Are You Ready? Skills You’ll Need in Tomorrow’s Workplace
Across industries, emerging technology and the realization of a truly global economy are transforming the way we work, and the rate of change speeds up exponentially with each passing year. Employees today are constantly asked to develop new competencies and master entirely new ways of relating to their work, their colleagues, and their environment. When you work at the cutting edge of innovation, staying relevant means staying at least one step ahead. It’s exciting, but it’s also a challenge. How can you anticipate the skills you’ll need most in the next decade? Is it possible to peer into the future?
In the absence of a crystal ball, focused research and expert analysis are your most powerful source of foresight. In the most recent issue of 360° The Business Transformation Journal, Devin Fidler’s article “Tomorrow’s Work Skills” examines the most influential and disruptive changes we’re facing, and the vital skills you’ll need for career success over the next ten years.
The march of automation, outsourcing, and global expansion continues, and new transformations are on the horizon: the “smart revolution” is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the future interconnectivity of our lives. Every day, the drive towards true innovation becomes more urgent and more complex. Creativity, critical thought and quality communication have always been important factors in employability, but if you want to stay on top, you’ll need to develop these skills in unfamiliar directions.
It sounds like science fiction, but as technology evolves and everything gets smarter, the importance of specifically human proficiencies will only grow. The continual renegotiation of the human versus machine workload will bring out a stronger focus on novel and adaptive thought, and the value of unique insights will be higher than ever. You can expect technical skills to grow in importance. Even in more traditional roles, vast streams of information and the demand for dynamic content will demand a high level of new-media literacy. Dealing with, understanding, and leveraging the massive inflow of data will require strong digital design skills, computational thinking, and the ability to develop tools and techniques for thriving in the midst of cognitive overload.
Globalization is revolutionizing the working landscape and raising up a whole new generation of necessary communication skills. A global workforce needs the ability to collaborate virtually, strong cross-cultural competencies, and extraordinary levels of social intelligence. Global challenges demand transdisciplinary collaboration. A worker who can command these skills will have a firm foundation for achievement in the next decade and beyond.
The upcoming technological and demographic shifts of the next decade are set to shake up the workforce in a serious way. How will you respond? How flexible can you be? Do you have what it takes to flourish? Get a glimpse at the challenges and opportunities up ahead by exploring the insights of “Tomorrow’s Work Skills.” You’ll come away with a deeper understanding of exactly what you’ll need to make your mark on the future.
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The 360° – the Business Transformation Journal is produced by the BTS Business Transformation Academy, a thought leadership network devoted to providing cutting edge insights on innovation and business transformation.
