[Neurons] 2008 Meta Reflections #54

[Dr. Hall]

From:  L. Michael Hall

Dec. 8, 2008

Meta Reflection #54

 

 

 

UP-SKILLING:

CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT

IN AN ECONOMIC DOWNTURN

 

 

This last week started with the Dow Jones Stock Market dropping 680 points.
Woooo!  With the roller-coaster ups and downs of stock markets all around
the world, some strange and probably challenging economic times are before
us.  And with millions of people being laid off (made redundant), and
millions of others losing major portions of their retirement (30 to 40
percent here in the USA), and with "recession" now being announced in
Germany, Japan, Britain, and the USA (as well as other countries) -economic
growth has shifted downward and people seem to be pulling back in terms of
expenses.

 

If all of this sounds like bad news, there is some good news within it.  The
good news is that as the world changes and as the changing of the world
accelerates so that there's more uncertainty, more radical shifts, more ups
and downs of markets, economics, politics, and so on-the people who will
come out through it on top will be those who are more prepared to adapt to
the changes.  The good news is that flexible adaptability will become
increasingly important as will the ability to learn quickly and thoroughly
and to unlearn patterns that no longer serve you.

 

Test yourself on these qualities and competencies.  Gauge yourself from 0 to
10:

__ I am able to flexibly adapt to changes.

__ I embrace change as inevitable and look forward to it as an exciting
challenge.

__ I have develop flexibility skills so that I'm among the first to embrace
change.

__ I have develop my learning skills so that I can learn quickly and
thoroughly.

__ I know how to unlearn and to release old patterns that are no longer
effective.

__ I am always working to expand my current skill-set of competencies.

__ I know how to keep skilling-up for jobs and opportunities that don't even
exist yet.

__ I think of myself as a free agent and totally responsible for my career
and career development.

 

            0 ______________________________________________________ 10

                        1         2          3          4          5
6         7        8        9

 

So how did you do?  How well do you know that your worth in the marketplace
and your competitive advantage there is a function of your productive
capacity and performance?  And if you know that, then you know that it is up
to you to take charge of your career and to always be thinking about the
next level of skills that you'll need.   You will have an eye on the coming
trends.

 

So even if you have a great job, you know that it is a matter of wisdom to
have a second one in the wings.  You know that it's wise to think about your
next career as the world changes.  The onus is on you to understand where
things are going and how you will need to market your skills in the midst of
changes.  It is completely your responsibility to keep gaining new skills.

 

Sometimes this means taking a job that pays less money so that you can put
yourself somewhere where you can pick up the next set of skills you'll be
needing in the future.  Sometimes it means asking for new challenges in your
current job simply for the purpose of expanding your skills (and get paid
for it).  Sometimes it means investing in your own competency development
through training and coaching.

 

In all of this, your success and financial well-being is all about skills,
competencies, and expertise.  It is about your adaptability, flexibility,
and accelerated learning.  It is about your personal, intellectual,
emotional, and creative capital and how you keep developing that capital.
It is about your personal creativity and innovation.   And if it is about
this kind of capacity development, then it is also about attitude, frames of
mind, and your personal meanings.  It's about how you interpret things and
your interpretative style.

 

So here's a futuristic prediction: In the future those at the top of their
professions, those who adapted the changes of the 21st century, and those
who mine the times of change for resources are those who adapt, who use
their mental and emotional flexibility to keep learning, to keep expanding
their skill-sets, who look forward and identify their next level challenges.
They were the ones who keep learning and who learn to learn faster and more
throughly than others (meta-learning).  They take on personal coaches and
consultants; they invest in training, in books, in DVDs.

 

They are the ones who think about their marketability and know that their
ability to create wealth was proportional to their ability to create and add
value in the market.  So they look for how to extent their skills, to become
more competent in creative problem-solving, and to actualize their highest
and best talents.

 

In the short-term, there's undoubtedly going to be more bad news of lay-offs
and economic slow down.  We are all connected on this planet as never before
so there's a lot of leveling out as our world becomes flatter (Thomas L.
Friedman, The World is Flat, 2005).  Yet even in the short-term, this will
be good news for those of us in the business of developing human capital,
unleashing potentials, and equipping people via coaching, training, and
consulting.  Those who realize that their economic future depends on their
capacity development will be seeking you out for up-skilling.  So here's to
the further unleashing of your up-skilling abilities!

 


 

 

 

 

L.  Michael Hall, Ph.D.

International Society of Neuro-Semantics

Meta-Coach Training System

P.O. Box 8

Clifton, CO.  81520 USA

1 970-523-7877

1 970-523-5790 fax

     www.neurosemantics.com 

      www.neuro-semantics-trainings.com 

      www.self-actualizing.org

      www.meta-coaching.org

      www.ns-video.com 

 

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