“What’s a skill that, if you built it, would make you better at what you do?”
I always ask this to groups at the end of our workshops.
Usually everyone chimes in, no problem. However things get a little messy when I ask the follow up:
“How and when can you get some reps and practice that skill?”
**cue the crickets and scrunched up faces**
They have trouble with this part because we are all busy. Because we’ve been dealing with a pandemic for a couple years. And adding more to their plate is a big ask.
Yes. Sometimes building a skill requires some extra time over the weekend, at night. Which is hard to come by.
But we can level up and build more skills without adding any extra time to our schedules.
How?
It goes back to the original question. The truth is, for most of these skills – we get all sorts of opportunities to practice them throughout the day.
Common responses to question #1:
Being a better listener, getting better at giving/receiving feedback, organization, leadership.
When we’re in learner mode we see our daily tasks and experiences for what they really are, reps.
Every conversation is an opportunity to practice more attentive listening. Every project is an opportunity to step into a leadership role. During meetings we have so many opportunities to practice giving and receiving feedback.
For most skills, we don’t need to spend more time practicing at home, we just need to be more intentional with the reps and opportunities that we get each day.
Also, as we discussed in our piece on quality practice – these “game-like” reps are usually better for learning. We’re practicing the skill within the context we plan on using it.
Activating this learner mode helps us become more efficient with our development – and we still have time to kick it on nights and weekends. Nice.