Core Competencies: What, Why, and How

One of our most important attributes through out our professional lives, our core competencies or skills are perhaps the very building blocks of our careers and life in general, yet we rarely pay attention to it. Wondering what I mean by ‘our’ core competencies? Read on!

What Are They?

When we talk about personal development or grooming, our skillset plays a pivotal role in how we turn out and mature through life. We are all born with certain skills or gifts engrained in our very existence that we take forward with us. These skills grow and mature with us as we grow and depending on how we hone them, they determine where we go in life.

We are born with these gifts, but they aren’t extra developed from the get go. We won’t understand calculus till we actually play with it. We won’t understand a Picasso till we actually jump into it (provided you have a creative, artistic mind that can comprehend abstract art). We have to develop our skills actively over time.

A simple example would be a sharp 5 year old that is good with numbers or is exceptionally creative. If he is trained right from that age, he could grow up to become a statistician, an astronomer, a mathematician. He could grow up to be the next Picasso, Al Khwarizmi, or Bill Gates.

These gifts are tools that we can use to make something of ourselves.

Why Do We Need Them?

We need these skills to make a difference in our lives. When we are planning an entrepreneurial venture, our first step would be to see where we fit and what we do best. Once that’s done, we build a team around us that complements our strengths and covers our weaknesses. These competencies allow us to contribute to the team, and society in general.

How Can We Develop Them?

The first step is to understand what your skills really are. Once you know what your skill set is, then you start experimenting and find out which ones you like the most. The ones you like the most are the ones you’ll be the best at.

You need to use these gifts and apply them to real world or even conceptual situations. Once you start experimenting properly, you’ll notice that you are better in some areas than others. Once you have determined a set of skills that you want to develop, start looking for ways to stimulate and apply those skills. The more you apply them, the better they’ll become.

The keyword here is the application of these skills in real world scenarios as much as possible.

Categories: HR, Management, Motivation, Personal Development, Thoughts
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