Recent research by the McKinsey Global Institute has identified a set of 56 foundational high-level skills that will become increasingly important in the future in a labor market that is more automated, digital, and dynamic. Termed ‘Distinct Elements of Talent’ (DELTAs), the skills are organized into 13 skill groups and 4 categories.
The research identifies 4 key skills in the communication group:
- Storytelling and Public Speaking: Taking ideas and concepts and turning them into compelling stories that people love to read and experience.
- Asking the Right Questions: Ability to deliberate your queries to elicit meaningful, helpful responses. You need to ask the right question to get the right answer!
- Synthesizing Messages: Combine and integrating multiple ideas from multiple sources of information to construct a bigger thought.
- Active Listening: Pay attention. Asking encouraging questions. Reiterating and recapping what has been said also helps set a shared ground and makes clear that you have understood the message.
These four skills are equally fundamental to our role as urban planners and development professionals. Cities are complex environments. There are multiple stakeholders with competing interests and priorities. We often find ourselves in situations where we have to present and defend our ideas against people who may not agree with us. We need to communicate in a way that elicits meaningful responses and engage different stakeholders in a constructive conversation.
Do you think storytelling and communication skills are critical for urban planners and built environment professionals to build support for our ideas? Let us know in the comments!
