What has been the most useful skill in your working life?

[Bigfatfuckingfailure]

What innate talents or acquired skill really stands out for you?

Bags of energy? Team player knack? Great networker? PRINCE2? Excel?

I'm very good at maths but also have pretty good people skills. The two don't always go together, so it's a valuable combination.

I would say a general all-around ability with computers. In particular, when I want to do anything with a computer that I don't know how to do, I will google to check if it can be done and follow the solutions online.

There are people who have been doing my job longer than me and have more substantive knowledge, but many of them are depressingly inefficient because they hate using the computers. Some of them have said I have changed their lives by showing them how to use things like Ctrl+F, but some just refuse to have anything to do with computers and will only work slowly with papers.

@countfosco you sound great

Being quick to come back to people on email (PA so multiple diaries to juggle). People are always really amazed I can answer them so quickly - well it's not rocket science and why leave them hanging? And vlookups as well, so useful!

Serbska
Are we twins?
I could have written that word for word.

I’ve been working on my frustration levels and managing shit people though.
I have been practicing my calm voice and now try and channel it through passive aggressive acts / emails rather than pointed rhetorical questions

Organisation, being critical of myself and the organisation; adaptability, willingness to work hard, analytical skills.
What I most struggle with is dealing with inefficient or confrontational people. I am definitely not a leader kind of person.

I'm a good knowledge broker - I work with a quite diverse groups of people and I'm pretty handy at understanding what one group wants to communicate then explaining and contextualising it in a way that another completely different group can understand. I'm also pretty good at reading different peoples' motivations and couching information accordingly.
I'm very logical (and I love excel!)
I see lots of detail, I'm good at risk assessment

'Absolutely no problem, leave it with me'

^ actually I have no fucking clue what you're on about, give me an hour or so and I'll have it figured out.

Also, not allowing people to pressurise me so I have time to figure it out.

Finally, if in doubt a winning smile goes a long way

The ability to "read" people and get a good feel for who they are quickly and therefore what they value, how they think, what will motivate/demotivate them, their leadership style or weakness.

And really good touch typing! Saved hundreds if not thousands of hours I'm sure.

Also being able to point people in the direction of a solution even when i don't know myself.

I thought of something else - no sense of smell (vet nurse!)

I'm not a people person at all but there are very few jobs where you can get away with that, so the biggest lesson I've learned is to be personable and interested in others when I'm at work, and schedule plenty of alone time to recharge the batteries in the evenings and weekends.

Skills-wise - a well-earned reputation for ruthless efficiency, being fast at picking up new computer skills, and a good memory for detail. The talking bits I largely leave to others but I can throw in facts and figures without having to look them up, which always seems to impress bosses!

Schmoozing
Confidence
Reliability

Ancient Greek, sarcasm and withering sidelong glances

With @Countfosco on this one - my biggest skills are spotting and recruiting talented people, protecting them from management twunts, supporting and developing them, and then encouraging them to fly the nest by helping them find more senior roles when the time comes.

Building the right team environment and culture is primary, everything else (speed reading, touch typing, quick analytical skills) comes after.

Oh, and being able to speed read upside down. That’s unbelievably helpful!

Always have integrity. At all times, no matter what.

Sheer doggedness in getting to the root of a problem when others have given up. I love a bit of detective work.

Being good in a crisis. I’m good at keeping a cool logical head.

Absolutely greengrass.

Knowing who is good at what very quickly.
Knowing who is a turd quickly.

^^

On the coat tails of this, knowing who does what, who is in charge vs who thinks they are in charge.

On day one you need to figure this out. To your best ability, of course.

Restraint
Diplomacy
Stickability /grit
Good judgement
Treating people fairly
Not being a pushover

Forgiveness.

Another for Excel.

I work for an organisation where once you join, you would never leave. So some very old school people there. Don't like computers etc.

I showed someone how to divide on a spreadsheet the other day and you would have thought I'd given them the holy grail.

Agree with find out who the good'uns and who the shits are.

Chatting. Ie connecting with people and bringing out themselves/ information / making them like and trust me

Walking on quick sand, hot coals and tea making.

Being a good listener.