We’ve spoken quite a bit lately about management skills. One such set of skills focused on technical ability, otherwise known as your ability to understand and accomplish tasks based on your ability to use the various systems established within your workplace.
To kick off the week I propose a quick exercise. It’s designed to get your creative juices flowing while taking your mind off of the gargantuan tasks that are certainly going to be set before you this week.
Start by choosing some of the key elements we’ve been discussing. Choose simple words such as time management, conflict management, leadership skills, etc. Choose your favorite Internet search engine and do a quick search for each of the words you have chosen. After you’ve done this first set of searches, think of three or four companies that are competitors in your same field of work and conduct another Internet search for those names.
I’m not asking you to conduct any in-depth market research. What I really want you to do is take a few moments to reflect upon whether or not these searches were difficult to conduct and whether or not you found any valuable information. Was it easy to identify web pages that gave you valuable information on the search terms in question or did you have to continue clicking on a number of links before finding something credible?
If the idea of conducting a quick Internet search sent your eyes rolling back into your head in fear, or if you spent more than a minute or two on each search, you may need to evaluate your technical skills and consider whether or not you need to take a few refresher courses. Searching the Internet may not be one of your job duties, but I’m willing to bet that finding accurate information relating to your projects is an important element of your day.
Feel free to leave a comment and let me know how you did. As a manager, what did you learn from this exercise? I’d love to hear your thoughts and opinions.
We’ve spoken quite a bit lately about management skills. One such set of skills focused on 
