REWARD
5) Empathy I’ve discussed the art of listening and communication skills. These are both pre- requisites in developing your empathetic skills. An empathetic person will sense other people’s emotions and can imagine what someone else might be thinking or feeling; therefore it’s important to understand the other person’s perspective and ensure you enter the conversation with an open mind. Possessing empathy as a soft skill will allow you to understand if you’re truly reaching the people you’re communicating with and will give you a sense of how your actions and decisions impact others, especially people in your team. Master this skill and you’re likely to build teams who are more likely to work effectively together.
open to feedback so ideally reach out to a colleague, preferably someone you trust, who will take the time to vet your presentation (including slides). Also, prepare your content in advance as this will improve your confidence, and minimize any last minute glitches. If you’re attending a meeting, ask questions! Speaking up will develop your confidence and get you noticed for the right reasons. There often isn’t such a thing as a stupid question; in fact, someone else may be thinking the same thing but are too afraid to ask.
well will lead to increased productivity, efficiency and the ability to meet your deadlines. Focus on the most important tasks – there are lots of applications to help you with this – then make a point of checking off your completed tasks, as this will give you a sense of accomplishment and keep you motivated and organised. If you’re really struggling to meet all your important tasks, speak to your manager. It might be that your workload is just way too much, or they may be able to support you in other ways to help you stay on track.
4) Problem solving Having problem solving skills allows you to quickly assess a situation to understand why it occurred and then take the necessary action to quickly resolve the issue. Time is often also a factor, and probably one common skill all payroll professionals understand. We’re all familiar with the tagline of paying all employees correctly and on time . This is one skill many employers will appreciate, so familiarise yourself with common issues which occur within your organisation and learn from your experienced colleagues. It’s possible you might be the person who finds the remedy to resolve an ongoing issue. Problem solving requires you to analyse contributing factors, for example: l is there software involved? l can you determine how long the issue has been going on? l what was the trigger? For example, did the issue occur after a software upgrade? l what intervention can you take? Can you gather a few key colleagues to brainstorm a solution? Will introducing a new process resolve the issue? If so, then you should test it out prior to introduction l evaluate all the options – the more seamless and cost effective, the better, so keep it simple l if the solution requires different stakeholders to get involved, consider producing a simple training guide. You might want to include explanation of why this new process has been introduced l going forward, monitor the new process to make sure the problem has been resolved.
2) Listening Listening or ‘active listening’ is about taking the time to set aside any distractions and listen to what’s being said whether this is in a meeting, attending a presentation or interacting with a colleague. Laptops and mobile phones are easy distractions. I hold my hands up, as I’m guilty of looking at emails or team chats when I’ve been in meetings, so I try to minimise this as much as possible. You’ll find that when you do actively listen, you’ll learn something and remember it afterwards. You’ll be able to contribute to the discussion going on in the room (remember what I said about asking questions), and you may even find the engagement rewarding. Also, if you’re not actively listening and someone asks your opinion on the topic being discussed, then you may appear disengaged or even ignorant.
6) Leadership All the skills discussed above are necessary leadership skills. Becoming competent in these areas will set you on the right path, but there’s more to consider. As a leader, there are other soft skills required, such as: l motivating and inspiring others l strategic vision l working creatively with others (this includes listening to feedback and incorporating some of those suggestions where feasible)
l establishing accountability l asking powerful questions l influencing outcomes l adapting to change.
It takes time and effort to build experience in all these areas, and to find an approach that works for you. There’s a wealth of information available on the internet, and places such as LinkedIn also provide some training courses in developing soft skills. As a product director and previously as a payroll manager, I have hired individuals based on their soft skills even though they have no direct work experience and then trained them up. In fact, these individuals have gone on to have very successful careers because they have been willing to learn. n
3) Time management Managing your time effectively is a huge challenge. Competing priorities, distractors and dealing with emergencies will play havoc with your time management schedule. However, managing your time
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| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
Issue 89 | April 2023
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