Enhancing Leadership and Entrepreneurial Skills

Question: Discuss about the Enhancing Leadership and Entrepreneurial Skills. Answer: Introduction Transferrable Skills refer to the set of skills that are acquired by an individual with his or her personal experience. These are the skills which if acquired in one situation or condition can be applied to another situation or condition and are also termed as the soft skills or key skills possessed by an individual. These skills are versatile in nature which can be curbed as per the specifications and requirements associated with a particular task or activity. Such skills vary from one job profile to the other. However, there are certain skills which are required to be present in all forms of job irrespective of their profile or description. Some of the must have transferable skills include leadership ability, team work, ability to manage time efficiently and effectively, problem solving and decision making abilities, negotiation capabilities along with ability to motivate self and team and organizational abilities. Employment opportunities that are present across the world are huge in number. However, the employers prefer some candidates over the others on the basis of certain parameters. Apart from the technical aptitude and knowledge required as per the specific job profile, it is often essential to have relevant work experience along with a set of transferrable skills. These transferrable skills are the ones that largely distinguish one individual from the other. Some of the common and highly paid jobs across Singapore are associated from the field of medicine, law, finance, human resources, management, politics, education, and sales and marketing along with information technology (Sbr, 2015). The candidates that look for the employment opportunities are endless in number and therefore it is essential for the job seekers to develop skills that are transferrable in nature and can be applied across various roles and domains (Bennett, 2006). The research has been conducted to analyze the transf errable skills that are most and least required. In order to evaluate and come up with these skill sets, there was a lot of data that was collected from various sources of information gathering such as surveys conducted with the employees and job seekers along with the interview sessions organized for the low, medium and senior level managers. There were also questionnaires and brainstorming sessions that were done to understand the required transferrable skills (Liptak Shatkin, 2017). Leadership abilities of the employees along with the ability and dedication to work hard as a team were the skills that were evaluated to be highly in demand. It is because at every level in the job and for all the roles across all the domains, it is essential that an individual showcases highest amount of productivity for self and for the team as well. The same would result in the higher success rates for the projects and the success of the organization as a whole. The skills that are lesser in demand were evaluated to be imaginative abilities and determination that is put across. In Singapore, the job profiles that are highly in demand are primarily from the domains of medicine, law, finance, management, politics, education, and marketing along with information technology. These are the fields that have the roles and responsibilities that are based upon a defined set of protocols and work structure (Albalawi, 2015). There is usually lesser scope of imagination to add in to the role s. However, there is always a scope of innovation present in these fields which is largely associated with technical knowledge and aptitude. Apart from these skills, the ability to solve problems and make decisions in a quick and smart manner is also something that the employers look for. There are often risk situations while on job which require the individual to act quickly and smartly in a composed manner such that the problems are solved without an impact on the project progress. It is because of this reason that these skills are high on demand so that the business continuity is always maintained (Tejaswani Madhuri, 2015). Findings and Results - Job Skills Matrix Sr. No Business Sector Job Role Job Description Essential Transferrable Skills 1 Sales and Marketing Sales Manager Sales Manager would be responsible for ensuring that the best practices are followed with respect to the sales policies and framework across the organization and will also make sure that there are maximum sales incurred by the team during the given time period with correct sales strategy and approach Increase in sales, sales strategy and approach, assessment, review, audits, recovery measures along with compliance and adherence to the policies will be the prime responsibilities as a Sales Manager (Jobstreet, 2017) Leadership abilities would be essential as the Sales Manager would be required to ensure that the departments and the teams follow the sales strategy and methodology all throughout without any issues in the compliance There will be market risks and threats that will take place irrespective of the best practices followed. Problem solving abilities will play a prime role in such scenarios Sales Manager would be required to work closely with the managers and members of other departments along with the third parties as well. It would therefore be required to possess negotiation abilities as well Motivation is also an essential skills required to motivate self as well as the team members Decision making abilities shall be quick and smart to ensure that there are no loopholes in terms of techniques and methods 2 Human Resource HR Manager HR Manager would be required to work with the senior management of the organization and managers of other departments to bring up new and innovative HR policies for higher employee satisfaction along with activities such as workforce planning, recruitments, allocations, addressing of employee issues along with the fulfillment of training needs and requirements of the employees (Recruit, 2017) HR Manager would be required to work closely with the managers and members of other departments along with the third parties as well. It would therefore be required to possess negotiation abilities. The same would play a great role in assessments and recruitments Team work is an essential skill as the HR Manager would work closely with the employees of the organization to win their trust and engagement Ability to manage time would also be essential as the responsibilities and duties of an HR Manager are a lot Hard work and the ability to innovate would also be essential as there would be many human resource policies and methodologies that would be implemented on the decision of the HR Manager Communication skills would be of prime importance since the effective communication is a key to success in any of the projects and activties Discussion Top 5 Skills Leadership Abilities Across every domain, there is an organizational hierarchy that is followed that allows an individual to move up in the hierarchy on the basis of skills and experience. It becomes necessary for every individual to handle a set of team members and have the abilities to encourage them to work in the right direction and with the right approach. An effective leader would be successful to gain