Hi there Fans of Plans, with lent just around the corner, let’s not look at what we’re going to be giving up; let’s instead focus what we can take up. So, grab a cuppa and let’s talk about taking up enhancing your skills set. 

Look for your weaknesses

We all love operating within our comfort zones, the skills that we are good at that we call upon time and time again to help us feel good about ourselves. But this can be short sighted, as we get stuck in a rut of just doing what we know. We could be missing out on a whole world of other skills and improving our business, if only we just put a bit of effort in. 

Challenge: Grab a pen and paper (if you’re analogue like me), or open a new document on your laptop and create two columns… 

Things I find difficult      |         Things I can do to improve these skills

By doing this and getting these weaknesses down on paper or on your screen, it can help rationalise them and figure out how to tackle them head on. 

In your column on how you can improve these skills, make sure that you write down not only what you can do, but also what time scales you can set to having done these tasks. 

I’ll give you an example. Now, I always say that I am one half of Countdown – that being the letters rather than the numbers. It’s not that I am terrible at maths (I somehow got a B at GCSE level), but I lack confidence with it and as soon as numbers come up regarding finances or budgets. I feel a sense of anxiety.

What can I do to stop this anxiety? Well, Fans of Plans, in the past I have been on courses (introduction to accounting), I’ve bought books (Accounting for Dummies), and of course I have sought the wisdom of friends and the internet. I can say that my confidence is a bit better now with the finance side of business, and it’s all about learning as much as you need to know. There’s a reason why we seek the help of professionals that have dedicated their careers to finance. But to work well, and have successful organisations, we all need to have a certain base knowledge in all aspects of business. 

Review and adjust

Once you have identified your weaknesses and taken some time to educate yourself, make sure that you reflect back – have you achieved this goal of turning a weakness into something you can now call upon in your skill set or is there yet more work to do on it. Don’t be too harsh on yourself and remember that we can’t be great at everything. Recognising where we need that extra assistance can be very cathartic.