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you waste on trivia? Is part of your week spent doing something that should really be delegated to
someone else? Scrutinize how you use your time and be ruthless.

6. Don’t know how? Work on continuous improvement. Sometimes you know what you need but
don’t know how to go about building it. If you come up against something you don’t know how to do,
don’t just work around it or dismiss it. Think about what you need to learn to tackle it. Who can help?
Where can you go for input and information? Always be looking to expand your skill toolkit and grow.

7. Ready to learn from a master performer? Identify and observe experts in your area. Look to
what others in your role or job have that you don’t have. What skills do they apply to the job that you
don’t as yet have? Talk to your mentor and ask them for information about what you are missing.
Seek their guidance on how you can fill the skill gap.

8. Curious? Make a commitment to learning. Learn how to become a learner. Reflect on how you
have learned best in the past. Read up on different learning styles. What methods of learning do you
enjoy most? What approaches are most productive for you? What approaches to learning could you
build into your regular routine going forward? Search online for information about learning to learn.
Become a learning junkie.

9. Need functional expertise? Identify functional skills required. Talk to someone more experienced
who can advise you on what skills are required for success. How have they developed these? What
have they not yet developed that they need in order to do the best job they can? Where can you go to
develop these functional skills?

10. Need new technical skills? Identify technical skills required. Sometimes the missing skills are
technical. What are they? Think ahead, not just about the here and now. What technical skills are
likely to become important for success in the future? How can you get ahead of the curve with these?
Perhaps you have technical skills already that you can build upon further. Who can help?

Job assignments
• Find and spend time with an expert to learn something in an area new to you.

• Study some aspect of your job or a new technical area you haven’t studied before that you need in
order to be more effective.

• Work closely with a higher-level manager who is very good at something you need to learn.
• Volunteer to do a special project for and with a person you admire and who has a skill you need to
develop.
• Study and summarize a new trend, product, service, technique, or process, and present and sell it to
others.

“When you have faults, do not fear to abandon them.”

Confucius – Chinese philosopher

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