31 Aug Sense of Community and Skills

It is time to rethink skills and the way we acquire them. Have you ever thought that your sense of community can reveal a lot about you in the workplace?

We always think of employees first as human beings and people and then as resources at work so why not focusing on the human skills we develop while being a member of our local communities to understand the emotional skills that one person will be likely to perform at work and in general to rethink business in a more human centric perspective?

Organizations are tackling important challenges such as climate change, sustainability and social inclusion. Sense of belonging, trust and accountability are only three examples of essential skills that can help a lot in facing these three big issues. Communities are certainly a potential talent pool where people develop this kind of skills and other significant values that can help businesses grow and generate a positive impact.

It is important though to define community as the advent of social media and global crises has slightly changed or hidden the vital role communities play. We mean a group of people who feel that they are on the same boat, that talk and think as “we” without the consistent division of “them and us” that has become so normal that too often we do not even realize it. We mean a group of people who share experience, humanity, respect, collaboration, empathy, care for each other. This is the sense of community needed in our businesses. We need people who share ideas and a sense of common purpose and identity. Local communities and virtual communities can teach a lot in this regard.

Think for a second about how you behave in your community, which skills are important to you? Do you have them and mostly, do you put them at the disposal of your community? Think about you at work: do you perform the same skills? Do you feel the same sense of belonging? Those who daily act in a certain way, will be more likely to perform these skills in the workplace and this will help creating a pleasant and human environment in which problems will be easier to solve.

If businesses recruit talents with those skills, not only will they manage to combine happiness, purpose and performance but promoting and boosting these human skills will help all of us solve the world’s most pressing challenges.

Gaia Urati