As tempting as it may be to put learning on the backburner as an executive, it’s a huge mistake. As an executive, you not only need a well-rounded skillset, but you should also actively develop that skillset continually.
In addition, you should find ways to broaden your skillset as an executive if you’re hoping to advance your career, company, and team.
Three High-Demand Skills Every Executive Should Develop
Although there are a variety of skills you should develop and broaden to become a better executive, they are three categories that stand out among the rest.
Technical Skills
Today’s world is incredibly tech-focused. Nearly everyone is on the internet, and many businesses have moved to a fully remote model of operation. So, technical skills, like coding, are in high demand and worth the effort to grow.
Most technical skills today are built through professional development or certification classes. For example, consider taking an HTML class to learn the basics of coding and web design foundations. In addition, you can build your technical skills by taking classes that teach data analytics, project management, and digital marketing.
Although the self-education route is plausible, you can deepen your technical skills and stay up to date on current business trends by getting a Master’s in Business Administration. By doing so, you can become more business savvy by building technical and soft skills simultaneously.
Another in-demand skill to develop is remote leadership.
Remote Leadership Skills
Remote leadership is a relatively new concept birthed during the recent surge in remote work. This leadership style refers to how business managers lead remote and distribute teams. You must develop your remote leadership skills because remote work is likely to be the norm in most workplaces in the future.
To learn the best practices for managing a hybrid or entirely remote workplace, you’ll want to study:
- How to create an inclusive workplace environment;
- What kind of technology and digital tools work best for a remote team;
- How to inspire teamwork and collaboration remotely;
- How to overcome the communication hurdles;
- How to set boundaries but remain accessible to a remote team.
Although you can certainly build your remote leadership skills through experience, you’ll also need to let your creativity take a role as well.
Creativity
There’s more than one way to do most things in business. Unfortunately, no executive should operate as if reality is black and white. Instead, you should understand that the business world operates in a world of grey. This means you must adapt to rapid change, make decisions on the fly, and inspire growth. In doing so, you’ll need a high level of creativity.
However, skills in creativity aren’t built overnight. Instead, it’s cultivated over time. Always be open to new perspectives on your team. Find creative outlets outside of your work that can help inspire you during your time in the office. Essentially, find what triggers your creativity.
Ultimately, learning how to tap into your creativity can help you be more flexible, open-minded, and willing to experiment when it’s time to solve problems, introduce new ideas, and better your team’s productivity.
Long-Term Benefits
By building these aforementioned skills and broadening your executive skillset, you’re guaranteed a variety of benefits for you and your business.
Lead Teams Better
For one, broadening your skillset will not only benefit you as an executive but those around you as well. In particular, it will help you lead teams better. By staying up to date with changing workplace environments and adapting your skillset as a result, you can ensure your team stays productive, collaborative, communicative, and motivated.
Career Advancement
You can also advance your career faster when you broaden your skillset. Developing in-demand skills allows you to gain the experience necessary to succeed in the next step of your career. Growing your skillset also gives you more bargaining power when it’s time to negotiate your next role’s job responsibilities, salary, and benefits package.
Whether it be effective communication, data analysis, finance, or another skill in high demand, once you’ve mastered these skills, you can include them on your resume to position yourself as the best candidate for potential career opportunities in the future.
Become an Invaluable Asset
Broadening your skillset as an executive is also important because you become an invaluable asset. As you grow your skillset, your wisdom and experience grow right along with it. And when you can leverage your wisdom, experience, and skillset to better a company, you become a hot commodity.
Stay a Step Ahead of the Competition
When you broaden your skill set as an executive, it gives you a leg up on the competition. You’d be surprised how many executives fail to think about broadening their skillsets, let alone actually doing it. By taking the initiative and developing in-demand skills on your own, you distance yourself from other executives and give your company the advantage too.
Conclusion
The importance of broadening your skillset as an executive is immeasurable. You must be a lifelong learner no matter how high you climb on the corporate ladder.
As we’ve discussed, there are plenty of benefits to simply honing some of the skills already mentioned. However, know that building your skills as an executive is just like your journey in life: it isn’t about the destination — it’s about the journey.
With that in mind, it’s best to give yourself some grace as you take time out of your daily schedule to build your skills and become a better executive.
