What are some need-to-know skills in today's workforce?

In your first job, you need to learn how to act like an adult in every situation. "Act" is the key word!

And that means in every situation. Coworkers and even bosses can make some pretty outlandish comments from time to time, but you have to handle it as a mature adult.

Take a speech class, any speech class so that in a pinch you have a tried and true formula for giving a presentation in front of a group. This is especially important at work where your ability to deliver a quick bit of information in front of a group becomes one of the ways you are “defined” by your peers. You either can or you can’t. We have a meeting every Thursday where about 50 managers gather. We each take a turn going around the room and we have the floor for about one minute. Over the years, after observing your peers in the meeting, you began to rightly or wrongly label the person and you know who will be prepared and who blew off the opportunity to share. It becomes this indelible mark. “Oh, she’s the one whose voice you can’t even hear over the air conditioning.” Or, “He’s the guy that talks too long and you can’t follow any point he’s making.” Or, “Focus, this person always has something important to share with the group.”

One of my best qualities is that I don’t turn down the opportunity to learn a new program, but I may tell my boss that it will take me some time to get up to speed. Recently I taught myself iMovie on the fly and worked for three days until 11 o’clock at night to finish a promotional trailer. My hard work paid off because the piece was used at the launch of our new show and it was shown in front of about 200 executives at the network I work for. That felt great, and it allowed me to show people that I have creative talent.

No matter what your job, you’ll always have to have an uncomfortable conversation once in a while. It’s not something we learn in school, but knowing how to talk to people in different settings is essential in today’s working world. I’m a teacher, so I communicate with my students in a different way than I communicate with their parents, and I communicate with colleagues in a different way than I communicate with students or parents. It’s all about thinking about where that person is coming from, acknowledging his or her thoughts or concerns and helping with a resolution. I do this by playing out a situation in my head or even out loud with someone else before I have the conversation. The first time I had to call a parent about her kid’s behavior in class, I was terrified about how the conversation would go. I went to an experienced coworker and asked her to role play the phone conversation with me. We even took it a step further and my coworker sat next to me when I talked to the parent to give me guidance. In the end, I came across as confident and assertive, and I resolved the problem by communicating in the right way.