Definition of Skills

Organisation Intelligence

  • Teamwork – The ability to work effectively with others in order to achieve a shared goal – even when the object at stake is of no direct personal interest. Actively participates as a member of a team to move the team toward the completion of goals. Maintains strong, personal connections with team members and key stakeholders. Aligns personal work and performance with the broader team to achieve mutual outcomes.
  • Organisational Curiosity – Ask how people and things work within the organisation. Enquire about changes ongoing or likely within the organisation and the impact across employees and the organisation at large.
  • Political Savvy – The ability to exhibit confidence and professional diplomacy, while effectively relating to people at all levels internally and externally. Gains knowledge of Organisation culture, systems, and pressures; understands the agenda and perspectives of others; recognizes and balances the interest of one’s department with those of other departments / groups and the Organisation, as well as the impact of decisions on each.
  • Negotiation / Conflict Management skills – The ability to obtain maximum results from meetings in which interests conflict both in terms of content and maintaining good relations. Effectively explores alternatives and positions to reach outcomes that gain the support and acceptance of all parties. The ability to handle conflicting interests diplomatically and to help solve them. Deals effectively with others in difficult situations; uses appropriate inter-personal styles and methods to reduce tension or conflict between two or more people.
  • Ready to help / can do attitude – The ability to recognize and create opportunities and to act accordingly. Rather starting something than waiting passively for it to happen

Leadership Skills

  • Emotional Intelligence – The four domains of Emotional Intelligence — self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management. The ability to understand what motivates others and work more cooperatively with others.
  • Team leadership / Delegation – The ability to provide direction and guidance to a group of people and to encourage cooperation between team members in order to attain an objective. The ability to assign responsibilities and authority to the right employees, taking their interests, ambitions, development and competency into account. Allocates decision-making authority and/or task responsibility to appropriate others to maximize the organization’s and individuals’ effectiveness.
  • Mentoring – Develops a relationship of mutual learning between mentor and mentee. Helps the mentee acquire and apply new knowledge, skills and attitudes by explaining, modelling and giving effective examples. Draws out the mentee’s thoughts in culturally appropriate ways. Listens actively and use encouragement to facilitate growth.
  • Coaching – Encouraging and guiding employees in order to make their performance more effective and to enhance their self-perception and problem solving skills.
  • Project / Programme Management – Establishes courses of action for self and others to ensure that work is completed efficiently. Manages finances and organizational resources to enhance department, school or university goals. Deploys funds, staffing or resources economically and effectively. Implements, participates in and evaluates the results of programs, projects, cases or processes, and manages related resources, personnel and activities to successful completion.

  • Vision – Develops, articulates, and communicates a vision that leads a team or an organization towards a mission. The ability to create and persuade others (subordinates, peers, leaders, and customers) within and outside the team or organisation to buy into the picture of the future and get them to be willing to commit, make decisions, and take actions to achieve the goals.

  • Corporate Governance – Ability to collaborate at the highest levels of organisation leadership for the benefits of critical stakeholders. Deep understanding and practical experience in the setting of business direction and strategy, ability to drive corporate responsibility, and improve organizational accountability.

Self-Efficacy Skills

  • Effective Communication – The ability to show one absorbs and understands important (non-) verbal information and to ask further questions when necessary. The ability to communicate in clear language and to adjust one’s use of language to the audience’s level
  • Continuous learning – The ability to absorb new information readily and to put it into practice effectively. Actively identifies new areas for learning; regularly creates and takes advantage of learning opportunities; uses newly gained knowledge and skills on the job and learns through their application.
  • Time management – Effectively manages one’s time and resources to ensure that work is completed efficiently.
  • Effective Reflection – Being able to reflect on failures and successes in such a way that lessons are effectively documented and harnessed to be positively utilised for self and others in the present and the future.
  • Resilience – Maintains performance and self-control under pressure or adversity. Self-regulates emotions and reactions which enables the display of a calm demeanour in a variety of working environments. Meets programmatic deadlines consistently despite unforeseen circumstances.

Ancillary skills

  • Risk management – Develop a good understanding of risk identification and management practices. Ability to speak to the development of risk management programmes; risk assessments and solving risk issues.
  • Strategy – Critical understanding of requirements for achieving a long-range goal or vision; able to think through strategic alternatives based on logical assumptions, facts, available resources, constraints, and organizational values. Able to consistently and effectively plans for both long- and short-term, adjusting plans as needed; achieves key objectives.
  • Finance – Understanding of key financial terms and able to read financial statement with reference to basic ratios. Able to understand the impact of own and others financial decisions on strategic goals of a function / organisation and on the organisational financial performance over time.
  • Human resource management – Understands the basic human resources functions and impact of achieving an organisation’s strategic goals. Insights on own leadership requirements / demand to develop a capable, diverse and cohesive team to maximize their collective skills and talents. Key understanding of importance of partnership with the human resource function to attain group / department goals.
  • Networking – The ability to develop and maintain relations, alliances and coalitions within and outside the organization and to use them in order to obtain information, support and cooperation. Identifies opportunities and takes action to build strategic relationships between one’s area and other areas, teams, departments, units, or organizations to help achieve business goals