{"id":130,"date":"2017-07-05T22:38:50","date_gmt":"2017-07-05T22:38:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.realworldconsulting.kiwi\/rwc\/?p=130"},"modified":"2018-05-30T19:58:39","modified_gmt":"2018-05-30T19:58:39","slug":"the-most-important-skills-for-schools-to-help-develop-in-young-people-if-schools-want-students-to-excel-in-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.realworldconsulting.kiwi\/rwc\/rwc-blog\/the-most-important-skills-for-schools-to-help-develop-in-young-people-if-schools-want-students-to-excel-in-life\/","title":{"rendered":"The Most Important Skills for Schools to Help Develop in Young People – if Schools Want Students to Excel in Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

What is more important than academic achievement ? Read on…<\/span><\/p>\n

I was recently asked to evaluate the Strategic Plan of one of the most highly regarded secondary schools in New Zealand. It was a privilege to do so. Apart from providing feedback in relation to the specific strategic objectives that had been stated in this well written plan, I suggested to the Principal that (in my view, and based on what I have been seeing inside adult organisations during the past few years)…<\/span><\/p>\n

I consider \u201cthe\u201d most important skills for students (at all levels\/ ages) to acquire in the current day and into the future are:<\/span><\/p>\n

a) Understand that every human being is different and has both strengths and weaknesses<\/span><\/strong>; and the importance of accepting and celebrating the inherent differences in other people. And from a leadership perspective, how to draw the best\/ strengths out of other people.<\/span><\/p>\n

b) Understand how to question and challenge the status quo of everything around us<\/span><\/strong>\u2026to find fertile ground on which to create a new approach\/ methodology\/ product\/ service\/ value proposition. How to think and apply ourselves innovatively\/ creatively in order to create points of difference in our work\u2026points of difference that will be noticed by \u201ctarget markets\u201d as being such and which will attract other people to our work output. There is too much \u201cticking of standard boxes\u201d that still goes on in N.Z\u2026.following (having to comply with) tight prescriptions; at the detriment of creative thinking. As a Business Advisor in the HB region the No. 1 shortcoming of the wide range of businesses that I had as clients was the absence of a Strategic Plan\u2026and subsequent annual Business Plan. This shortcoming has serious consequences for business owners\/ managers trying to provide direction\/ purpose to internal stakeholders. If people can\u2019t see what the direction is, generally they lose faith in the direction-setters, and fail to understand what their purpose in the given organization is\u2026and often leave that organization as a result.<\/span><\/p>\n

c) Communication.<\/strong><\/span> This remains the single biggest reason why organizations of all shape\/ size\/ orientation\/ industry affiliation become semi or fully dysfunctional\u2026.or instead (at the other end of the scale) magnificent. Students must develop outstanding communication skills \u2013 oral and written \u2013 to only then enjoy positive functional relationships (both in a work context and in other areas of their lives). I am particularly concerned about young peoples\u2019 inability (or unwillingness) to hold a verbal conversation these days. We need to be mindful of the essential need to foster close relationships with others through verbal conversations. Leaders simply cannot lead unless they have well developed communication skills.<\/span><\/p>\n

d) The ability and willingness to work collaboratively<\/span><\/strong>\u2026and know what it truly means to compromise on a position (i.e. \u201cgive and take\u201d in order to reach an agreeable outcome\/ solution). Learn how to question\/ challenge \u201cideas\u201d\u2026as opposed to individuals. How to think objectively to achieve collective goals\u2026leaving behind (putting aside) self interest.<\/span><\/p>\n

There is some great (and timely) questioning going-on in some schools currently, in respect of the relative weighting of importance between academic pursuits\/ achievements versus the holistic development of a young person as a “good human being”. My hope is that the outcome of this strategic thinking will result in more schools placing greater emphasis on character development (e.g. teaching what it means to have humility, to be respectful, how to interact positively with other people, etc) than academic achievement. Over the years the primary criteria that I have used in engaging employees has been attitude and the ability of the individual to form positive relationships, and then aptitude (natural abilities\/ strengths), and finally what their formal qualification and work background is…in that descending order of importance.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is more important than academic achievement ? Read on… I was recently asked to evaluate the Strategic Plan of one of the most highly regarded secondary schools in New Zealand. It was a privilege to do so. Apart from providing feedback in relation to the specific strategic objectives that had been stated in this well written plan, I suggested to the Principal that (in my view, and based on what I have been seeing inside adult organisations during the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.realworldconsulting.kiwi\/rwc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.realworldconsulting.kiwi\/rwc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.realworldconsulting.kiwi\/rwc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.realworldconsulting.kiwi\/rwc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.realworldconsulting.kiwi\/rwc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.realworldconsulting.kiwi\/rwc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":902,"href":"https:\/\/www.realworldconsulting.kiwi\/rwc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130\/revisions\/902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.realworldconsulting.kiwi\/rwc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.realworldconsulting.kiwi\/rwc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.realworldconsulting.kiwi\/rwc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}