“What I love about what Stacia does is that it connects how you do anything with how you do everything.”

Malgosia Halliop, Toronto, ON

What is a skills audit?

Very simply, a skills audit invites you to take stock of all of your personal and/or professional skills, in an effort to give you a boost in self-confidence. The session is intended to remind you of your strengths, identify possible areas of improvement and see your skills in transformative new ways.

Who can participate?

Literally anyone. In fact, the first person I ever did a skills audit on was myself. Since then, I have done them on everyone from middle school students to senior citizens. I find kids, in particular, really take to the idea of making lists of all the things they can do, especially if they’ve had a hard time, or are experiencing some kind of rejection or disappointment. I’ve even done an informal skills audit on a couple who was trying to determine their compatibility. It was incredibly revealing, and apparently explained a lot. They’re still together so I’m taking the win.

When is the best time to do one?

Skills audits are a great thing to do if you’ve lost yourself to parenting. Or if you’re looking to get a job, do your job better or totally switch careers. Or if you’re stuck in a rut, suffering a setback, or just need a lift. For best results, it would help if you can carve out some quiet time for yourself while you’re doing your prep work. And for the the actual session, the best time is when you’ll be amenable to examining your skills with the most amount of open-mindedness and the least amount of judgment. Sometimes that’s a tall order, but I can definitely help.

How long does it take?

You’ll start by receiving the first of two instructional emails, which contains your pre-session homework assignment and some helpful tips to get you going. At some point, before we convene a week or so later, I’ll send you the second email, containing some words of encouragement, additional helpful tips and further instructions. The actual skills audit session itself takes about an hour and 15 minutes. The follow-up usually lasts an hour, and should only take a few additional days of prep beforehand. Small group sessions are 2 hours with a 2 hour follow-up, if needed, and the rest of the session times are custom to your situation/event. When we’re done, I do a final check-in to give you some last thoughts and then I send you back out into the world.

What do we cover in a session?

If you look skills audit up on the internet, you’ll be rewarded with a ton of random self-assessment PDFs that, in my opinion, are asking all the wrong questions. I take a unique approach to auditing and analyzing your skills, and it has proven to be incredibly successful. The point of a typical skills audit session is to conceptually get you back onside with yourself. We go through your list, identify patterns and goals, and address issues such as Imposter Syndrome and other self-limiting beliefs. By the end, my hope is that you’ll leave empowered, encouraged and optimistic. The follow-up session is much more tactical, and we discuss super-important topics like your interests, intentions, and tolerances, all with the aim of deploying you strategically and intentionally out into the world. The combination of these two sessions has been transformational for SO many of my clients. But don’t take my word for it. Check out my profile on LinkedIn or my Google page and read the recommendations. They’re amazing and I’m insanely proud of them.

Is this therapy?

In a word? No. I am, by no means, a licensed therapist, although every session I conduct is private and confidential. And while my skills audit can be, in fact, a very cathartic exercise, it does stand a chance of revealing some issues - especially around self-limiting beliefs - that would be best discussed further with a trained professional.

What do I end up with afterwards?

This is an important question. At the very least, you should end up feeling exponentially more badass than you did before we started. And if you come to the session with an open mind and your homework done, you should also leave with the beginnings of a concrete solution to whatever your dilemma is (within reason, obviously.) The goal is context - my favourite thing. To me that’s information + perspective, and I figure it’s the solution to just about every problem. At this point, I’ve done almost 700 client sessions of one description or another, and the winning combination for most people seems to be the audit and a follow-up. The first appointment allows us to spend some time examining your particulars and get you to begin to see that there’s a way out of the jam that you’re in. The follow-up session is where we get down to brass tacks, stop talking conceptually and start laying the groundwork for your redeployment. This hour is spent coming up with a detailed action plan and practical solutions that should provide some traction and help you get moving. Some people have needed a few more follow-ups (which is why I created the Premium package), but that should really just about do it, unless we’re trying to solve a specific and/or complex problem that demands more time. This isn’t meant to be a long, drawn-out exercise. I want you feeling good and moving forward as soon as possible.

Why should I do this with you?

For a couple of reasons, really. First, because I’m awesome. Second, I’ve literally done hundreds of these (and exercises like it) over the years. People seek me out because they like how my brain works, how I process information and how direct I am. That’s why you can find lots of SA stuff on the web, but no one will do this with you the way I can. And third, my degrees are in Sociology. This is relevant because, not only are the principles of sociological thought helpful with this type of work, but also because at a pretty early age, I learned the mind-blowing concept that no single person is actually the centre of the Universe. What I learned instead, and really internalized, is that the best way ahead for society is if we see the individual in relation to a greater collective. If the individual is in good shape, so too will be the collective. My goal for your skills audit is that you’ll come out feeling informed, validated, motivated, determined to go do your thing out in the world, AND change some stuff for the good while you're at it. Believe me when I tell you, that not only helps you. It helps your family, your community, and society at large. If - for the moment - you can’t bring yourself to do it for you alone, then do it for the rest of us, too. You’re making us all better by recognizing your own worth.