Do you have a PCARD for work?

Nope, PCARD is not a passport or a green card for a foreigner to work. It's actually a mnemonic that helps me remember the generic skills that we need either in our work or life. These skills are so basic and so generic in nature that it is overly easy for us to overlook or ignore them as unimportant.

I'm sure most of us have heard terms like EQ, soft skills, people management skills and leadership. On the personal life part, you may have heard about discipline, managing time, socializing skill and learning piano especially nowadays where middle income group parents and above are frantically trying to equip their kids will 'skills of life' such as piano (pain-o maybe :)), art class, reading skill upgrade...(talking about stress, are we the victim or the perpetrator?)

If you are ever confused to put all these skills on a table so that you can plan and decide what's important, then may I suggest 'PCARD'. PCARD stands for 5 generic skills that after observing and testing them across all disciplines and aspects of personal life, they remain relevant and important till this day. So what are they? Here we go...

Projection management skill (whatever tasks that you cannot finish immediately or require others to do as well)
Communication skill (talking to business partners, long last friends, talking to kids...)
Analytical skill
Resource management skill (people, time and information)
Decision making skill

Not sure if the skills are 'fully transferable' from one job to another? from work to personal life? Well, let's see. Supposed a person works as an account executive. She needs to make sure the monthly reports are submitted on time (P skills), she need to work with other departments to get info or follow procedures (C), she needs to write a summary of what happens to the numbers (A), she needs to delegate some new tasks to her new management trainee (R skill) and she needs to decide whether she needs extra time to generate a last-minute report requested by the boss. After a hard day work, it is finally Saturday. She is assisting her sister in her wedding dinner (P), she answers calls of her long-last friend to suddenly appear to sell her some things (C), she detected a foul smell from the fridge and is checking what the cause is (A), she is planning a trip and try to apply for annual leave (R) and she has to decide whether should she accept her company's recommendation to move to Marketing as part of her career building.

If you check the skills against your current job, are PCARD skills required too? A marketer launches a new product (P), needs to talk to suppliers for best deal (C), needs to check the best way to launch it (A), check spending against budget (R) and decide which location to use for launch (D).

If you are with me now, it's always pcardpcardpcardpcard...

Most parents send kids to learn new skills such as music, reading and dancing. All those to me are secondary skills. What the kids should derive form these classes is trying to learn the generic skills of PCARD. For example, reading music notes and playing the right key on the piano are learning analytical skill. Some practice art. That's visual communication. Some dance. That's analytical skills too. Have you noticed dancers trying to check their posture in front of the mirror? Or in deep thoughts how they cannot make the turn swiftly? They are analysing. What about reading? It's about how to gather and manage information (resources).

So, I'm sure the mid year appraisal is coming. Check your technical skill gap such as software and marketing communication as well as your soft skills gap using PCARD. May be this time you want to impress your boss by using PCARD to assess your soft skills and what you need to improve. Remember: Impressing your boss is also a ______________ skill? Yes, communication skill!