Personal Skills Inventory

Personal skills. We all have them. We all use them. Do we really know which ones are working for us or holding us back? Do we use them with purpose? Do we even consider these skills in our daily lives? Someone once said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.”

How we measure our skill set and what value we place on the results can make or break our success in business. Effectiveness can produce a positive or a negative result.

Why is it important to take an inventory of our skills and their levels? We need to know where our strengths and our challenges exist. We need to know where we are starting if we want to move forward. When assessing our skills, it is very important to be honest with ourselves. In his book The Last Lecture, Randy Pausch shares one of the greatest gifts his mentor gave him. The skill of self-reflection. He considered this the greatest gift a teacher can give a student. Ask yourself “How am I at looking in the mirror?” Why is this such a great gift? If we have the ability to self-correct, we will grow as a person much quicker and move forward in our personal and business lives. Some people refuse to take a look at their inner self, maybe out of fear or lack of personal responsibility. It is the easy way out to blame a myriad of causes for failure. It is not as easy, looking in that mirror with a critical eye; but the long term results are worth the immediate discomfort and struggle. IT may be the best gift you ever give yourself.

The other importance of understanding our skills is to understand how effective we are…or are not. It is quite likely that our short comings might never be turned around to a strength. It is important that they be at least at a minimal level of competency. Personally, I will never be a top-notch accountant, but I need to be able to perform basic personal bookkeeping so I can manage my money. When it gets complicated, I can then seek a professional to assist me.

I worked at a company where they charted 12 skills of the typical manager or what you might call an average line. They wanted all of the managers to strive to be on that average line. About 10 years after implementing this, the light bulb went on. They realized they had created a whole group of 'average' managers. This is where stagnation and complacency can set in. Companies should strive to contribute to the strengths of the manager so they can maximize their value in the company. Their weaknesses had to be at an acceptable level so that the weakness would not become a “fatal flaw.” The managers were expected to find members of their staff that could compliment their weakness and thus create a stronger team.

The key things to remember concerning Personal Skills:

• Assess your skills and be honest with yourself-this might hurt at first but it will be worth it later
• Make the most of your strengths
• Make sure your challenges are performing a minimally acceptable level
• Find team members to compliment your challenges-a strong team is a diversified group
• Make self reflection and correction a daily habit-don’t beat yourself up, just adjust and move forward
• Keep learning-do something every day to keep educating yourself
• How do we measure the 50 skills? We need to know where we stand before we can move forward.

Easy! Take a Skills Assessment.

The Personal Effectiveness Profile is available on line and takes only you 20-45 minutes to complete. There are basic questions to answer on a scale that taps into your knowledge and comfort level of the 50 Skills used by Direct Sellers. After you complete the assessment, you will receive an email with a pdf attachment. This will be the graph of your Personal Effectiveness. You will understand immediatly where you need to improve.

The graph is arranged with the skills listed on the left and colored bars extending towards the right. There are 3 colors used to mark where the skill was measured. Red, Yellow and Green.

Each color has a range and shows where you are within that range. Red warns us that we are low in that skill and there is defiantly room for improvement. The skills in the Yellow range show us we have some knowledge of that skill but are not proficient. Green show where we are comfortable and even excelling with those skills.

These colored areas coincide with specific stages of effectiveness in the Direct Selling business. Be-Do-Have. There is a link to download the guide booklet that explains the system, the graph and gives a description of each skill and how it fits into your success.

BE phase: score range: 0-30

DO phase: score range: 30-45

HAVE phase: score range: 45-75+

The beauty of this type of measurable assessment is that you can work on self improvement and come back in 3-6 months to see where you have grown. This information is so valuable because it is measurable and specific to an activity that you can pinpoint and improve on.

Some people that take the assessment are shocked to find out they are in the 'red' in an area they believed they were well versed. They may share this revelation with a co-worker or team member and hear confirmation that it is a true measure of that skill. "Well, yeah, Bob, you think you are a good listener, but you tend to not really listen when I talk with you."says Steve. Wow. Would have been nice if Steve had shared that with Bob sooner, but that is not how it works. People will not tell you because they don't want to offend or they do not have a solution to help you. It is awkward. They are not qualified to give an assessment, just a personal opinion.

As long as you are honest with yourself when you take the assessment, you will get a true barometer of your skills. A woman I know has been in one of the leading beauty companies over 12 years, has made a lot of money, moved up in the ranks and had the pink car.She is admired by her peers and has a large active downline and customer base that provides her with a residual income. You would think that she would score very high on her profile.
She decided to be very honest with herself when she started a new business and answered the questions on the profile based on her limited knowledge of the new company. She scored a 7. Yes, a single digit - seven. But she has a graph of the skills she needs to work on to be a success in her new business. And she can measure her growth in a few months by taking the profile again and comparing the graphs side by side.

Once you understand which skills are your strengths and which are your challenges, you can choose to improve your effectiveness. Find a member of your team that has strengths where you have shortcomings. Get more training on your strengths so that you can make the most of them.

Find a book or a coach, enroll in a course or seminar to help you with your lower scored skills. Decide which once are the most important for your personal and business success. Look to resources that give you a lot for your time and or money invested. Research on the internet, read reviews and testimonials to help you make your decision. Partner up with a peer or mentor for a weekly accountability session. Use email, a phone call or a brief face to face meeting to keep you on track.

Check out Skill Radio. I highly recommend this FREE weekly radio show. You will hear Clay Stevens, Master Trainer, 3 time Six-figure earner, coach and mentor interview a guest in the Impact Segment and then share with you the Skill of the Week. There is always a bounty of nuggets you can take away that day and implement right away in your business.

Get involved in a networking group, join a business simulation game play like the Residual Income Game and meet weekly to practice and hone your effectiveness.

So, there are choices for you to make: Decide how serious you are about your business and how much money you want to make. How much time do you want to invest? Are you in part time or full time? You can take steps today to raise your PEPs and lift your business to new heights.

You can cut your time to success by 6-12 months using the methods and tools mentioned here. I will be sharing each SKILL individually in future hubs.

To your Success!