26 May 10 steps to successful skill acquisition in your business
10 steps to successful skill acquisition in your business
As a race, humans have proved they are adept at learning, adapting to change and catching up. After all, there was a time when no one had a mobile phone or used a computer!
A vast array of brain science clearly proves that our brains have the ability to learn and to improve capabilities and skills with practice.
So why does learning a new skill or enhancing an existing one strike fear into the hearts of most people?
If you want your business to grow and be successful, then making time for skill acquisition is required again and again.
Josh Kaufman neatly shows us the 10 steps to rapid (20 hours) skill acquisition – something we are all capable of doing if we really want to.
All 10 steps make perfect sense and provide a brilliant checklist to ensure you are on, and stay on, the right path to successful skill acquisition:
1. Real desire is the first step – this skill must be something you really want for yourself or for your team.
2. Focus the energy of you or your team on one skill at a time – one and only one – and leave the others until later. As Confucius said, “She/He who chases two rabbits catches neither.”.
3. Set SMART goals – define your target performance level and communicate this to all involved.
4. Deconstruct the skills into subskills – breaking the skill down into manageable subskills prevents your team from being overwhelmed.
5. Have your tools readily available – make sure your team have everything they need, and avoid distractions and interruptions during learning.
6. Remove the handbrakes – remove the barriers that could derail the learning process.
7. Commit diary time – put the 20-hour timeslots in your diary or in the team’s diary and dedicate time for practice. This commitment proves the skill acquisition is being taken seriously.
8. Fast feedback helps fast skill acquisition – Josh Kaufman states, “If feedback arrives immediately or with a very short delay, it’s much easier to connect that information to your actions and make the appropriate adjustments.”
9. Respect the clock – practice within the diarised time – this may feel like a long time at the beginning but will be less challenging as you become more accomplished.
10. Quantity trumps quality – getting things wrong is important in the skill acquisition process. Mistakes are part of learning.