Business skills and tactics

Business Skills and Tactics

In order to be successful in the business world one must have a broad range of up-to-date business skills. Project management, marketing and sales training are all traditional areas of skill development. Business writing, conflict management, negotiation and stress management are some of the many important soft skills or non-traditional skills that a person needs to be successful in today's marketplace (Online Business Courses, 2009). As more businesses become internationalized and cultural diversity becomes the norm, it will be imperative for businesses to make sure leaders, managers and employees are skilled in both traditional and nontraditional business skills in order to have a competitive advantage. This paper will review some of the literature that has been written surrounding this topic.

One may ace their metaphysics finals, but can they work on a team? Can they resolve complex problems? Can they communicate clearly in print and in person? These are just some of the skills that employers are increasingly demanding in today's workforce. According to Syracuse University public-affairs professor Bill Coplin, among the skills that will help keep workers marketable in the near-term are self-motivation, time management, strong oral and written communication, relationship building, salesmanship, problem solving, information evaluation, and leadership. In the future, there will be even more emphasis placed on skills that cannot be automated. These are what are known as hyper-human skills. These include caring, judgment, intuition, ethics, inspiration, friendliness, and imagination (Skills for Today and Tomorrow, 2004).

The most successful people in business all have certain attributes in common. Several personal qualities are important for success. These include a thirst for continuous education, personal drive and motivation, strong goals and ambition, clear vision, and always a great deal of passion. According to business school leaders, it is thought that there are certain business skills that are needed if one wants to get ahead in the business world. The first such skill is that of communication. Communications skills can take on many forms all of which are very important for success. Most people in the business world spend a lot of time communicating in writing. While the inter-office memo and the fax have been around forever, a good deal of a persons day can be spent dealing with their inbox. Reports, white papers, proposals and resumes are among some of the top things that one will need to master (21 Business Skills Needed to Succeed, 2009).

Social Networking skills are also seen as being very important. Not everyone is a social butterfly and many people struggle with making small talk. This is a very important skill to learn though, as it is often true that it is more about who you know than what you know. Speaking skills are also very important, as public speaking ranks high among the world's most popular fears. It might feel more comfortable working from the safety of a desk but at some point there is going to be a presentation to do. It is better to have some experience in public speaking than to get caught having to perform unprepared when it really counts (21 Business Skills Needed to Succeed, 2009).

In the view of business school leaders sales skills are not always what one might think that they are. People may not think that they need to sell, but everyone sells something everyday. In normal everyday life people sell by persuading other people to see their side of something. Persuasion skills can also be a very useful tool to have. Negotiation skills are also thought to be critical in doing business. A lot of the skills in the business world are all the same but you always find those certain people who have been in business for a while can drive a hard bargain. Being able to negotiate is critical and if one does not have these skills they will lose out each and every time.

Planning skills are thought to be crucial to being able to stay in the game. Strategic planning is valuable as a business that reels from one crisis to the next is not going to stay around very long. Having leaders that possess the ability to lay down strong strategic plans is vitally important. Project management is the new trend that works to make the life of the leaders and the team less stressful. Things get done on time and on budget when these skills are utilized. Financial planning is seen as one of the top reasons why businesses go under. Bad financial planning always spells doom. If all of the cash flows in the wrong direction there won't be a business for very long. Someone within the organization needs a firm grip on the numbers which makes this a very important skill to have. Risk management planning should also be done in order to assure success. If a person can imagine a risk then they can plan for it from the beginning and set up a plan to mitigate it long before it ever occurs (21 Business Skills Needed to Succeed, 2009).

Logistics planning is seen as important as every business has inputs and outputs. So having people in the right jobs with what they need when they need it to get their work done is important. Productivity skills are important in order to keep the flow of every day business moving. Time management helps to reduce stress and increases a person's respect. Being where you need to be on time is very important to having things run smoothly, especially for management level people. Meeting management is also important in order to respect other peoples time. Planning meetings that are productive and successful is an important skill to have. Most people hate to spend time in meetings. Unfortunately they are a common part of most people business day. So making the most of them is best that one can hope for (21 Business Skills Needed to Succeed, 2009).

