skills
Enhance Your Professional Status with CPD Badges
You put in a solid day’s work for a full day’s pay. While that’s something to be proud of, it doesn’t help you stand out much from the crowd. In a specialised technical professional field, it pays to distinguish yourself from the rest. Most everybody in the industry has a university degree under their belts,…
Read MoreUse Storytelling to build your Professional Practice
We follow brands for many different reasons. We share their values, we like their products, we find their content helpful. The main reason is that we resonate with the story behind the brand. As part of your professional branding, you need to craft and tell a good story. If you look at the companies you…
Read MoreDefining Problems: a most important skill you should have been taught
Einstein’s quote may sound extreme, but it highlights the importance of defining problems. By defining a problem well, we make them easier to solve, which means saving time and effort. Every professional needs to master the ability to define problems or challenges: “What is the specific problem are we trying to solve?” but few education…
Read MoreHow to avoid overwhelm and complete projects
Whenever you have a deadline, somehow, you’re able to get the job done working right up to the deadline. But other projects never seem to get done. We need to complete projects that are urgent, but projects that are very important but not so urgent often gets left for tomorrow (and maybe never!). How do…
Read MoreProfessionals need to use strategic thinking
When you hear the words strategic thinking what comes to mind?Do you shudder and say to yourself — not for me? Or do you glaze over and just want to get on with the job at hand? Plan your work, work your plan I’ve observed that many professionals only plan their work one day at a time. They…
Read MoreHow can you be more certain in getting decisions made?
A big challenge for technical professionals is how to get decisions, such as approval to their proposals. Along the path from technical detailed analysis and design to a strategic proposal, technical professionals can be challenged with the ‘strategic’ bit in selling the ‘story’ why the proposal is value for money and should be approved. Firstly,…
Read MoreWhat can you do about the half-life of your professional knowledge?
With the exponential growth in information, professionals face a knowledge half-life dilemma. I love the line in Men in Black where Tommy Lee Jone’s character says: 1,500 years ago, everybody knew that the Earth was the center of the universe. 500 years ago, everybody knew that the Earth was flat. And 15 minutes ago, you…
Read More