Hiring power skills will help you find people who have something more than hard skills to offer your team.
Power skills can be difficult to define. They're not necessarily hard skills—like writing code or giving a presentation—but they are soft skills that are hard to teach. That's because they involve an element of innate talent, but also require time and practice before they can become second nature. Power skills tend to involve communication, empathy and emotional intelligence. They are exactly what your organization needs to traverse the Power Skills Economy successfully.
Power skills are best understood and analyzed when clustered together into:
- Power Virtues, which include Optimism, Joy, Kindness, Happiness, Ethics, and Integrity
- Power Qualities, which include Patience, Empathy, Flexibility, Forgiveness, and Generosity
- Power Leadership & Communication, which includes Followership, Teamwork, and Communication
- Power Productivity, which include Time Management, Drive, and Tenacity
- Power Learning and Development, which includes Learning, Curiosity, and Awe
Power Virtues: why Optimism, Joy, Kindness, Happiness, Ethics, and Integrity should be core virtues in your organization.
When you think of joy, it's not something that comes to mind first when talking about work but having a joyful workforce will improve employee retention and productivity as well as contribute to employee engagement. Joy is the feeling of pleasure from experiencing or completing an activity such as doing a task that is meaningful or interesting to us.
Optimism is believing that good things will happen in the future despite evidence to the contrary; hope for better times ahead without waiting idly for them - this is powerful tool when dealing with challenges at work.
Kindness provides wisdom for how we relate with others around us by treating them with respect and dignity regardless of who they are or what they've done before - this creates trust within an organization among its members which helps create healthy relationships between co-workers/managers etc.
Happiness involves more than just good feelings; it also means having enough energy available on demand so nothing stops us from accomplishing our goals while staying balanced emotionally & physically throughout working day(s). Those who are happy tend toward being less stressed out over time because they enjoy life more fully than those who don't feel happy all day long.
Ethics and integrity are important in all aspects of life, but especially so when it comes to work. This is because we tend to spend more time at work than anywhere else, which makes it imperative that we have an environment where people feel safe and secure as well as being proud of what they do each day. When people behave ethically and honestly, it builds trust and respect between teammates. Having a strong sense of ethics means not taking shortcuts or doing things that are wrong even if no one is watching; it means doing the right thing even when no one else is looking because you know it's good for everyone involved.
Now, how do you find people who share these values? And how do you know if your current people share these values? We’ll use personality assessments and surveys to get the answers we need. Good assessments and surveys are designed to insights that are not present at a surface level. These are the ones that surface information about optimism, joy, happiness, kindness, ethics, and integrity:
- We-Q: When it comes to assessing ethereal characteristics like optimism, joy, happiness, and kindness, Learning in Action’s We-Q is your tool of choice. We-Q uses video segments to surface emotional intelligence and relationship characteristics.
- Chally: This personality assessment is able to predict potential capacity in over 100 business and sales behaviors, including motivations and personality traits. The Chally assessment has several scales that speak to happiness, optimism, ethics, and integrity.
- Hogan and Hogan Judgement: The Hogan assessment and Hogan Judgement assessment are well-respected personality assessments that speak to bright side/dark side facets of personality.
- Talexes MX: This quick, but effective personality assessment also includes an interest questionnaire that help you assess for these qualities.
In Part 2, we talk about Power Qualities and Power Leadership and Communication. Check back in next week or better yet, subscribe now!
Ready to start learning and assessing your potential hires and existing people for power skills with TalentUI?