Having good leadership skills is important so that one can get people to follow them and get things accomplished. If no one listens to anything that you say then an effective leader you are not. Also having effective systems brings about consistency and efficiency while reducing costs. Learning how to create and implement both human and automated systems can go a long way to being more productive and competitive. Personal productivity is a necessary skill for leaders as one can't lead other people until they work out how to get the best out of themselves. Part of being a good leader is leading by example, so knowing one's self is a very important step towards making this happen (21 Business Skills Needed to Succeed, 2009).

Creativity allows for changes to be made and processes to be improved within an organization. Many people disregard their creative side feeling that it is better to be all about the logic. In fact some of the most successful business people are also the most imaginative and creative. It is often said that if you can imagine it you can create it, and if you create it then you can make it work. People are often surprised how few mad inventors there really are, most products are invented in a marketing office while people are trying to solve the problems that they are faced with everyday (21 Business Skills Needed to Succeed, 2009).

Problem Solving is seen as a big part of surviving in the business world. One needs to know how to solve problems quickly and effectively. Employees' that are good at keeping their head in a crisis while fighting fires is a worthwhile asset to any business. People who have these skills are often sought after in the business world. People who can brainstorm great ideas will often be one step ahead of everyone else. Thinking on your feet is a great skill to master in the business world (21 Business Skills Needed to Succeed, 2009)

Traditional Business Skills and Tactics

Traditional business skills have been defined in many ways. They are usually referred to as the technical skills or knowledge competencies a person must master before it is possible to use them (Litecky, 2004). They tend to be very specific and teachable abilities. Technical skills deal with the ability to perform specialized tasks that are often acquired through education or experience. These are typically skills that are very teachable and are often learned by rote learning strategies.

In the views of Davis and Berdrow (2008), in order for a company to be successful it must be based on an approach that involves many of the traditional functional skills that have been around the organization forever, along with many new skills that are just hitting the business world today. Unfortunately, most business school curricula are based on the older traditional organizational structure that dominated businesses throughout most of the twentieth century. This structure typically consisted of vertically organized functions or silos, such as production, marketing, and finance, with each silo operating independently of the others. Similarly, business schools today are usually organized by functional departments-such as marketing, finance, accounting, and operations management and there is little interaction among them. Having this traditional silo-structured environment makes it very difficult to properly develop a curriculum surrounding service management. Because of this there is a significant gap that exists between the education received by business school graduates and the skills that they need to succeed in today's service heavy environment.

Non-traditional Business Skills and Tactics

Nontraditional business skills are often referred to as soft skills or people skills. These consist of the ability to communicate and understand people on an emotional level. These are often the skills that can determine the success or failure of a career (Thilmany, 2009). The skills are all related to human interaction. This includes most forms of communication, negotiation and leadership. Soft skills can be distinguished by different types such as informative, negotiating, listening, and communicative. Informative soft skills are those that send a message that has to be conveyed accurately. Negotiating or convincing soft skills is the art of being decisive. Listening soft skills entails concentrating on what people are saying and being able to deduce information about the speaker from what they hear and see. Communicative or socializing soft skills are a combination of listening and speaking while interacting with others. Soft skills are central to the success of managers and leaders because this involves the ability to work with other people (Dolan, 2001).

Everybody needs people skills in order to be successful. The ability to communicate with people and understand them on an emotional level is sometimes referred to as soft skills. These skills usually determine the difference between success and failure when people try to manage other people. Having good people skills can't hurt in presenting a new idea to management, or even in negotiating for a raise.

People learn soft skills from everyday life. Professionals sharpen them by training. This is often done in role-playing situations with others, and that can be an expensive education because of all the people involved. According to Thilmany (2009), there is a current push to try and improve these sills by way of computer training. A university in England has developed a way to do just this in the training of pharmacists. People who may be upset, or may be in need of critical information are good candidates for pharmacists who have good people skills in addition to their technical and medical knowledge. But because they're only human, pharmacists need to be taught some of those soft skills.

Communication entails more than just making presentations or writing reports. Communication is an all-encompassing skill that can be used to bridge a gap between miscommunication with someone from another country or culture or even from executive management within the organization. It is learning to have an awareness and sensitivity to those around and being able to articulate ideas to others and then receive their support.

