Essential Work Skills

Given the rapid rate of change in the workplace, prospective workers need to develop new skill sets to cope and thrive in this changing environment. Mergers, takeovers, and business closings will continue to be the business norm. Workers with the most effective work skills will most likely retain their positions and thrive in the workplace. This workbook provides workers and prospective workers with the requisite skills they will need to succeed in any work setting.

The Essential Work Skills Workbook contains five separate sections to help participants learn more about themselves and the work skills that they possess that are fundamental to their ability to work effectively. They will learn the importance of these skills in the changing workplace and complete assessments and activities to define the required workplace skills, determine their skill gaps, and learn what they need to know to be effective and productive.

• Leadership Skills helps individuals identify whether or not they have the requisite skills to be good leaders and helps them develop practical leadership skills for the future.
• Work Stress helps individuals identify how much stress they currently experience at work. They will learn to reduce their stress by learning good coping skills.
• Cultural Competency helps individuals explore how effective they are in working and communicating with diverse people in the workplace.
• Organizational Skills helps individuals explore and understand their specific organizational style.
• Balancing Work and Leisure helps individuals explore how effectively they balance work, leisure, community, and family activities.

These sections serve as avenues for self-reflection and group experiences revolving around identified topics of importance. Each section includes exploratory activities, reflective journaling activities, and educational handouts to help participants discover their habitual effective and ineffective work shills. It also provides instruction to enhance their most critical work shill strengths and reduce their weaknesses. Each assessment includes directions for easy administration, scoring, and interpretation.

This workbook is also available in PDF eBook format, making it simple to store on your computer or mobile device and to access with a PDF viewer. The PDF format allows you to easily print copies of the activities and worksheets during therapy and counseling sessions.

In what ways do you give people freedom to do their own work and in what ways do you direct them? Why?

Ask this aloud, “What are the benefits of having diverse friends and co-workers?” Call on people who have a response.

What are your favorite leisure activities and how do they meet your needs?