Upskilling for continued personal growth

Upskilling is an essential ‘sawsharpener’ for the modern career. To borrow a term from the management expert Dr Stephen R. Covey’s philosophy, when you sharpen your saw, you increase your value and at once become valuable.

WHAT do you get paid for?

Each month-end, you collect a salary. But you do not get paid to “do” the job. Your salary is in exchange for the skills and knowledge you bring to that job.

Whatever your salary is, remember that it is based on what your employer thinks you are worth. So, if you want to get paid more, you must focus on increasing your skills and knowledge.

When you feel frustrated and what you are looking forward to at work, is a vacation; when you have not progressed in some time, and feel work inertia; or when you feel yourself getting jealous that someone else is being promoted, these are signs that you need to up your game and start upskilling.

But, upskilling requires careful thought and planning. Especially, if you do not want it to be an exercise in collecting certificates, and instead be really effective.

Research, think and speak to people. Juxtapose what you need with what you want. Your needs are usually based on what your company or your profession requires. Your wants, on the other hand, fuel your passion to learn something.

If you do not successfully marry these two, you will be upskilling in a direction that will not help you grow, career wise. Or worse, you will be upskilling on things you actually have no interest in, which means you are not going to be good at it.

Meet people who work in areas that are interesting to you. Talk with people who have taken up courses that might suit you. But most importantly, understand the rigours of learning, and be committed.

New skills, qualifications and knowledge will move you on to a better career path.

How do you decide what skills you should improve? There are two options for you; upskilling for your employer or upskilling for the industry you work in.

There could be similarities in skills upgrading, but often the needs of your company might not necessarily correspond directly with you upgrading your skills for your industry.

For your company, if you want to grow in your role and increase your job security, you will need to actively seek out more responsibilities. Seeking more responsibilities will mean you need to learn new skills and acquire more knowledge.

But this learning will be limited to the needs of your company. Often, these are increased administrative, marketing or some specific technical skills.

If you choose to upskill for your industry, you need to remember that many organisations are interested in skilled technical specialists, and effective leaders.

This past week I was in London for a short break. There, I caught up with a couple of friends, Esmee Joseph and Melisa Idris. They worked previously at the radio station BFM, both as presenters and producers of shows.

They are now in the United Kingdom, upskilling. Esmee successfully earned the Chevening Scholarship which is funded by the British Government.

She was personally selected by the British High Commission in Kuala Lumpur, and is pursuing a master’s degree in broadcasting at Goldsmith’s, University of London.

Melisa on the other hand, worked really hard and secured the Wolfson Press Fellowship to spend ten weeks learning with some top-notch people at the world renowned University of Cambridge.

Closer to home a few nights ago, I found that my wife Susanna had commandeered the patio table, where I like to sit, and write my weekly column, when I am home. It was 9pm at that time.

If you had a doctorate from the prestigious University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna; and had qualifications from the International Veterinary Acupuncture Society in the United States; and you had studied for, and passed the membership of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons in London; and you had a thriving alternative-medicine practice in Kuala Lumpur; I reckon you would probably be smugly satisfied.

But nope, not my wife. She wanted my writing table in the patio to study for her doctorate in naturopathy. It is perhaps taking the idea of upskilling to an extreme, but I am very proud of her effort.

Upskilling is an essential “sawsharpener” for the modern career. To borrow a term from the management expert Dr Stephen R. Covey’s philosophy, when you sharpen your saw, you increase your value and at once become valuable.

The writer is managing consultant and executive leadership coach at EQTD Consulting. He is also the author of the national bestseller “So, You Want To Get Promoted?”