It is thought that managers and leaders spend a lot of time communicating in a variety of forms, including face-to-face conversations. This is often seen as an underrated skill that needs constant improvement. According to the authors of Business Communication: Strategies and Skills, roughly 75% of all managerial time is spent in verbal one-to-one exchange. Communication is seen as the common thread that runs throughout every working day. Lamb-White (2008), states that these communications skills can take various forms that include:

Face-to Face communication

Telephone conversations

Written information including emails and memos

Formal writing including reports, letters, and strategies.

The richest form of communication is face-to-face where the entire range of information, both verbal and non-verbal, is available and therefore where the accuracy of the information can be checked. There are three key components that are necessary in order to have effective face-to-face communication. These are the guiding principles that contribute to the quality of verbal communication and by association, the outcome. These skills are useful within any kind of information but particularly within appraisal, coaching and team development processes (Lamb-White, 2008).

Many managers find themselves in the position to have to provide feedback to their employees. This should always be done through face-to-face communication. Feedback is a supportive process and should be used to reinforce ongoing behavior. It can also be a corrective process, which induces changes in behavior. In the view of Lamb-White (2008), both of these roles are beneficial if the execution is carried out in the right way. Feedback should be given within an atmosphere of mutual trust rather than in a hostile environment. It should be specific rather than general and should be given using clear and concise language. There is a right time for giving a feedback so that it will be effective. Feedback should be assessed in order to check for agreement and acceptance. It should also be tailored to the ability and authority of the receiver so the key messages can be accepted and understood. A balanced level of feedback should be provided that is neither too little or overwhelming. Feedback allows the receiver to see him or herself as others see them and provides them with opportunities to adjust behaviors if necessary. Without good communication skills though, feedback messages will be hard to deliver and not well accepted by the receiver.

People in every workplace talk about building the team, working as a team, and being on a team, but few understand how to create the experience of team work or how to develop an effective team. Belonging to a team, in the broadest sense, is a result of feeling part of something larger than one's self. It has a lot to do with your understanding of the mission or objectives of your organization (Heathfield, 2009). Teaming is a group of employees working together to accomplish goals. Each person on the team has a set of skills that adds to the whole. Working with others is an essential tool. As companies reorganize and employees are let go, those that are left behind have an increase in workload and must work together to complete tasks (Schermerhorn, 2008).

According to Heathfield (2009), in a team-oriented environment, one can contribute to the overall success of the organization. Working with fellow members of the organization in order to produce these results is the result of good teamwork. Even though people have a specific job function and belong to a specific department, they are unified with other organization members in order to accomplish the overall objectives of the organization. The bigger picture drives everyone's actions as their function exists to serve the bigger picture.

Possessing the skills that are needed in order to build good teams and then manage them on a daily basis is a good way to be invaluable to an organization. Creating an environment that allows employees to feel that they are all part of the team and that they are all working towards the same goals as opposed to each department within the organization being separated from everyone else is a good goal to have. This tends to increase employee morale which in turn increases productions and employee satisfaction.

Ethics, whether it is personal or business, is a group of moral standards that have been considered carefully and have been accepted and applied to the situations and issues in people's lives to help them decide what is right or wrong behavior. Employees observe the behaviors of their leaders to find out what is valued in the organization.

Maintaining corporate social responsibility is important to everyone, and in many instances, a minimum in ethical practices has been mandated by federal, state and local law. It is important for a company to educate themselves on the legal compliance with ethical business practice that they need to maintain to remain well within those legal boundaries. Creating a comprehensive policy of workplace ethics and responsibility, and making sure it's easily accessible by everyone in the company is vital. Spelling out not only the behavioral expectations but also the consequences one can expect when those expectations are not met is key to success (Roe, 2009).

Another area that is being targeted as a soft skill needed by managers is emotional intelligence (EI). Improving non-traditional business skills seems to be the emphasis in what used to be considered a traditional skills industry (Dolan, 2001). Emotional intelligence (EI), according to the experts is a type of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one's own and others' emotions and to discriminate among them. This information is then used to guide one's own thinking and actions. Emotional intelligence has also been described as the intelligent use of emotions. If one is intentionally able to make their emotions work for them using them to help guide their behavior then they are said to be emotionally intelligent (Tucker, Sojka, Barone, and McCarthy, 2000).

