Thriving in a world where the speed of change is paramount, is quite a challenge for the working-age. With the internet of things (IoT) and cognitive computing coming into the picture, conventional job roles were scrapped and new roles emerged. The world is now facing a major breakthrough because of a global crisis that was unanticipated.
With most of the jobs being automated and immense lay-offs happening in the current situation, employees need to gear up and find a survival strategy for themselves. Innovation comes into the picture here, as it is required to face and bounce back from this disaster as well as tackle the evolving nature of changing job requirements.
Conventional on and off the job training has for long been made to fit all sizes. Central skill development programs lack the underlying transparency about future skills that the employees need to be equipped with whereas measuring the program’s business impact is another common challenge.
We’re in a world that is changing so quickly that skills that were on demand 3-4 years back have become redundant now. Learners have issues deciding which are the emerging skills in the market and what they can do best to uphold their relevance and competence.
Understanding the need for a global perspective shift from the conventional zero-sum approach to fluid marketplaces:
1. Being proactive – AT&T started as a small scale telephone company in 1885. It grew continuously over the years but the biggest shift happened in 2008 when it realized that only about half of its employees had relevant skills that could keep up with the current rate of change in the market. A massive portion of the workforce held jobs dealing with hardware which would be obsolete in the coming decade. With an initiative called ‘future-ready’, they launched a large scale, multi-year re-skilling program. Being able to acknowledge the scale of transition that is underway is one way to make yourself stand-out.
2. Skill-gaps – Globally, 79% of CEOs worry about the availability of key skills and for most of them, it forms a part of their top 3 concerns. This number is only set to grow with the speed of innovation in businesses. Mc Kinsey reports that 85% of kids who are still in elementary school will be working on jobs that do not even exist now. Imagine the level of change they will need to bring about in the conventional learnings to be able to handle these jobs efficiently.
The graph exhibits how corporate leaders perceive current skill gaps.
(Source: McKinsey)
3. Crisis management – Preparedness is key when building a crisis management strategy. The first step is to acknowledge that anything can happen anywhere at any time. (The stress that is associated with rebound needs prior to strategic management). Ensuring productivity and engagement when working from home becomes even more critical. It is proven that meeting crisis management skills can increase market valuation by about 30%. These valuations are related to how an organization measures your performance in terms of the level of output.
What can you do to ensure agile adaptation and survival during every change that the industry goes through?
Upskill: It is undeniable that the shelf life of skills has shortened. To remain employable in such competitive times, people need to upskill themselves. Employees have always had difficulty making time for learning and development programs. The current situation solves at least the problem of falling short of time. This is a great time to use for self-development which often gets missed due to the rush of meeting deadlines and office work. With virtual learning emerging as one of the most sought after practices in our quest to learn, it has now become easier to look for upskilling lessons that suit you.
Train. Implement. Repeat: Remember how easier it is to drive to the office every day compared to steering in a new city? This is because your mind has already created maps and you no longer have to trigger them. Similarly, it is important to road test the training with just-in-time test simulation. Implement what you learn and make improvements until you are adept at that particular domain.
Cross-disciplined learning: Learning and development involve creating unique values and skills that foster creativity and innovation. It ensures continuous learning based on real-life models. These models are not based on a single field of study but take into account multiple scenarios that could play out and prepare them to work on projects of varying nature. The knowledge and skills acquired and applied by employees are finally shared freely in a learning culture. This ensures that you are flexible to respond to fluctuating workflows.
Learning experience platforms can prove to be a one-stop solution for people who are looking to add value to themselves. Embedded with all the pre-requisites of L&D, they foster innovation and creativity even in challenging times. They offer fresh insights, metrics tracker, and personalized learning that enable you to advance in the organization.
The ‘future of work’ is all set to change with the global onset of work from home. Remote working will need to be sustained by remote learning. This is where we come in. We ensure that you are competitive in this fast-paced digital age. And how do we do it? By collaborating AI and human skill matching capabilities we provide you with an opportunity to upgrade your industry-relevant skills.
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Read More: 5 Ways for HR leaders to build a GUILT FREE SURVIVAL STRATEGY in COVID-19