Top 5 Skills Needed to Advance Your Career

With the Baby Boomers exiting the workforce, the next generation of the workforce is preparing to take on more leadership roles. Entering leadership roles means new responsibilities will emerge for employees. I’ve identified five core skills needed for future leaders, and skills that will be needed to advance your career. I’ve listed my five skills as the ability to collaborate across groups, resource and budget management, interpersonal communications, creative thinking and innovation and, finally, vision and leadership. Within each of the core skills, I’ve acknowledged how Microsoft can help you advance your government career.

Collaborating Across Groups

Collaboration is a critical skill needed in the workforce. Collaboration is an important skill for employees, as problems continue to grow in complexity, the answers may not always lie within the agency, and employees will have to work collaboratively across agencies to find solutions. Understanding how technology can be used to help collaborate is critical in the process, Microsoft Office offers dozens of services on how to collaborate across government. You can also download an ebook for some tips and tricks.

Resource and Budget Management

With the tightening of budgets across government and the need to do more with less, government employees will need to be proficient in financial management and possess the ability to identify costs drivers. The ability to show financial management proficiency will be a differentiator for many people looking to advance their career. Be sure to take a look at all the great resources from Microsoft, especially this ebook to help you become proficient in the technology you need to advance your career.

Interpersonal Communications

Interpersonal skills are sometimes overlooked. Think back to when you were in college, and you had a professor who was absolutely brilliant, but could not effectively communicate and teach their students. In many regards, the ability to simplify is a skill, and a necessary trait for future government employees. Along those lines, to be successful in government it will be critical to communicate among team members, and learn to effectively communicate needs to colleagues and managers. Using Microsoft Lync is one way that employees can work on improving their for interpersonal communications, be sure to download this ebook for some best practices.

Creative Thinking & Innovation

With tight budgets in place, employees will have to think creatively about how to best meet mission critical objectives. Doing things “as we’ve always done it” is no longer an acceptable attitude to have in government. The future employee will have to be ready to take a risk, think creatively and be a driver of change within the agency. In order to do so, employees will have to be proficient in using Microsoft 8. Microsoft provides some great resources in this guide on how to leverage Microsoft 8 to be an innovative and creative leader in government.

Vision and Leadership

The ability to show vision and leadership is our final trait that is needed to help improve how government functions. The ability to clearly express a vision, motivate employees and colleagues around your agency mission is critical for future government leaders. This also means being closely connected to the latest technology, and using the technology to build success within the agency. Cloud technology is one example, the need to fully grasp the potential of the cloud and how it can connect people and be used to connect people in a meaningful way. Be sure to take a look at this ebook which provides some insights on how to best leverage the cloud.

There are many traits that future government leaders will need to improve how government functions. Technology will play a critical role in that processes, enabling individuals to advance and improve how they deliver services to core customers.

What are the most critical traits you see for future government leaders? What Role does technology play?

Every day at Microsoft we are motivated and inspired by how our customers use our software to find creative solutions to business problems, develop breakthrough ideas, and stay connected to what’s most important to them. Check out their Microsoft Productivity for Government group on GovLoop as well as the Technology Sub-Community of which they are a council member.