Boosting professional efficiency is a daily challenge. It’s becoming increasingly difficult in our ever-changing environments, where skills become obsolete faster than ever. To stay effective while thriving in your career, here are five essential practices to adopt.
Set a Clear Direction
Better Define Your Daily Priorities
Develop the Quality and Authenticity of Your Relationships
Express Your Needs and Set Boundaries
Prioritize Yourself
Our skills are becoming obsolete at an increasingly rapid pace. Given the current context, even the renowned Harvard Business Review no longer speaks of “transformation” but rather “hyper-transformation” to describe the sweeping changes taking place within organizations. These rapid digital, environmental, and organizational shifts directly impact the skills companies require. According to the OECD, the lifespan of a skill today is just two years, compared to 30 years in 1987. In practical terms, this means that beyond two years, a skill loses its relevance and must be updated or even replaced.
At Wow! Editions, we believe reading should be more than just passive consumption—it should be an active and engaging experience!
Unlike traditional online articles, we’ve transformed the way you interact with content. After reading, you’ll have access to a downloadable PDF for online reading or printing (recommended).
What’s Inside the PDF?
1. A Summary of the Article – Get the key takeaways in a clear and concise format.
2. 10 Multiple-Choice Questions – Test your understanding of the article.
3. Case Studies & Real-Life Scenarios – Apply what you’ve learned to solve practical challenges.
4. Answer Keys & Suggested Solutions – Review and refine your knowledge.
We guarantee that by following our structured approach, the insights from each article won’t just be something you read—they’ll become a part of you.
Read. Engage. Apply. Grow
1. Set a Clear Direction
Before striving for greater efficiency, it’s important to focus on yourself and your personal drivers. This is a crucial preliminary step, especially when an organization’s economic, social, or internal structure prevents employees from gaining perspective. Focusing on yourself means identifying your intentions and priorities and keeping them in sight at all times. In other words, it’s about giving yourself the necessary attention to channel your strengths effectively within the company.
“In the 5 Keys to Success training, we help participants become aware of the biases that may distort their judgment and decision-making,” says Christelle Delavaud. Identifying these biases enables employees to step back and assess their behavior within a team and in interactions with others.
This step also allows them to define their intentions and goals to create a roadmap. “We use neuroscience-based tools, particularly neuroplasticity, to help participants shift their mindset,” she explains.
2. Better Define Your Daily Priorities
Staying effective is challenging in a fast-paced environment. “In a workplace where employees are constantly solicited, it’s crucial to identify the tasks where they add the most value and find fulfillment,” Delavaud says. Even in times of transformation, where projects come one after another at breakneck speed, it is essential to take control of your time and dedicate your energy and resources to strategic tasks that benefit both yourself and the company.
One useful technique is to create a priority matrix, a method taught in The 5 Keys to Success training. This approach helps employees organize their work, make informed choices, confidently say no, distinguish between urgent and important tasks, and remain flexible in the face of unexpected challenges or pressure-driven decisions. In short, it helps them “shift from reactive time management to intentional time management,” sums up Delavaud.
3. Develop the Quality and Authenticity of Your Relationships
According to leadership expert Simon Sinek, “The real job of a leader is not to be in charge of things but to take care of the people they lead.” One of the key skills for the future is empathy. This “power skill” is crucial in addressing tomorrow’s workplace challenges.
For Christelle Delavaud, “Building strong relationships with others means finding the right balance, fostering win-win interactions, setting boundaries, and engaging as equals—regardless of hierarchical status.” It also involves adopting the right mindset to maintain respectful and balanced relationships, particularly in high-stakes or tense situations where clarity of communication is essential.
4. Express Your Needs and Set Boundaries
Effective communication with others also requires being attuned to your own needs. Learning to trust yourself is a crucial prerequisite for trusting others. This is especially important in avoiding power struggles and conflict-driven interactions, which often arise when companies undergo transformations or face crises such as reorganizations, pivots, or layoffs.
Training in Nonviolent Communication (NVC), a method developed in the 1970s by Dr. Marshall B. Rosenberg, is particularly useful for expressing needs, listening to others, and improving workplace interactions. This approach promotes awareness of one’s own and others’ emotions, fostering more respectful exchanges.
Employees can apply the OSBD principles of NVC—Observe, identify a Sentiment, recognize a Need, and formulate a Request—to communicate authentically while setting clear boundaries. Ultimately, “this method helps individuals understand their own emotional and psychological needs while expressing themselves more effectively,” Delavaud explains.
By integrating these five practices into daily work life, professionals can enhance their effectiveness, build stronger relationships, and become more influential in their organizations—all while maintaining personal well-being and adaptability in an ever-changing work environment.
