To label certain skills as ‘soft’ underplays their importance. We argue these skills are in fact vital – and essential for the ongoing healthy flourishing of human organisations, communities and societies.
The way we organise ourselves to create economic and societal value is undergoing a seismic and game-changing transformation.
A broad range of trends are converging to render obsolete conventional organising models and frameworks. Next-generation digital technology (including AI), shifting attitudes to work, globalisation, geopolitical frictions, the climate crisis and more require us all to urgently rethink the business resources we consume, the processes we follow and the tasks we undertake in the course of our daily work.
Indeed, in the face of planetary resource depletion, we must reimagine the entire construct of value creation and question the durability of late-stage capitalism.
While most contemporary headlines focus on the pressing need to integrate AI into working practices, far less is written about how next-generation technology will accelerate the pace and scale at which we will all need to learn new work skills if we are to successfully integrate an ever-expanding array of technological options.
The pace at which tech is evolving requires us to continuously upskill. As Wired magazine founder Kevin Kelly wrote, “In this era of ‘becoming’, everyone becomes a newbie. Worse, we will be newbies forever.”
Hard skills – those acquired through education, training and experience – are increasingly fleeting. Continuous – or lifelong – learning is already an imperative for those businesses and individuals hoping to survive and thrive in the coming decades.
Traditionally, hiring has tended to focus on the hard skills required for jobs that have been deemed as reasonably static and unchanging. As working contexts become ever more transient however, organisations must prioritise the attitudes and attributes of jobseekers that underpin learning agility. This encompasses an individual’s ability to embrace continuous change.
What is learning agility?
Harvard Business Publishing defines learning agility as “a mindset and set of behaviours that enable people to learn, adapt, unlearn, and relearn to keep up with constantly changing conditions.”
But what are these mindsets and behaviours?
At Working the Future, our underlying area of interest is the intersection between emerging technology, socio-cultural trends and drivers and human psychology. Simply put, we’re interested in how technology reshapes human behaviour over time.
As such, we have spent several years exploring the way modern technology is reshaping workplace learning and the underlying human characteristics that expedite workforce and organisational agility.
What are the vital skills?
In the past, intangible and innate skills have been labelled as ‘soft skills’. Tricky to define and harder to measure, these skills have most often appeared in the long list of ‘nice-to-have’ attributes at the bottom of job descriptions. By their very nature, they are regularly downplayed – or worse, overlooked – when it comes to evaluating a jobseeker’s suitability for a role.
Job platform Indeed defines soft skills as “interpersonal and behavioural skills that help you work well with other people”.
But, while traditionally, these skills may have been marginalised, in the AI era, they are critical. They are skills even the most sophisticated coders will struggle to replicate as, by their very nature, they are inherently nuanced and context specific. They are the human skills we are consistently told will render us immune to the inexorable march of technology.
As such, to even label them as soft, overlooks their importance. We argue these skills are in fact vital – they are essential for the ongoing healthy flourishing of human organisations, communities and societies.
We have identified 16 vital skills – each validated by current psychology research for success in the future of work.
This article is the first of a four-part series to outline these skills, explaining what they are and why they are needed for success in the future of work.
Let’s get started.
1. Emotional intelligence
Emotional intelligence (also known as EQ) can be defined as the ability to interpret and manage one’s emotions. Renowned EQ psychologist Daniel Goleman breaks it down into four primary categories – self-awareness, self-management, social-awareness and relationship management.
Successful teamwork, underpinned by psychological safety, is a key component of an organisation’s ability to nimbly adapt to new market contexts and opportunities. EQ helps us understand how our behavioural responses affect the behaviour of those around us. It allows us to consider the perspectives of others and it is foundational to the trust building required by high-performing teams.
Why is it important for the future of work?
Trust and psychological safety enhance goodwill and loyalty within groups of people. As the nature of work becomes more fast-paced, fragmented, on-demand and transient, sociality – the way people at work cooperate in service of higher goals and objectives – is key. Self and social awareness naturally lead to higher quality, deeper relationships. This, in turn, enables the delivery of higher-quality work outputs.
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2. Self-awareness
Self-aware individuals understand their own emotions. They are able to interpret and label their feelings and have an enhanced understanding of the ebb and flow of their emotional states. They recognise and appreciate their personal values, strengths and weaknesses and can navigate the situational factors that act as emotional triggers.
Self-aware individuals are mindful of how they interact with the wider world and, as such, are more able to demonstrate authenticity and generosity in their interactions with others.
Raised self-awareness delivers appreciation that humans are a deeply social species. Interdependence and teamwork are therefore favoured over independence and competitiveness.
Why is it important for the future of work?
Self-awareness interconnects with social awareness, which is a core ingredient of successful long-term relationship building. Once we understand our own emotional panorama, we are immediately able to anticipate it in those around us. Self-awareness underpins successful collaboration as it typically prioritises group endeavour over personal gain.
There are various aspects of self-awareness, including empathy and humility.
3. Empathy
Empathy is a key indicator of emotional intelligence and social awareness. Postivepsychology.com acknowledges the difficulty of finding a succinct definition of empathy, but describes it loosely as the “ability to understand and experience someone else’s feelings and adopt someone else’s viewpoint”.
It is an essential component of being able to successfully build and sustain relationships with others. Lack of empathy reduces the capacity for cooperation, collaboration and other pro-social behaviours.
Why is it important for the future of work?
Progressive, sustainable innovation will increasingly depend on an organisation’s capacity to anticipate and design products and services tailored to the needs of its customers. The ability to sense and respond to the real-world challenges that customers face requires the ability to see the world from multiple, diverse perspectives.
Organisations that fail to take an empathic stance will find themselves increasingly unable deliver products and services that meet the bespoke needs of increasingly discerning customers.
4. Humility
Co-author of Humility is the New Smart, Edward Hess defines humility as “accurate self-appraisal: acknowledging you can’t have all the answers, remaining open to new ideas, and committing yourself to lifelong learning”.
Humility underpins a growth mindset. In increasingly volatile and ambiguous trading environments, remaining open to new lines of thinking is essential.
Why is it important for the future of work?
Maintaining open-mindedness and awareness that the world is increasingly hard to decipher and navigate enables resilience and agility. Getting comfortable with the idea that it’s OK not to always know the answer allows us to pursue lifelong learning and personal growth. Humility promotes the idea of continuous evolution and helps us become the best version of ourselves we can be.
Conclusion
As we can see, these vital skills are deeply human. As such, they are hard to measure (or replicate) algorithmically. Organisations must develop ways of identifying and benchmarking these skills both within their pre-existing teams and to improve the way they hire for these attributes in the future.
While this won’t necessarily be easy – it’s hard to codify these skills – it’s essential. And talking about them, what they are, why they matter and how they show up in interpersonal relations is an essential first step.
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Business transformation isn’t the latest software or project tool. Lasting organisational change happens conversation by conversation...
So, if you’d like to explore anything we've touched on in this blog or discuss any other aspects of the future of work, please do get in touch.
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