Enabling Skills
Skill pillar 2 of 3 · Engine for upward mobility
What skills help me progress toward higher-value responsibilities?
Essential skills keep you in the game. Enabling skills change which game you get to play. They are what take you from doing the work to directing it: from executing tasks to making decisions, planning projects and leading change. Those are the responsibilities that better-paid roles are built around.
Why enabling skills drive career progress
In its September 2026 report Workforce in motion, the McKinsey Global Institute describes enabling skills as skills with an unusual combination. They are useful across many industries and functions, but they are harder to master, and they are concentrated in higher-paying occupations.
That combination matters. Some specialized skills pay very well but are needed in only a handful of jobs. Others are needed everywhere but don't move your pay much. Enabling skills do both: they travel, and they lift. The report connects them to moves out of execution-heavy roles and into coordination, business operations and project leadership.
Figures from the McKinsey Global Institute and based on US data.
The report also notes that many growing jobs demand more judgment, interpretation and decision-making than the jobs they replace. It names decision-making, innovation and critical thinking as examples of enabling skills. We have rounded out the list with four more that, in our view, define the step from doing work to directing it: collaboration across functions, strategic thinking, planning and resource allocation, and change management and influence.
The seven enabling skills
Critical thinking
Critical thinking is evaluating information before you accept it. You question assumptions, separate evidence from opinion, and notice what is missing before reaching a conclusion.
Why it moves you up
AI now produces more drafts, summaries and analysis than any team could read. The person who can tell which output is right, and which is confidently wrong, becomes more valuable, not less.
How to build it
- For any important claim, ask three questions: what is the evidence, what is missing, and what else could explain this?
- Before committing to a conclusion, argue the opposite case for five minutes.
- When reviewing a report or AI output, check at least one key figure against its original source.
Proof to show employers: a decision that changed because you showed the data didn't support the popular view.
Decision-making
Decision-making is choosing a course of action when information is incomplete, owning that choice, and learning from the result.
Why it moves you up
Senior roles are paid largely to make decisions. Being known as someone who decides well, and who doesn't stall, is one of the clearest signals that you are ready for more responsibility.
How to build it
- Separate decisions that are easy to reverse from those that aren't. Move quickly on the first kind and take more care with the second.
- Write down each important decision, your reasons and the outcome you expect. Review it one to three months later.
- When you bring a problem to your manager, bring a recommendation with it.
Proof to show employers: decisions you made, the trade-offs you weighed, and what happened as a result.
Innovation and creative problem-solving
This means generating new options and testing them, rather than repeating what was done last time. It is rarely a big invention. Usually it is a smarter process, a better offer or a different approach.
Why it moves you up
Organizations reward people who find better ways to work, especially now that AI is reshaping many workflows. Improving how work gets done is a more senior contribution than simply doing it.
How to build it
- Ask: "What would we do if we had to do this in half the time?"
- Run small, cheap experiments before proposing a big change.
- Borrow ideas from other teams, other industries or competitors.
Proof to show employers: an idea you proposed, tested and got adopted, with its measurable result.
Collaboration across functions
This is working effectively with teams that have different goals, vocabulary and priorities, such as sales with product, or finance with operations.
Why it moves you up
Higher-value work is almost always cross-functional. It is also how people become visible beyond their own team, which matters when promotion decisions are made.
How to build it
- Learn what one partner team is measured on, and what keeps them up at night.
- Volunteer for a cross-team project or working group.
- In updates to other teams, translate your work into their terms and their priorities.
Proof to show employers: a project delivered with other departments, and your specific role in making it work.
Strategic thinking
Strategic thinking is connecting day-to-day work to bigger goals. It means understanding where the organization is heading, why, and what matters most to get there.
Why it moves you up
It is the difference between being trusted with tasks and being trusted with direction.
How to build it
- Read your company's annual report, strategy memo or all-hands notes, and summarize its top three priorities in your own words.
- For each of your projects, ask which priority it serves. Drop or rescope work that serves none.
- Follow what competitors and your wider industry are doing, and note what it could mean for your team.
Proof to show employers: a clear explanation of how your work moved a company-level goal.
