Growing your key skills
You’ve already seen the range of skills, aptitudes and characteristics that will be particularly valued by many SMEs. In this section, you’ll focus on two of the most important and consider how you might understand and develop them further.
Teamwork
There are many ways to develop your teamwork skills – from joining a sports team or a local choir, to volunteering to support a charity event or taking part time work in a coffee shop. You probably already have teamwork experience from your education or previous employment.
But simply being in a team isn’t enough on its own. There are many different skills that contribute to good teamwork, from listening and empathy to problem solving and conflict resolution. What role do you usually play in a team, and what are your strengths and weaknesses in a team environment?
To help you to reflect on this, you might find it useful to look at the work of Meredith Belbin. His research led to the definition of nine team roles, each demonstrating different behaviours. Perhaps you can identify yourself here:
| Resource Investigator | Teamworker | Co-ordinator |
|---|---|---|
| Uses their inquisitive nature to find ideas to bring back to the team. | Helps the team to gel, using their versatility to identify the work required and complete it on behalf of the team. | Needed to focus on the team’s objectives, draw out team members and delegate work appropriately. |
| Plant | Monitor Evaluator | Specialist |
|---|---|---|
| Tends to be highly creative and good at solving problems in unconventional ways. | Provides a logical eye, making impartial judgements where required and weighs up the team’s options in a dispassionate way. | Brings in-depth knowledge of a key area to the team. |
| Shaper | Implementer | Completer Finisher |
|---|---|---|
| Provides the necessary drive to ensure that the team keeps moving and does not lose focus or momentum. | Needed to plan a workable strategy and carry it out as efficiently as possible. | Most effectively used at the end of tasks to polish and scrutinise the work for errors, subjecting it to the highest standards of quality control. |
Don’t worry if you’re struggling to see yourself here. You might fall into more than one category. The Belbin webpage about team roles goes into more detail about the strengths and weaknesses of each role.
If you can identify your preferred role(s), this should give you a starting point to consider your strengths in a team and the areas where you might need to do some more work.
Resilience
Resilience is your ability to recover after a challenge or set back. People with greater resilience tend to see problems as temporary challenges that provide an opportunity to grow and develop in some way. In an SME, where the business highs and lows are felt by the whole team, and the wrong contribution can have consequences, resilience is an important skill.
The Indeed Editorial Team (2024) suggest 6 steps to building resilience in the workplace:
- Develop positive habits – have a good work-life balance and take time to care for yourself.
- Reflect on challenges – consider what was difficult and which decisions were most effective in overcoming the difficulty.
- Embrace a positive attitude – being more collaborative and engaged will help you to navigate challenging circumstances.
- Build trust with your manager and colleagues – developing strong relationships will help you feel more comfortable taking risks and finding shared solutions.
- Focus on what’s in your control – you’re only responsible for your own response and actions.
- Take breaks – control overwhelm and burnout by taking breaks and time off to rest and unplug.
Looking after your wellbeing is an important part of developing your resilience. The more positive and relaxed you are, the more able you will feel to manage unexpected challenges. Getting into the habit of making time for self-care will be beneficial to you throughout your career – so start that habit now!
Over to you
Plan some relaxation time now and share your plan in the comments below. For example you might decide to go for a walk after you’ve completed this section of the course, meet a friend for a coffee, or make some time for a hobby that you haven’t picked up for a while.
Graduates into Work: Understanding and Interacting with SME Employers
Graduates into Work: Understanding and Interacting with SME Employers
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