How will you get your people future job ready?

The world we live and work in today is a far more complicated place to navigate than ever before. Businesses need to morph and adapt at light speed and workers must quickly understand and anticipate the changing world, whilst continuing to deliver results amongst ever-growing uncertainty. Young people entering the workforce for the first time, must be able to meet the demands of their job and career, be driven to succeed and develop as capable leaders of the future within this environment.

Earlier this year I attended a talk by Dr Phil Lambert, a Professor at Sydney University, on Global Developments in Education and Skills. He spoke about a global forum that had come together to identify skills that 5 year old’s, entering school in 2018, would need to be successful in the workplace of 2030. A workplace that would be vastly different to the one we know today.

I was intrigued and it set me on a path to rethink the soft skills that we at Development Beyond Learning (DBL), a leading provider of graduate programs, were teaching in our professional development solutions. If primary school educators were looking to transform their curriculum to focus on developing skills for the future, it was essential that DBL do the same.

Six months (and a lot of discussion and research) later DBL has created a suite of micro-learning units and experiential workshops for 18 identified future skills. These 18 skills were determined by collating data from 4 main sources - Future of Work research papers, Education frameworks, Organisation leadership competencies and our own DBL feedback surveys with insights obtained from 4000 graduates located across 15 countries.

Consistently mentioned across all these sources and at the top of the DBL list of future skills to develop were Creativity and Complex Problem Solving - capabilities critical in aiding innovation in organisations, allowing businesses to stay ahead of the game and remain relevant in a highly competitive landscape. These skills can be built by understanding and practising Design Thinking - following the steps of empathy, problem definition, ideating solutions, prototyping ideas and iterating until the right product, service, system or process is found to implement.

Not far behind creativity and complex problem solving were Resilience and Adaptability - key skills essential for coping in work environments that rapidly change, and demand consistently high performance and flexibility from workers. Research shows that having or lacking these skills is not a fixed trait and they can be taught and strengthened by focusing on positive attitudes, thoughts and beliefs.

It was interesting to see that not all skills that made the list were ‘new’ with some of the more traditional skills being elevated in priority. Personal brand, Networking, Presenting and Social Intelligence skills were and still are consistently asked for by students and young professionals. They understand the value in, and want to know how to make an impression, get noticed and progress in their careers.

Underpinning most of the skills that were uncovered as part of the research were Self-awareness and the ability to have a Growth Mindset. These are foundational to anyone, at any level, being successful in their careers, and becoming great, authentic future leaders. They can be developed by recognising one’s own strengths, and by practising self-reflection to foster learning and openness to new perspectives.

All these professional skills that form the Future Skills program, were once considered ‘soft’ and a runner up to technical skills. As our environment continuously changes, technologies advance and work becomes more and more automated these skills will be the sought after, transferable or ‘hard’ skills of tomorrows workforce. The skills that are uniquely human and will never be replaced by technology.

Kindergarten kids are getting ready, so how will you get your people future job ready?

By Saskia Spaan, Development Beyond Learning.