We support the growth of a wide range of skills at Results Catalysts, not all of them fit in traditional boxes such as management or business development, they spread across the business activities of people in an organisation.  We have summarised these in a section termed Commercial Skills as they contribute to the commercial performance not just of the individual but also those around them and the organisation as a whole. 

Stakeholder management is a classic example. There are many tools to support us in the early identification, ongoing management and relationship development with stakeholders and yet so many projects are subject to delays, inefficiencies, increased costs and even cancellation due to a lack of stakeholder management.  We recognise the impact this has, although we still fall into the trap of a short term time saving by not carrying out best practice and then pay the long term (generally larger) consequence.

Another example is change management. While a specialism for some, the need to understand managing people’s experience of change and leading them through it is now a daily activity. Change is a constant for many organisations and their employees.

In recent years the ability of people to develop resilience in an ever changing world where the comfort of certainty has been replaced by the opportunity or fear of change has become a differentiator for individuals and organisations. Are your people thriving in this world of change or at best surviving?

Of course, all these skills, commercial, management, leadership, business development will now be used in a world of AI. Critical thinking will become one of the most important skills if employees and managers are to integrate AI into their practices. For example, using critical thinking in their AI interactions to:

• develop successful prompt conversations;

• assess the data and information they have given to AI and AI agents;

• evaluate the output AI provides to determine need for revision or improvement and to spot weaknesses or inaccuracies.

Helping managers and leaders to work with AI and integrate with it successfully, rather than defensively avoid or push back, will be a key mindset in the commerciality of future organisations talent.