What are Meta Skills?
MetaSkills are just a grouping of skills that enable us to implement other skills. Think of it like the foundations on which you build your skills house. The quality of this foundation will ultimately determine the size of your house.
At POPUP, we compiled these ‘skills’ into competency statements. These statements define a learner’s capacity to make a positive contribution to the workplace – our key objective.
Meta Skills Competency statements:
- I can lead myself.
- I can communicate effectively.
- I can solve problems.
- I can contribute to a team.
- I can function effectively in a system.
As you read these, you may recognise that the implications are far-reaching. Consider this. What would change in your organisation if each of your employees could conform to these five simple statements?
Why are they essential?
This is the value of MetaSkills. They take a holistic view of a learner’s ability to effectively implement all the other skills they have mastered, in the real world. The classroom, and often even the assessment of competence, consider the learner’s capacity to execute a task in isolation, even with workplace-based learning protocols(WBL). In reality, however, these skills are deployed in teams, in the context of a larger organisation where we expect staff to learn on their feet, take ownership and show initiative, all while communicating effectively to ensure synergy is maintained.
This is a tall order for any worker, not to mention a first-time job entrant.
Our Approach
To alleviate these constraints, and better prepare learners for the world of work, we specifically equip our learners with these Meta Skills to improve their outcomes. We first invest in a strong foundation of the value, character, and dignity of each learner.
Thereafter we take an integrated view of Meta Skills to equip our learners, not just to find jobs, but to be successful, and self-reliant as they navigate the rest of their skills journey.
Exciting new Developments
As part of our ‘Can I function effectively in a system?’ competency, we are proud to announce that we have partnered with TOC for Education. It is a foundation started by Eli Goldratt, author of ‘The Goal’, to teach students the value of Theory of Constraints.
This perspective adds immense value in helping learners navigate systems, bottlenecks, and constraints to growth. A significant leg up early in their career.
We are excited by the possibilities of Meta Skills in workplace performance. If you would like to learn more about how this could improve your staff productivity and recruitment practices, please reach out!
Emile Raubenheimer