Planning and resource allocation
This is turning a goal into a realistic plan (tasks, timeline, budget and people) and deciding where limited time and money should go.
Why it moves you up
It sits at the heart of project and team leadership. In one of the report's examples, the planning and scheduling skills office assistants already have are a big part of what makes a move toward project management possible.
How to build it
- Plan one project with milestones, owners and risks. When it ends, compare the plan with what actually happened.
- Practice estimating how long tasks will take, and track how far off you were.
- When resources are tight, propose trade-offs openly instead of quietly overcommitting.
Proof to show employers: projects delivered on time and on budget, or a plan you built that others followed.
Change management and influence
This is helping people accept and adopt new ways of working, and persuading others without relying on formal authority.
Why it moves you up
Every AI rollout, reorganization and new system needs people who can bring others along. McKinsey's research also lists the ability to influence others among the skills least exposed to automation.
How to build it
- Before proposing a change, find out what each affected person stands to lose.
- Win one early supporter, then start with a small pilot.
- Explain why before you explain how.
Proof to show employers: a change you led that people actually adopted, and how you know they did.
Make enabling skills visible
The report points out a problem many people recognize: employers often overlook skills that don't show up in a job title, a degree or a familiar career path. Enabling skills are especially easy to miss, because much of the work happens in conversations and decisions rather than in finished deliverables.
- Keep a wins file. Each Friday, write one line about a decision, plan or change you drove, with the result.
- Describe outcomes, not activities. "Coordinated the vendor switch, saving 12% on annual costs" beats "Worked with vendors."
- Ask for stretch work. Request one assignment a quarter that uses an enabling skill your current role doesn't.
- Check the credentials. According to the report, about 85% of growing US jobs ask for some credential or certification. If your target role expects one, such as a project management certificate, plan for it alongside the skill.
For a ready-made shortlist of what promotion committees look for, see The 10 Skills You Should Build Before Your Next Promotion.
A 10-minute self-check
Score yourself from 1 to 5 on each skill, where 1 means "rarely shown" and 5 means "a clear strength others would point to." If you can't answer the evidence question, lower your score.
| Skill | Evidence question | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Critical thinking | Have I recently spotted a flaw in a plan, report or AI output that others missed? | __ / 5 |
| Decision-making | Can I name a decision I owned this quarter, and what I learned from it? | __ / 5 |
| Innovation | Has an idea of mine been tested or adopted in the last six months? | __ / 5 |
| Cross-functional collaboration | Do people in at least one other team know me and my work? | __ / 5 |
| Strategic thinking | Can I state my organization's top three priorities and how my work supports them? | __ / 5 |
| Planning & resource allocation | Did my last plan hold up against what actually happened? | __ / 5 |
| Change management & influence | Have I persuaded someone senior to me, or a peer, to change course? | __ / 5 |
Choose one or two skills to work on at a time, not all seven. To find the right ones for your target role, use our guide on how to identify the skills you need for your next career move. Then turn them into weekly practice with a 90-day action plan.
Next pillar
Enabling skills take you up. Empowering skills make sure you keep going as AI keeps changing the work itself.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between essential and enabling skills?
Breadth versus value. Essential skills are needed in almost every job and keep your options open. Enabling skills are also widely useful, but they are harder to master and are concentrated in higher-paying work, so they are what move you up.
Do I need a management title to build these skills?
No. Most people build them before the title arrives, by leading projects, making recommendations and working across teams. Demonstrating them in your current role is usually what earns the title.
How long does it take to develop an enabling skill?
Expect months of deliberate practice, not weeks. Work on one or two at a time over a 90-day cycle, and collect evidence as you go.
Are certifications worth it?
Sometimes. Skills let you do the work, but credentials can be the gate to being considered at all. Check five to ten job postings for your target role. If most ask for the same certificate, it is probably worth getting.
Source: McKinsey Global Institute, Workforce in motion: Skills and pathways to future jobs in the United States, by María Jesús Ramírez, Kweilin Ellingrud, Tanguy Catlin, Diego Castresana and Anna Kortis (September 29, 2026). Statistics refer to the US labor market. The skill descriptions and advice on this page are GoCareerLab's own.
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