Emotional intelligence has been popularized in the business realm by describing its importance as an ingredient for successful business careers and as a crucial component for effective group performance. According to Tucker, Sojka, Barone, and McCarthy (2000), it is thought that EI plays an increasingly important role at the highest levels of the company, where differences in technical skills are of negligible importance. In other words, the higher the rank of the person considered being a star performer, the more emotional intelligence capabilities showed up as the reason for his or her effectiveness.

Recent changes in the work environment suggest that EI will be of increasing importance to managers in the new millennium. To deal with rapid technological and social change, individuals need the interpersonal competencies included in the emotional intelligence construct: the ability to recognize and respond to the emotions and feelings of others, as well as the skill to help others manage their emotions. In today's information-technology-driven environment, teams, as opposed to individuals, are often the primary work unit. Research has shown that high group performance for creativity and practicality of ideas was enhanced when groups did not contain any member who was totally out of touch with socially appropriate behavior. In other words, successful groups have higher group intelligence, or members with socially appropriate behavioral norms and high self-awareness (Tucker, Sojka, Barone, and McCarthy, 2000).

This all suggests that emotionally intelligent individuals who work well with others, and thus elevate the group's collective emotional intelligence, will be the most valued and sought-after employees. Therefore, if business instructors truly want to educate students, they need to improve students' emotional intelligence as well as their cognitive skills and technical competence. One way to do this is by incorporating emotional intelligence into the curriculum (Tucker, Sojka, Barone, and McCarthy, 2000).

Leaders are known for their excellent non-traditional skills. As mentioned earlier, emotional intelligence is an important competency that leaders should develop as organizations are being reorganized as flatter structures (Schermerhorn, 2008). This means that there will be more opportunities to be a role model for employees and gain their trust. Leaders are expected to have conceptual skills that will allow them to identify opportunities for growth for the organization and solve problems sometimes before they happen. This is the visionary skill that leads an organization to fulfill its mission and goals. As the workplace has been changing and becoming more culturally diverse, transformational leadership is vital for businesses to have a competitive advantage. Transformational leaders motivate, empower, and inspire employees to look beyond self-interests and work for the greater good of the company (Robbins, 2008). They recognize the need for major changes and are flexible and open to learning. They share the vision of creative change with employees and support them throughout the change process. Leaders, who aspire to be transformational lead by example, develop a vision for the company and promote it to employees.

More businesses are outsourcing those traditional or technical skills that have been around for years to other countries, leaving the soft skills as the business skill sets that are most needed here in the United States. This is being done in order to do business both globally and locally. The cultural diversity that has grown within organizations also means a manager must be able to communicate across different cultures (Litecky, 2004). This makes these soft skills even more important than they have ever been before. Individuals needs to be just as competitive in the workforce world as the businesses do, so the more skills that one has to offer the better position that they will find themselves in.

Conclusion

According to Raphel (2003), successful business people, no matter what industry they are in, have been found to share similar traits. They have a good combination of both traditional and non-traditional skill sets. They set higher goals than others. Successful business people are seen as mountain climbers who, having climbed one peak, look beyond to the next highest. They avoid comfort zones. In order to be successful people must get out of their comfort zones. People who stay in their comfort zones do what they did before because it's the way that it has always been done. Successful people are driven by accomplishments, not money. They feel a sense of pride because they have accomplished something, not just happy because they got paid for doing it. They solve the problems that they face rather than place blame. Sitting around trying to figure out who it to blame for what went wrong will get a person nowhere. Figuring out how to solve the problem and prevent it from ever happening again is the successful approach to take. Successful business people tend to look at the worst possible scenario in a situation. This helps them to eliminate solutions that would not work or that would make things worse and concentrate on those solutions that provide the most bang for their buck.

In the view of Ikonomou (n.d.), there are several reasons why people in business are seen as being successful. Successful people are always willing to learn. The greatest learners often become the best teachers. There is no right or wrong way of doing things. Each way provides a result that can be assessed and worked on from the learning that the outcome provides. Successful people often take action instead of just doing nothing. By default, doing something has to be a move forward in the right direction. Doing something means that the law of averages will ensure that success happens. Successful people often work to improve their time management by learning how time works and what it means.