the maximum out from the team and therefore it is essential to possess leadership abilities as the essential skills and holds the topmost place in the skills that are required. Problem Solving and Decision Making Abilities Under every work profile and industry, there are circumstances that come up which prove to be a hindrance in the normal work conditions. It is essential to come up with alternative approach that may be followed along with the solution to the problems in such cases. Such decisions cannot be usually prolonged and are required to be taken in a quick and smart manner to ensure that the work progress in not negatively impacted. It is therefore required to possess problem solving and decision making abilities as the essential set of skills (Ryan, 2014). Communication Skills Communication is the tool for success in any project and holds great importance at every level and industry. In the absence of effective communication, team is often left in state of confusion leading to some of the fatal errors and mistakes resulting in circumstances such as schedule overrun, too much of re-work and likewise. It is therefore essential to possess the skill of effective communication at all times so that the team has clarity and complete understanding on the requirements, specifications and expectations. Team Work Individual contribution towards a set of activities is essential but it is a team that works together to achieve the business goals and objectives associated with a particular project. Team work and team collaboration are therefore of utmost importance for all the members. With the lack of the skill to work together as a team there are a lot of risks and threats that emerge in the project time period leading to a lot many failures and loopholes. Team work is therefore evaluated as an essential skill across any of the job profile and industry. Time Management It is often seen that the individuals have partial billing in various projects or are flooded with a lot many responsibilities in a single project with fixed deadlines that cannot be altered at any cost. It is essential for the individuals to understand and correctly estimate the time and effort that would be required for each of the activity and to have an accurate management of the same. Time management is therefore evaluated as an essential transferrable skill that must be present among the members. Leadership Skills A leader is a person that performs correct action and has the ability to inspire others to follow the same path. Leader and manager are the terms that are often interchanged. However, these two roles are completely different in terms of their specifications and descriptions. Leading by example is the preferred approach that is adapted by most of the leaders to develop trust and faith in others. Across every domain, there is an organizational hierarchy that is followed that allows an individual to move up in the hierarchy on the basis of skills and experience. It becomes necessary for every individual to handle a set of team members and have the abilities to encourage them to work in the right direction and with the right approach. An effective leader would be successful to gain the maximum out from the team and therefore it is essential to possess leadership abilities as the essential skills and holds the topmost place in the skills that are required. There are a number of points that justify and explain the importance of leadership. Leaders correctly understand the business goals and objectives that are associated with an organization and a project in specific. For the success of the project, it is required for the team to have the same level of clarity and understanding as the leader and the task can be fulfilled by the accurate leadership abilities involved. There are also times wherein the productivity and efficiency levels of the employees begin to decline and the reasons behind the same are many. It could be due to repetitive nature of work or loss of interest in the work activity. Lack of motivation is another prime factor that is involved behind such a downfall. This is the scenario wherein the leader has a great role to play and the leadership abilities are utilized to the fullest. It is with the aid of these leadership abilities that an individual may motivate and encourage the team to work with great zeal and enthusiasm to reflect the same in the levels of productivity and efficiency. Also, there is guidance required by the employees every now and then and the absence of the same may have an impact on the work progress. Leadership abilities are involved in such cases as well which enable the employees to have a clear vision and path presented for them to work and walk upon. It is necessary to have a healthy and suitable work environment present which can be achieved with correct set of leadership executed in the right direction (Khan, 2012). There are a number of courses and sessions that have now been developed for the employees to enhance their leadership abilities and gain a competitive edge in the market. A SWOT analysis shall be done as the first step to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats associated with the leadership aspect of the employee. Once the analysis is done, an evaluation shall be made on the level of improvement and enhancement that is required. There are a number of trainings that the organizations conduct for their employees in the form of web trainings or class room trainings that shall be attended attentively to ensure that the concept of effective leadership is well understood. There are also automated tools that may be used for effective communication with the fellow team members to allow the team to freely raise their concerns and issues and allow the leader to resolve the same (Abbasi, 2011). Apart from the training sessions and automated tools, it is also essential to understand the organizational culture and specifications as well. For instance, the work culture in a law firm is different as compared to that of an educational institute or an investment bank. There are also set of policies and regulations that are followed across every organization which are also required to be understood clearly. Leadership abilities are not only about emerging as a leader who may influence the team through any possible manner. However, it is the set of skills that allow the team to be influenced on the basis of set of correct actions and methods that are performed and be inspired by the same to adapt them in their own activities (Chuang, 2013). There is a lot of competition in the current era and it is essential to posses certain skills that may allow an individual to emerge as a distinguished self. Effective leadership abilities are the essential skills that would allow the individual to stand out from the rest and would also allow faster growth in a specific profile or organization. Therefore, these skills must be worked upon and acquired at all times and shall also be enhanced in frequent intervals to adapt the latest techniques and methodologies that are available. Communication Skills Communication refers to the ability to share thoughts, ideas, concerns and issues with the fellow individuals through a variety of mediums. These mediums may range from face to face conversations, telephonic mediums, teleconferencing mediums, emails, instant