Five Essential Qualities of a Successful SME Employee

5 Qualities the SME Employee of Today Needs to Imbibe

A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him. — Late David Brinkley, Newscaster, NBC and ABC

A key asset for any business is its skilled workers. They play a crucial role in the constant growth of a business and its reputation in the market. A strong team that believes in the direction the company is taking and the work they do ensures a collective effort towards success. Such a team will be able to face challenges especially in an unprecedented world event like the Covid-19 pandemic. Media reports have shown that the pandemic affected MSME earnings in India, by as much as 20% to 50%, with micro and small organizations taking most of the brunt due to lack of liquidity.

The immediate fallout of the pandemic has been the shifting to a remote working set-up, ensuring the least disruption in work processes. Adapting to a new work-home balance has been hard on employees, and companies have recognized this fact. In companies where there has been a higher focus on mental health, flexible work-from-home protocols and support from the organization to help with the transition, employee retention has been higher.

The onus of dealing with such unprecedented times however does not lie only with the employer. Employees have a crucial role to play in keeping things afloat and helping an organization adapt to the evolving rules of the game, as we continue to deal with the pandemic even after 15 months. A 2020 Gartner study concluded that the requisite number of skills needed for a single job increases by 10% annually. Almost one-third of the skills that were considered necessary for the average job in 2017 will lose relevance in 2021. The pandemic has simply accelerated the need for an employee to reinvent themselves to stay in the game. Here are some qualities that SME employees should cultivate in the evolving work environment:

Ownership of Role in Company: With so much change taking place around us all the time, employees will need to step up their game and take ownership of their positions in the company. Much like entrepreneurs, they will need to depend more on themselves to chart a course ahead, as opposed to relying completely on their organization. This is especially applicable to entry-level employees who have completed necessary training when joining the company. Being self-motivated enough to hit the ground running is key to ensuring success.

Identify Areas to Upgrade: Organizations and employee roles are evolving quickly in the current scenario to adapt to the needs of the market. Skill sets need to change, upgrade and merge to help keep up. Training methods will now have to evolve to include modules on remote working, online workspace etiquette, cyber-security, physical and mental health. An employee can proactively identify areas that need to be addressed and collaborate with the company to ensure these are carried out.

Enhancing Digital Capabilities: A 2020 McKinsey report says that around 85% of the companies they surveyed had accelerated their digitization programs. Such digitization is only going to increase, making it necessary for employees to keep up. An employee needs to work on getting comfortable with the technologies the company plans to work with. They will also need to understand the various metrics of evaluation involved and come up with ways to make the best use of the technology being adopted, in their respective roles.

Improving Communication Skills: Seamless communication has always been a necessity in any organization. Now, more than ever, the right communication skills are required, not just within one’s area of expertise, but across platforms. Being able to make presentations online or on phone instead of in-person; ensuring brevity with specifics in written communication, and making efficient use of all forms of communication will ensure complete engagement with colleagues.

Adapting on the Move: As companies are working out the best ways to enhance employee productivity and ensure ideal customer interaction, working models are bound to change. Employees must adapt to the changes, even if it makes them slightly uncomfortable. Adding new dimensions to the role and opening up to new possibilities is the requirement of an employee in these times.

The changes happening in the corporate and business worlds because of the pandemic are here to stay. The new requirements of employees and organizations will continue to evolve and one must keep pace. It may be a tough ask for some, but it is not an impossible one. To build a new world, every employee must come to the table with the best they have to offer. This idea is best summed up with this quote – “Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it” —Lou Holtz, Legendary American football player

Problem-Solving Trumps Technical Skills in Employee Selection – Here’s Why

problem-solving

Employers are always on the lookout for candidates with in-demand technical skills. Fast forward to 2018 and we see a noticeable shift. A PwC survey asked CEOs to specify what they look for in potential employees. The results found that “while STEM and digital skills were seen as important, demand for these was outstripped by ‘soft’ skills – adaptability, problem-solving, creativity and leadership.”

This makes sense for a number of reasons and I will address 4 of them here.

1)     Danger of Missing The Big Picture

Techies can write reams of code or create complex systems, but finding solutions to business problems takes much more than that. It requires critical thinking and problem solving skills to assess a problem and understand what the client or product requires. Without this, a developer could become so focused on code and development that he misses the complete purpose.

Providing a Solution – that is the goal an employee needs to keep in mind.  “When I’m interviewing a candidate, I’m looking for someone who genuinely enjoys helping people find solutions, because whether you work for a church or for a tech startup, ultimately, we’re all helping people find solutions,” says CEO of Vanderbloemen Search Group, William Vanderbloemen. “I believe this so strongly, that “solution-side living” is one of the core values at my company, Vanderbloemen,” he concludes.

2)     Resources Wasted on Non-Problems

Overengineering. That is the bug that can affect an employee who might have excellent technical skills but lacks the balance needed to create a product that has value for the end user.

Let’s illustrate this with a classic real life example. Juicero was a $400 wifi-connected juice machine. The machine could can only be refilled with single-purpose pods that were filled with crushed fruit and veg. These pods cost around $5-8 per 230ml. The idea raised $120m in venture capital funding and the machine was developed with preorders close to $690. All went well until consumers realized that the juicer wasn’t needed at all. The pods could be crushed just as well with their bare hands! Tom Goodwin, EVP Strategy and Innovation at Zenith Media, said of the fiasco: “This is everything wrong about Silicon Valley in one note. A sort of unique sense of out of touch that makes people who ship chopped vegetables at 4000% mark up think they are changing the world because of a nice looking app. And then they feel appalled that real people don’t see it that way.” Juicero had to quickly recall its machines.

3)     Human Skills Never Get Outdated

With RPA and AI being adopted by organizations across sectors, the man vs. machine question is on everyone’s mind. However, the PwC study mentioned earlier had this to say: “It seems CEOs see the value in marrying technology with exclusively human capabilities. The skills they consider most important are those that can’t be replicated by machines – the (still) uniquely human, capabilities that stimulate innovation.” Developing human skills like problem solving and critical thinking will help an employee to remain relevant and indispensable.

4)     Importance of EQ and CQ above IQ

That’s a lot of Qs, and important Qs at that! IQ (Intelligence Quotient), under which technical skills fall, is extremely important. However, we cannot put that above other capabilities like EQ (emotional quotient) and CQ (curiosity quotient). These two are important considerations when it comes to employee performance.

A high EQ indicates strong interpersonal skills for relationship-handling. This is essential when working with teams and solving problems together. Handling high-pressure situations and good decision-making is closely linked to a high EQ.

A high CQ is an indicator of the employee’s aptitude for learning and problem solving. “If we can see that they fearlessly dove into learning about a new technology or problem, identified ways that they would want to further improve in the future, and are genuinely excited about the learnings that the experience brought them, those are great indicators of a genuine curiosity,” says Jessica Tenuta, Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer at Packback.

Finding the Right Mix

In today’s IT economy, the real value proposition for a client is a technical solution, which can solve a real-world problem efficiently. Services providers must look for employees who help them deliver just that. An ideal hire would be more than a person who is brilliant at writing code. He must be able to go the extra mile and identify the reasons for developing the product in the first place. He should have the ability to identify and recommend the need to develop something entirely different if need be. Most of all, he should possess the acumen to develop a solution that fulfills the need of the end user. Incredible technical capabilities with strong problem-solving skills – that is the secret sauce to a great hire.