70 Skills Challenges

Do you believe your skills and talents are traits you’re born with and can’t change? Or do you think anyone can increase their intelligence and abilities – even things they’re not ‘naturally’ good at – through dedicated effort, learning and perseverance? The former suggests you might have a fixed mindset; the latter a growth mindset.

Questions are powerful communication tools. Different types of question are useful in a range of work situations to explore problems, discover information, develop empathy and improve working relationships.

Questions enable you to:

• Probe evidence of past behaviour in an interview situation

• Enable someone to think through a problem or task in a coaching situation

• Encourage dialogue in a performance feedback situation

• Find out what you need to know in an onboarding situation

• Promote a culture of diversity in an inclusion situation

• Explore how you can help, in a customer service situation

• Encourage curiosity in a learning situation

The seven sections below relate to different work situations when it’s useful to ask questions. For each section, identify good examples of questions to ask. Indicate your answers by clicking the relevant boxes. There may, or may not, be more than one correct answer in each section.

A well-structured interview is key to a fair and effective hiring process. Gain valuable insights and make informed decisions by creating a positive environment where the candidate performs at their best. Clarity is important. When you ask focused questions and set clear expectations, candidates can demonstrate their true capabilities, enabling you to make accurate evaluations and stronger recruitment decisions.

Authenticity at work is about striking a balance between being real and being appropriate. While it’s natural to act more strategically at times, regularly concealing views or personality can lead to disconnection and disengagement. When authenticity is supported, it strengthens communication, trust and collaboration - boosting individual engagement, team performance and overall business success.

Microaggressions are apparently small but nonetheless hurtful behaviours that create significant problems in the workplace. They can lead to misunderstandings, discomfort and diminished morale.

Often arising from unconscious bias and not necessarily from malicious intent, microaggressions sometimes stem from a clumsy desire to connect with others, which causes unintended harm.

By communicating calmly and openly about sensitive topics and responding thoughtfully when experiencing or witnessing micro-aggressive behaviour, you contribute to a more inclusive and respectful workplace where each person feels valued and understood.

Psychological safety means feeling able to speak up, ask questions, or suggest ideas without fear of embarrassment or punishment. It’s what enables teams to do their best work - whether sharing concerns before they escalate, proposing new ideas, or learning from mistakes.

Rooted in principles of wellbeing and equality, psychological safety helps organisations meet both ethical and legal commitments to inclusive workplaces. By fostering trust, openness and respect, we create environments where everyone feels safe to contribute as themselves.

As a manager, you must communicate clearly and fairly about what you expect of your people. If you perceive a performance gap between your expectations and what you observe, you need to discuss it with the individual concerned. How you prepare for and conduct that performance conversation matters.

Have you ever hidden your true feelings, or not revealed your whole self at work? Do you keep quiet about your concerns or refrain from giving your opinion when talking with your manager and/or any of your colleagues? Why is that? Respectful, honest conversations at work contribute to a culture of trust and they are key to high-performing teams.

Written correspondence with customers says a lot about you and your organisation. Clear, unambiguous messages written in a friendly tone of voice present you as reliable, approachable and knowledgeable. Flowery, lengthy sentences utilising long words can confuse, don’t communicate your message clearly, and appear unnecessarily verbose. Short words in clear sentences work well. (Compare those two last sentences, for example.) Always proofread your work and ask yourself if you can simplify your sentences to make them clearer.

To give yourself the best chance of getting your manager’s full attention, it’s important to empathise with them and consider what they need and when they need it. Choose your time carefully, prepare thoroughly and don’t interrupt them when they are focused on something else. Try to relate what you want to say to their own priorities.

Commercial awareness is essential at every level of an organisation. It’s about understanding how a business operates, what drives success and how individual roles contribute to broader goals. When people develop commercial awareness, they make informed decisions, spot opportunities and help drive growth. Strong commercial understanding can enhance innovation, efficiency and overall business performance.

Collaboration occurs when a small group of people with different skills and knowledge come together to solve a mutual problem or exploit a shared opportunity. To work successfully, each person involved needs to have a genuine vested interest in the eventual outcome. And that outcome is unknown at the start of the process. The cross-examination and critique of ideas through open dialogue is a valuable part of the process; constructive disagreement optimises results.