexibleisthe emerging skill that was emphasized as I visited with alumni in the corporate sector.  As I listened to leaders and alumni from Non-profits, the Chemical industry, the Tech industry, Textile industry, as well as the law industry, the message was the same.  They told me that to be successful and to advance in your career, you need to be agile and flexible.

You need to “Think Big, start small, and move fast.” “Change will be rapid and disruption intense.” You may be working on one project today and have to totally change direction tomorrow or change projects as the company is moving in a new direction.

You need to be able to shift gears quickly and often. If you don’t or can’t, you will be left behind. That message came through loud and clear as I spoke with alumni and industry leaders from across the country.

For you to bring value to the workplace, you have to bring you’re A+ game.  That includes having these three skills in your “tool box.”  That’s what’s different from yesterday.

Fireside Chat: Collaboration and Communication

Collaboration and communication both begin with the letter “C” and so does the word conflict. As we think about or even experience collaboration, we learn first-hand that everyone in our group or team has a different perspective. We see things through different lenses. That is what makes collaboration rich and exciting. At the same time it is our different lenses that create the potential for conflict unless we stop for a moment, spot the conflict (what we are
seeing and experiencing), and be open to receiving and understanding the different perspective. It does not mean we have to change our viewpoint – just be open to receiving other perspectives.  When we are open, we are more receptive, we expand, and we grow. That is where the growth is in collaboration.

We all are the same. We all have a different viewpoint, a different way of doing things, a different method to solve problems or issues, a different cultural experience. I could go on and on about differences and that is where conflict can arise – in the differences. As Tom Crum states, “The quality of our lives depends not on whether or not we have conflicts, but on how we respond to them.”

Conflict can be subtle and very passive aggressive or conflict can be “In your face”, New Jersey style. Having lived in many parts of the country from NJ, to the mountains in the west, to the southwest, to the south, I learned how to live in different cultures and to understand different forms of communication and styles of conflict. I was used to the direct in your face style of conflict however, living in the south, that direct style of conflict just would not be appropriate.

Communication is another way we can experience conflict through the collaborative process. The conflict can arise from our different communication styles.  That is, how we receive and how we send communication can cause conflict. Let me give you an example of different communication styles or preferences with respect to collaboration.

The other day, I was having an impromptu conversation with two graduate students. One was a Gen X with business/industry experience and the other a millennial coming straight through from an undergraduate program. Both were in the same department and working on doctoral degrees.  I engaged them in a conversation about collaboration.  What I learned was that Gen X with industry experience had a different understanding with respect to expectations in how to communicate and collaborate with other generations especially with Boomers. Boomers like the face-to-face means of communicating and collaborating. Millennials prefer other means of communication. From our conversation, it became clear to me that different generations have expectationsthat other generations should meet their expectations and preference style in communication. Communication is key to collaboration. As Stephen Covey says, “Seek first to understand, then to be understood. This principle is the key to effective interpersonal communication.”

The Gen X person was very clear and stressed the importance of collaboration. “Collaboration is an essential skill in the workplace and that you cannot solve all the problems by yourself.” Both students told me how Millennials perceive collaboration differently.   The Millennial stated that Millennials collaborate using technology for example on google drive. In so doing, each person can work at different hours; people can do their own thing, and isolation can become an issue. Millennials are collaborating when they add to the document or conversation in google drive. The Gen X had a different perspective. “Collaboration looks different today as a result of technology”.  Collaboration happens best when team members “work in person” and not remotely. The Gen X student left me with this thought, “Bigger better ideas come through sharing knowledge and the end result is more innovation.”

What is clear is – as we engage in collaboration, it is important to understand the expectation preferences of each team member’s communication style. Perhaps a hybrid model will evolve to include the best of each generation.

What is important is that each generation wants respect and if we start with that premise, then Collaboration and Communication will begin with a big letter “C” and conflict with a small letter “c”.