messengers and many others. Communication is the tool for success in any project and holds great importance at every level and industry. In the absence of effective communication, team is often left in state of confusion leading to some of the fatal errors and mistakes resulting in circumstances such as schedule overrun, too much of re-work and likewise. It is therefore essential to possess the skill of effective communication at all times so that the team has clarity and complete understanding on the requirements, specifications and expectations (Bean Watanabe, 2016). Communication skills are the ones that are not specific to any industry, domain or job profile. These skills are equally essential in a bank as they are required in an IT firm or a medical centre. Also, the job position or level also has a lesser role to play in estimating the importance of the communication skills. For instance, in case of an IT firm outsourcing web services and solutions to the client, there may be a project of web application development present which would involve a team of individuals with varied skills and roles such as Project Manager, Application Developer, System Tester, Network Engineer, Implementation Expert, Database Administrator and many more. The significance of communication for Project Manager to make sure that the team understands the requirements clearly would be equally important to the one for network engineer to communicate the occurrences of network attacks or network architecture and likewise. The same would hold true to all the industries and domains as well. It is therefore required to have the skills developed in terms of communication to ensure that there is higher rate of project success in an organization. With the realization of the importance of communications skills, there are a wide variety of courses and sessions that have been introduced across the organizations to allow the individuals to enhance their communication skills and also to gain a competitive edge in the market. The first and the foremost step shall be the conduction of SWOT analysis in order to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats associated with the level of communication skills of the employee. Once the analysis is done, an evaluation shall be made on the level of improvement and enhancement that is required. There are a number of trainings that the organizations conduct for their employees in the form of web trainings or class room trainings that shall be attended attentively to ensure that the concept of effective communication is well understood. There are also automated tools that may be used for effective communication with the fellow team members to allow the team to freely raise thei r concerns and issues and allow the leader to resolve the same. Apart from the training sessions and automated tools, it is also essential to understand the organizational culture and specifications as well. For instance, the work culture in a law firm is different as compared to that of an educational institute or an investment bank. There are also set of policies and regulations that are followed across every organization which are also required to be understood clearly. There is a lot of competition in the current era and it is essential to posses certain skills that may allow an individual to emerge as a distinguished self. Effective communication abilities are the essential skills that would allow the individual to stand out from the rest and would also allow faster growth in a specific profile or organization. Therefore, these skills must be worked upon and acquired at all times and shall also be enhanced in frequent intervals to adapt the latest techniques and methodologies t hat are available (Blizard, 2012). Managers of specific teams shall also work closely with the Human Resource department to ensure that there are fun and interactive sessions conducted at the organizational level for skill enhancement. In addition to the same, there shall also be one on one sessions conducted by the managers along with the informal sessions as a team to make sure that there are no concerns and issues prevailing in this area. It is the responsibility of every individual to work on the enhancement of the communication skills if they are lacking in the same and come up with advanced mechanisms in the associated profile. Conclusion Transferrable Skills are the skills which if acquired in one situation or condition can be applied to another situation or condition and are also termed as the soft skills or key skills possessed by an individual. These skills are versatile in nature which can be curbed as per the specifications and requirements associated with a particular task or activity. Such skills vary from one job profile to the other. However, there are certain skills which are required to be present in all forms of job irrespective of their profile or description. Some of the must have transferable skills include leadership ability, team work, ability to manage time efficiently and effectively, problem solving and decision making abilities, negotiation capabilities along with ability to motivate self and team and organizational abilities. Leadership abilities of the employees along with the ability and dedication to work hard as a team were the skills that were evaluated to be highly in demand. It is because at every level in the job and for all the roles across all the domains, it is essential that an individual showcases highest amount of productivity for self and for the team as well. The same would result in the higher success rates for the projects and the success of the organization as a whole. The skills that are lesser in demand were evaluated to be imaginative abilities and determination that is put across. In Singapore, the job profiles that are highly in demand are primarily from the domains of medicine, law, finance, human resource, management, politics, education, and sales and marketing along with information technology. These are the fields that have the roles and responsibilities that are based upon a defined set of protocols and work structure. There is usually lesser scope of imagination to add in to the roles. However, there is always a scope of innovation present in these fields which is largely associated with technical knowledge and aptitude. Apart from these skil ls, the ability to solve problems and make decisions in a quick and smart manner is also something that the employers look for. There are often risk situations while on job which require the individual to act quickly and smartly in a composed manner such that the problems are solved without an impact on the project progress. It is because of this reason that these skills are high on demand so that the business continuity is always maintained. References Abbasi, M. (2011). Role of Effective Communications for Enhancing Leadership and Entrepreneurial Skills in University Students. Retrieved 16 January 2017, from https://ijbssnet.com/journals/Vol.%202_No._10;_June_2011/25.pdf Albalawi, S. (2015). Transferable skills of undergraduates of sciences and arts at Taibah University, El-Ula Branch, Saudi Arabia. Retrieved 16 January 2017, from https://ecology.nottingham.ac.uk/~plzfg/EBBSoc/ejb13/10-Albalawi_et_al_2011.pdf Bean, V. Watanabe, J. (2016). 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