Rethinking skills: Why more is learnable than we think.

Recently, I read an article by Trevor Ragan that put language around something I’ve thought for years, and it reinforced it beautifully: 

If someone can get better at it, it’s a skill.

When you start looking at the world through that lens, everything shifts. 

Struggling to stay calm in a tense meeting? 

Skill. 

Avoiding a difficult conversation? 

Skill. 

Receiving feedback without becoming defensive? 

Skill. 

Building trust across functions? 

Skill. 

We often label these things as personality traits, confidence issues, or “just the way someone is”, but when you see them as skills, something powerful happens. 

Skills can be practised. Skills can be refined. Skills can be mastered. 

It turns setbacks into opportunities. It turns frustration into direction. It turns “I’m not good at this” into “I haven’t learnt this yet.” 

In learning and development, this matters deeply because the moment we move from broad aspirations like “better leadership”, “stronger communication”, “improved collaboration” to specific, learnable skills, we create a pathway for real progress. 

Not vague improvement. Actionable growth. 

Highly recommend the article (Rethink Skills - The Learner Lab) if you haven’t read it yet. It’s a great reminder that almost everything in our professional lives is more learnable than we think. 

Jen