Knowledge Center: 6 Essential Skills All Employees Will Need in 2011

Sunday, June 5, 2011

6 Essential Skills All Employees Will Need in 2011

Immigrants entering the United States through ...

Image via Wikipedia

When my Cuban parents came to the United States in the wake of Castro's revolution, the most precious possession they brought with them was their perspective. It was that perspective – their immigrant values – that enabled them to adapt, and ultimately thrive in a new country, a new culture, and a new set of workplace challenges.

Looking ahead to 2011, it strikes me that all employees will be facing a similar set of challenges. The United States is undergoing great change — and at an ever-accelerating pace – during these tough economic times post-2008, with upheavals in the political, social, and economic spheres all at once. The political mood is bitter, the social fabric is ripped in many places, and the economy continues to deliver bad news in terms of foreclosures, business failures, and high unemployment.

How to survive in this tough, fast-changing terrain? I believe that the values of the immigrant – in my case Hispanic, but of course, America is a mosaic of many immigrant groups – will serve any employee as she looks ahead in the new year and adapts to survive. Six values – and their associated skills – in particular seem to me to be essential:

1. Immigrant Perspective:

Like an immigrant who comes to a new country with nothing but faith, hope and love, all employees must not have myopia where opportunities are concerned. We need to see that opportunities are everywhere, every day, and we must make the most of those that cross our path. We need to see the opportunities that others don't see.

2. Circular Vision:

My family – like most immigrant families – experienced crisis and change in their mother country – strengthening in us a sort of essential sixth sense, an ability to anticipate false promises and unexpected outcomes. Because our immigrant perspective allows us to see opportunities others cannot, we are proficient at anticipating crisis and managing change before circumstances force our hand. All employees in 2011 will need to develop this ability to see around the corners up ahead.

3. Latin Passion:

Our ability to inject intense passion into everything we do makes us potent pioneers. We not only blaze paths few would go down, we see them through to the end. Our passion opens new doors of possibilities that we aim to share with others. When the terrain is difficult, only passion for the quest will see you through.

4. Entrepreneurial Spirit:

In America, you might be an entrepreneur. In Latin America, you must be one. The ability to see and seize opportunities to build relationships, advance commerce, and better humanity is an inborn survival mechanism for immigrants – and must become one for all employees in 2011.

5. Generous Purpose:

It is our nature to give. We are raised to consider others' needs as much as our own. This begins with giving inside our family when we are young, and then, when we are older, we are taught that we are a part of a larger family all around us. Our propensity to give to others from our harvest ensures us a perpetual harvest. Employees who adopt this abundant, glass-half-full attitude will find 2011 a year of surprising opportunities.

6. Cultural Promise:

Our familial style of relating brings potentially everyone within the circle. The strongest bonds in business, across the entire value chain, occur when employees, partners and distributers alike are treated like family. The treatment is reciprocated and opportunities continue to arise. Our cultural promise is that success comes most to those who are surrounded by people who want their success to continue. Employees – and companies – that embrace this attitude, and practice this skill, will thrive in 2011.

2011 – the year of the immigrant perspective. Because the times demand it, and all employees need to embrace the opportunities this perspective provides.

Here are a few tips to get you started in 2011: