The top 20 essential skills for success

June 23, 2014 - PRLog -- Liggy Webb, a best-selling ‘life skills’ author and founder of The Learning Architect, has identified 20 key skills that employees need to be effective, to face the challenging demands of modern working life. The list, which includes resilience, forms the cornerstone of a new Life Skills training portfolio designed to support a 21st century workforce.


“The modern workforce is faced with an increasing list of ‘essential’ skills. What are they and how can L&D professionals help their workers to achieve them all?”

Based on research using the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) model and her work with The Learning Architect, Liggy has distilled these ‘essential skills’ into a Top 20 checklist that employers need to address in order to create a happy and successful workforce:

Change ability
Communication
Conflict resolution
Creativity
Decision making
Empathy
Feedback
Goal setting
Healthy living
Life balance
Impact & influencing
Positive thinking
Problem solving
Relationship Building
Relaxation
Resilience
Self confidence
Stress management
Time management
Value & purpose

To meet a growing need for support in developing life skills, seven years ago Liggy founded The Learning Architect – a unique consortium of behavioural skills specialists who have researched and designed a comprehensive training portfolio to support workforce development. The group aims to raise awareness of the need for these core skills and offers employers practical training so that staff can cope better with the demands of an increasingly stressful society. Liggy and The Learning Architect regularly provide free taster sessions in modern life skills training (http://www.thelearningarchitect.com/public-events/), to showcase what’s on offer. On 6th July 2014 the taster session will focus specifically on Resilience.

Liggy Webb points out: “According to the World Health Organization, depression will be the second biggest cause of illness worldwide by 2020, while mixed anxiety and depression is the most common mental health disorder reported in Britain. In other words depression and stress-related illness is on the rise. Despite employers having clear moral and legal duties, not enough is being done.”

“These are shocking statistics. Every employer has a duty of care to its staff - to help them to face the challenges of modern working life. There doesn’t have to be a problem already before employers do something about it. Equipping staff with skills in resilience, for example, means they’ll deal better with change. Prevention in this case really is better than cure.”

Information about free taster sessions in modern life skills is available on The Learning Architect’s events page (http://www.thelearningarchitect.com/public-events/) of its website.

About Liggy Webb & The Learning Architect

Liggy Webb is a best-selling author and international specialist in behavioural skills. She works with the United Nations and travels to various worldwide locations including war zones and peace missions. She’s also the founding director of The Learning Architect, an international consortium of behavioural skills specialists.

Her latest book Resilience is a practical and accessible guide for coping with change and offers advice on how to cultivate the right attitude and inner strength. She is noted for her ability to distil complexity and keep approaches straightforward and simple. Pease email Liggy if you’d like a review copy of this or any of her other books.

Liggy is recognised as a thought leader on modern life skills and is regularly asked to be an inspirational keynote speaker across the private and public sector. She has recently presented at the Workplace Learning Summit at BETT, at the HR Directors Business Summit in Berlin, and in October will be presenting, along with Dame Carol Black, at the Mindful Employer's 10th anniversary conference 'Supporting Employers, Supporting Mental Wellbeing'.