Hey team,
Happy Tuesday! We’re officially into the final 24(ish) hours of the Strategic Leadership Challenge, and there are only a handful of spots left, and I’m so excited to get started with everyone joining us.
Which actually ties in quite nicely with today’s topic 👀 because one thing I’ve learned throughout my career is that being brilliant at your job and being ready for the next step are two VERY different things.
And there are a few skills that make all the difference…
5 (non-technical) skills that will grow your career faster than any qualification
I think we’ve become a little obsessed with qualifications and experience.
Another certification, another few letters after our names, another year in the same role to prove we’re ready for the next one.
And don’t get me wrong, qualifications and experience absolutely have their place. But they’re not the only things that determine how far you’ll go in your career.
But the people who progress fastest in their careers aren’t always the most technically brilliant.
In fact, most of of the smartest, most hardest-working people I’ve met have been stuck in the same position for YEARS, watching people with less experience get promoted ahead of them.
And it’s not always because the system is unfair (although sometimes it absolutely is).
It’s often because being brilliant at your job and being someone people trust with bigger opportunities are two very different things.
There are 5 skills I’ve seen make an enormous difference to people’s careers, and none of them require a qualification, and ALL of them are learnable.
1. They ask for what they want
Nobody is sitting at their desk planning your next career move for you.
I think we massively underestimate how much of our career progression we leave to chance. We assume that if we work hard enough, somebody will eventually notice, recognise our potential and offer us the next opportunity.
But your manager has their own job, their own priorities and probably about 400 things on their to-do list.
If you want the promotion, the pay rise or the opportunity to lead a project, you have to get comfortable saying it out loud.
That means risking rejection.
But a no gives you something to work with. You can ask what needs to change, what experience you’re missing and what would make you a stronger candidate next time.
You cannot actively work towards an opportunity you’ve never told anyone you want.
2. They make their work visible
Doing brilliant work humbly and hoping somebody notices is not a career strategy.
I know this one can feel uncomfortable, especially if you’ve been brought up to believe that talking about your achievements is bragging.
But your work doesn’t speak for itself if nobody knows it happened.
There’s a BIG difference between telling your manager you’ve spent three weeks improving a process and telling them you’ve reduced the time that process takes by 30%. One tells them you’ve been working, the other tells them why your work matters.
And when a new opportunity comes up, who do you think they’re more likely to remember?
3. They make other people better
This one is kind of obvious but I think it’s where a lot of ambitious people get stuck.
We spend so much of our early careers trying to prove how good WE are at our jobs that we forget there’s an entirely different skill involved in helping other people become good at theirs.
They’re the person who helps the new starter, shares what they’ve learned, gives credit publicly and takes the time to explain something rather than just doing it themselves because it’s quicker.
The fastest way to become promotable is to become someone who makes the whole team better.
4. They have the awkward conversation early
I cannot tell you how many enormous workplace problems I’ve seen that started as tiny conversations nobody wanted to have.
The deadline you know isn’t realistic. The colleague who keeps missing expectations. The feedback you’ve been sitting on for three weeks because you don’t want to upset somebody.
The people who progress learn to say the difficult thing early, kindly and clearly. They don’t wait until they’re frustrated, they don’t let resentment build, and they don’t confuse keeping everybody happy with doing a good job.
You don’t need to be somebody’s manager to demonstrate this. You can challenge an unrealistic deadline, give constructive feedback to a colleague or respectfully disagree with somebody more senior than you.
5. They can explain their thinking
Anyone can walk into a meeting and say, “I think we should do X.” But the people who build real credibility can explain WHY.
They can walk you through the problem they’re solving, the options they’ve considered and how they’ve reached their recommendation.
And this is SO important as you become more senior, because your job gradually becomes less about completing tasks and more about making decisions.
Think about the difference between somebody telling you they think the business should change its onboarding process, and somebody explaining that they’ve identified a problem, considered three solutions and believe one particular approach will deliver the best result.
Who are you more likely to trust with the next big project?
Your career is your responsibility
Notice that none of these five skills requires you to go back to university, spend thousands on another qualification or wait for somebody to give you a management title.
So if you’re feeling stuck, overlooked or like you’re doing everything right but somehow not getting anywhere, I’d encourage you to look beyond your technical ability.
Which non-technical skill has advanced your career the most? let’s chat in the comments…
Peace,
H
PS. If you’re ready to stop being the person who does everything and start becoming the leader people trust to run things, this is exactly what we’re working on inside the Strategic Leadership Challenge™.
Six weeks, one practical action every working day, and a whole community of managers doing it alongside you. Less firefighting, more confidence, and a team that actually takes ownership.
We’ve only got a handful of spaces left and enrolment closes tomorrow. Whichever comes first, the deadline or the final spot being taken, doors will close.
Come and join us before it’s too late. 🚀
For me, it’s number 4. Learning to have the difficult conversation early.
I’ve seen so many workplace problems become much bigger than they ever needed to be because someone avoided a conversation when it was still small.
Being able to say the difficult thing early, kindly and clearly has probably been one of the most valuable skills throughout my career in People and leadership. It’s also something I now find myself writing about again and again.
Great piece, Heather.