How do you make sure to keep improving your skills?

Hi Luis Q. Thank you for asking this important question. To me, making sure that one keeps improving their knowledge and skills involve both mindset and strategy. Regarding mindset, I strive for and pride myself for being a lifelong learner. I believe that self-initiated and self-regulated education, whether the goal is for personal or professional development, is a key to success. I’ve made a habit of devoting at least 20 minutes at the beginning of each workday performing environmental scanning – that is, reading news briefs, journal articles, and other literature to learn more about the business areas in which Nokia competes, the directions in which the various technologies and businesses appear to be headed, what Nokia is doing, and (perhaps most important) what our competitors are doing to achieve business success. Those 20 minutes of environmental scanning each day add up to 6 or 7 hours each month. Furthermore, I complete plenty of company-provided training (Nokia offers thousands of hard skills and soft skills training titles and e-books, all free of charge, to its employees) for the knowledge areas (such as 5G, AI, ML, Power BI, business topics, etc.) most relevant to our business sector, pertinent to our on-the-job responsibilities, and applicable to many of our professional interests now and into the foreseeable future. In essence, my recommendation would be to be ambitious and to take the steps necessary to attain, maintain, and demonstrate the knowledge, skills, behaviors, and attitudes that exceed what’s requested, required, or expected. Strive to always have one or more competencies (whether through education, training, certifications, or practice) in your professional toolkit that exceed what you associates might have in theirs. Then feel empowered to openly and fearlessly share your knowledge, talents, and experience to help support your colleagues.

From time to time, I volunteer to work on project teams that are outside of my main area(s) of responsibility. Doing so allows me to sharpen existing skills, to learn new ones, and just as important, to expand my professional network. Significant benefits can be gained by communicating frequently with one’s manager/supervisor (i.e., several times each week during project meetings as possible, one-on-one at least every other week, and daily via email, messaging, and/or phone). Communicating regularly with your manager/supervisor not only informs them about how you are spending your time on-the-job, but also helps demonstrate your knowledge, skills, attitude, and motivation(s); and additionally offers opportunities for you to benefit from their frequent and relevant performance-related feedback (as advocated by Dr. Thomas Gilbert, discussed more below).

Lastly, I’m a firm believer in employing proven methodologies (rather than relying on well-intentioned speculations or luck) to help guide one’s approaches to developing and optimizing their hard skills and soft skills. The performance improvement model I favor most is Dr. Thomas Gilbert's Behavioral Engineering Model – also referred to as Gilbert’s BEM. Most other recognized performance improvement models contain aspects of Dr. Gilbert’s BEM. Gilbert (known as “the father of performance technology”), through his BEM, emphasizes that deficiencies in performance can be attributed to one or more insufficiencies in the environment that supports the individual’s performance and/or can be accredited to one or more deficiencies in the individual’s behavior repertory itself. For example, companies can help optimize individuals’ workplace performance by providing the appropriate information, instrumentation, and incentives to support the performance environment and their employees’ behavioral repertories. When applied, Gilbert’s BEM provides guidance toward optimizing both the environmental factors (that the company/management controls) as well as the individuals’ behavioral factors (i.e., their knowledge, capacities, and motives). From an individual performer’s perspective, Gilbert’s BEM helps identify what the company needed to provide within the workplace environment and what individuals must expect from themselves to facilitate their purposeful and effective performance improvement in the workplace (and elsewhere).

As for me, I’m very satisfied and challenged in my current role and enjoy the supportive colleagues with whom I work, so I do not spend much time looking at job openings or career/focus-change opportunities. Still, I’m cognizant of the data, resources, and incentives present in my workplace environment, as I remain equally aware of how my individual knowledge, capacities, and motives align with the workplace performance that Nokia needs from me. Thank you again for your question.