What is your skill variety?

I learned a simple yet powerful new phrase this week.

Skill Variety.

What if I asked you what your skill variety is?

Personally, my mind goes to one of the funnier movies of our time, Napoleon Dynamite.

I don't even have any good skills. You know like nunchuck skills, bow hunting skills, computer hacking skills. Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills!” - Napoleon Dynamite

But if were to answer honestly.... I personally think that I have a wide variety of "skills".... some useful and some probably not so useful lol. Nunchuck skills would be awesome to have though lol!! And I range from Jedi Master in some skills, to extreme novice in others.

So where did this phrase "skill variety" come from anyway? And why is it even important?

Well, if we go back in our wayback machine to the 1970's, some really smart organizational psychologists by the name of Greg R. Oldham and J. Richard Hackman used this concept in their "Job Characteristics Model".

See... the problem at the time in many manufacturing plants was that if employees keep doing a repetitive task over and over without any variety.... motivation, satisfaction, and performance decreases significantly.

So these organizational psychologists defined Skill Variety as the degree to which a job requires a diverse set of skills and talents to complete a range of tasks.

Lets think about that a minute, in regards to the variety of skills needed in our own careers.

There are plenty of skills needed for my own career.

And if you look at most job descriptions now-a-days.... there is a WIDE variety of skills that employers expect their employees to have.

Although.... there is an interesting trend happening in job descriptions.... have you seen similar lines like this in postings lately?

"Even if you don't have the full skillset, we still encourage you to apply"

Why?

Market shifts. Technology Advancements. Higher demands on performance.

The skills gap is growing. 1/3 of employers surveyed agree the skills gap has increased just from a year ago. 87% of employers reporting they are having trouble finding qualified talent. (according to Monster)

So what do we do?

Lets get into Today's lesson.

Achieve Mastery in one skill first, then develop a variety of complimentary skills.

Lets face it.... we all could get better at any one of the variety of skills needed in our careers.

But where do we even start?

As an employee.... I highly suggest starting by mastering the MOST impactful skill first.

If we become a MASTER at the highest impact skill, that makes us more valuable to the organization. That makes our self-confidence skyrocket. That makes us feel good. That puts us in a better position for taking on additional responsibility that is high impact. All of the rewards are in mastery.... aka "THE TOP 10 PERCENT" of people in your field.

But, as the manufacturing reference above suggests, we will eventually start to lose motivation, satisfaction, and performance if we spend most our time on the most impactful skill.

And this is where I think most people are in their careers right now.

They have been doing the same tasks for years.

At one time it excited them.

Now its lost its excitement.

And.... the statistic I always reference.... that's why 85% of us adults have low self-confidence. 87% of adults are not fully engaged in their day-to-day work anymore.

We aren't jazzed up about what we are doing anymore.

THIS IS WHERE SKILL VARIETY COMES IN.

Learning something new invigorates us and breaths life into our confidence.

The best practice here is to to master/update our primary impact skillset, then start developing 1 to 3 complementary skill sets.

This variety will FUEL your FIRE and accelerate your growth!

Lets get into action!

ACTION TIME:

1. Identify your #1 primary impact skill. Read this article if you need additional help identifying that.
2. Identify 3 complimentary skill sets that you could develop over the next 12-18 months.
3. If you have a team, think about how to build a longer term skill development plan for your employees that includes "skill variety" development.

As always.... I am super grateful you spent a few moments with me today on this topic. A complimentary skill set that I've personally been developing is writing... (still a work in progress lol). I'm committed to master that skill- and share fresh, actionable content with my subscribers week after week on the topic of Growth and Learning in the workplace. We as leaders need to inspire growth now more than ever... as our workforce is getting less confident and less competent at the skills needed today. And it starts with developing our own skills. I appreciate you sticking around on this journey!

Your Friend,

Dan