The Growth Group Academy Blog
Inside every blog post, you'll find... insights on how to improve a unique set of success skills, actionable tips to get there, and a sneak peek into our Growth Group Academy global online community.
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So, What is the Growth Group Academy?
The Growth Group Academy Growth Group Academy (GGA) is an online platform and community providing instruction on the skills that make people successful. Our diverse set of facilitators provide instruction through self-paced courses using videos, downloadable exercises, and inclusion in the GGA online forum. These courses can be accessed on our easy-to-navigate online platform. We also provide live courses on Zoom and other online platforms with opportunities to interact directly with our facilitators and our international community members. Learn more about our courses here.
What Kind of Skills?
Most, but not all, of the skills we focus on are referred to as “soft skills.” Indeed.com defines them as:
“abilities that relate to how you work and how you interact with other people.”
Common examples of soft skills are:
- Effective communication
- Creative thinking
- Problem solving
- Organization
- Empathy
- Teamwork
These are usually compared to “hard skills” which are developed through training and development of technical knowledge. Hard skills are more focused on specific tasks or processes such as the use of specific equipment or software. Having a degree in accounting would be an example of hard skills as would knowledge in a computer programming language, such as C++.
So, Who Wants to Be Called Soft...?
How many of us strive to be described as soft? We avoid using the term soft skills because these skills appear less crucial when they are described this way. So GGA refers to these topics as “success skills.”
Two people can have the same technical ability but the differentiator can be found in the success skills they possess. For instance, how well they communicate with different types of people, their ability to build and maintain relationships with colleagues, their ability to influence decisions, and to motivate people to follow their lead.
We focus on helping you strengthen those skills that can increase your ability to be successful. Right now our Strengthening Effective Communication course is free! Check it out here using the promo code SUCCESS.
Who Do I Know With These Skills?
Take a moment to observe or think about successful people in your life. What success skills do they possess? Think about that manager who stops everything and listens intently when their employees come to them with a question. Or the technical expert who is adept at explaining their project clearly to a non-technical audience. Or the project manager that can motivate their team to follow their vision for the project. Or the employee who has built relationships with people throughout the organization and knows just who to go to for assistance.
*ACTIONABLE SUCCESS STEP:
Make a list of the success skills you observe or recall over the course of the next week.
What Are My Own Success Skills?
Now, based on your evaluation of successful people and their skill sets, use the list you made to take an inventory of your own success skills.
- How effective are your communication (including listening) skills?
- How has virtual or hybrid work impacted your ability to build or maintain relationships?
- How effective are your problem-solving skills?
Determine what skills you are the strongest in and what skills would you like to strengthen.
*ACTIONABLE SUCCESS STEP:
Ask someone who knows you well their thoughts on this subject too. Then commit to working on those skills that will most differentiate you from others.
HOW CAN THIS BLOG HELP?
Do you want to feel more confident at work, school, at home?
Will increasing your communication skills make you feel more empowered?
Do you feel a bit behind on your skill sets but don’t know where to start?
Our weekly blog posts are where to start! Each week we will give you short and long-form posts with insights on how to increase your success skills. Our facilitators, and some special guests, will author these posts on a variety of topics.
We take requests too- please comment below if there is a topic you’d like to read about.
In the meantime, please connect with us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter to read our weekly blog posts. We look forward to connecting with you and we wish you success.