Make Layoff Payoff Part 2

The Process Pyramid

The process we will discuss has seven steps and it works from the bottom of the Process Pyramid, to the top of the pyramid in this order:

1. Skills Assessment
2. Roles & Goals
3. Personal Mission Statement
4. Goals Matrix
5. Act on Goals
6. Monitor Results
7. Success

The path to success begins with an honest skills assessment . If you are not completely honest with yourself when you do the skills assessment, then you are attempting to build a house with flawed materials. Remember, success for most of us does not necessarily mean riches beyond belief or going from an ordinary worker to CEO of major corporation. Success is something that you must define in terms of what it means to you personally. For some people, success will mean being the CEO or rich beyond belief, but for others, success will mean something entirely different. Determine what success means to you, before you do your skills assessment. If you do not know what it is that you want to end up with, how can you possibly know what skills you will need in order to get there? It is simply not possible. If you were planning to drive from Chicago to Los Angeles, but did not know how to drive a car, then you would not be able to do this until you learned how to drive and passed a road test. The same is true with anything else in life. If you want to start a business, but know nothing about the business you want to start, then you must first learn as much as you can and do quite a bit of research and planning.

Step 1. Skills Assessment

So, just what is a skills assessment? A skills assessment is an analysis that helps you identify your current skills, goals, and required skills that are needed to attain your goals, and the required actions that will enable you to achieve your goals. Identifying realistic dates for obtaining the skills, attaining your goals, and taking action are critical components of your skills assessment. Once you have completed the skills assessment, you need to look at it each day and ask yourself, “What action have I taken today in order to move to and towards achieving my goals?” If your answer is “Nothing,” you need to determine just what it was that prevented you from taking action and eliminate that barrier. If you do not eliminate the barriers to your being able to take action, you will not be able to move forward towards attaining your goals. Look at the sample skills assessment below, and then complete your own skills assessment.

Start the skills assessment by writing your current skills in the first column. Next, write your major goals in the second column. In the next article about Roles and Goals, you will add goals that you have identified for each of the roles you play, but for now, concentrate on your major goals.

Now, for each of your goals, identify the skills that will be required in order for you to accomplish each of the goals. Finally, in the last column, write down the actions you need to take and do not forget to include the dates when you will take action. Obviously, this sample skills assessment is simplified for the purpose of illustration. Your own skills assessment will be more substantial.

Remember, you may have the best skills assessment in the world, but if you never take action, you will never have a reaction and will never attain your goals. Refer as necessary to the skills assessment in the example, to help develop your own.

Once you have developed your skills assessment, put it aside for a day and when you revisit it the next day, you may see it from a different perspective and be able to refine it making it even better. Have somebody who knows you well, critique your skills assessment and if you agree with that person’s comments, make the suggested changes.

When you are satisfied that the skills assessment is comprehensive and that the completion dates are realistic for each item, you are ready to take daily steps forward. Like a toddler taking its first steps, this will be difficult at first, but with each step, your confidence and strength will grow and your ability to accomplish will increase.

Make sure that the dates you set for completion are truly realistic, because if they are not, you'll become discouraged and risk the possibility of giving up too soon. Before you advance to the next article that I will post on Roles & Goals, finish your skills assessment as much as you can before adding your goals for each of your roles. In the next article, I'll discuss the importance of identifying your roles and goals. Good luck with your skills assessment!