Part three in a series of four blogs exploring what we regard as the vital skills required for the future of work examines some of the key components that underpin continuous – or lifelong – learning.
The range of escalating global risks is expanding by the day. They are converging to create complexity and friction in the way we work and generate economic value.
The ways we have traditionally organised ourselves at work are no longer optimal and urgently require an upgrade. As organisations navigate an ongoing barrage of concerns, all internal stakeholders, regardless of seniority, must commit to continuous adaptation, learning, unlearning, relearning and upskilling if they are to remain relevant, useful and purposeful in the years ahead.
This level of uncertainty requires very different skillsets and mindsets.
In part three of our four-part series on the essential vital skills for the future of work, we examine some of the key components that underpin continuous – or lifelong – learning.
9. Grit (or perseverance)
University of Pennsylvania Professor Angela Duckworth focuses her research on the topic of ‘grit’. She defines this as passion and perseverance for long-term goals, and identifies grit as having four key psychological assets:
1. Interest
2. Practice
3. Purpose
4. Hope
As complexity amplifies and throws up ever more challenging hurdles to overcome, the ability to persevere and retain focus on long-term objectives (or purpose) is paramount.
Eliminating or avoiding distractions is key, even if not straightforward in the age of attention deficit. Tenacious individuals demonstrate ongoing commitment to the achievement of goals through the continuous improvement of their personal skills and expertise. They will always find new ways to create opportunity and showcase their commitment to continuous learning, growth and personal development.
Why is it important for the future of work?
In increasingly challenging, complex and novel environments, grit is an essential personal asset. The relentless nature of 21st Century life is full of distraction, and it’s never been easier to lose focus and momentum.
Business continuity depends on engaged and committed teams who ringfence time each day to address activities that will sustain the organisation over the longer term. In this mix, relationships, trust and goodwill are key, as is a strategic vision for the future that offers hope and intrinsic long-term reward.
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Scroll down for details on our new suite of seminars demystifying the shifts and undercurrents transforming the future of work, as well as information on our latest future of work guides and reports.
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10. Adaptability
The award-winning book Helping People Change sets out the premise for lasting personal change.
It is widely acknowledged that most business transformation programmes fail. Too much focus on process and external, often sterile, commercial objectives results in a lack of consideration for psychological and emotional factors. This is misguided as human beings are notoriously irrational and led by their feelings.
Rather than singularly focus on change as a business process, Richard Boyatzis, Melvin Smith and Ellen van Oosten argue, it’s better to link change activities with each internal stakeholders’ individual long-term positive vision of themselves or a personal goal that’s been long sought.
This requires enhanced emotional intelligence and curiosity for the aspirations and hopes of those around us. It requires us to tune in to others and listen. When we focus on the human factors that underscore lasting adaptability, we immediately enhance the likelihood of sustainable business transformation.
Why is it important for the future of work?
As people live – and work – for longer, its entirely likely they will switch careers multiple times. In tandem, futureproof organisations will need to continuously adapt to changing market conditions, innovating to create new products and services.
Being open to change requires enhanced self-awareness and self-knowledge. It requires us to focus on longer-term objectives and have an understanding of the change we hope to see in the world. When we emotionally connect with a bigger picture, we immediately become more adaptive and progressive.
11. Resilience
AI developments, geopolitics, the escalating climate emergency, shifting sociocultural attitudes and more are amplifying business complexity. Trust in institutions is at an all-time low and senior business executives must work far harder to make any progress.
This requires courage, resilience and adaptability.
Strengths researcher Marcus Buckingham defines resilience as “the capacity to withstand, bounce back from and work through challenging circumstances or events.” Personal resilience has direct bearing on one’s ability to successfully adapt to new situations as they arise.
When we know we can survive one extreme situation, we are immediately better equipped to confront the next. Fear of the unknown is a great disabler and lived experience is usually far less traumatic than we might have imagined.
Why is it important for the future of work?
The future is unknown. With so many complex variables interplaying with one another, it’s impossible to predict how circumstances will play out. The business systems, frameworks and tools that have worked well in the past weren’t designed for the hyperconnected, digitally underpinned modern era.
Getting comfortable with the uncomfortable is the only way through. Those who can learn mental and emotional agility will do way better than those whose ideas and worldviews remain rigid. Resilience and adaptability are natural bedfellows for success in the future of work.
12. Growth mindset
Dr. Carol Dweck’s research on “growth mindset” reveals how attitudes to intelligence and learning influence long-term high-performance. Her work shows how children and young adults who BELIEVE they can improve academically go on to outperform high achievers with a fixed mindset.
A growth mindset is attitudinal and not limited by age. Someone with a growth mindset will always see room for improvement and be willing to consistently apply effort to hone their skills over time.
As commercial landscapes become increasingly ambiguous, ongoing personal -and business – success will be contingent on continuous learning. This isn’t simply a matter of learning new ‘hard’ skills, but it also includes the development of vital skills that improve situational awareness and leadership.
Continuous learning demands the willingness to experiment in order to successfully adapt. It requires an openness to learn from mistakes that will inevitably be made.
Committed learners recognise that most professional learning is social and contextual. As such, they are naturally more open to sharing their learning within communities of practice in a way that benefits the wider group.
Why is it important for the future of work?
The World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report lists a range of meta-crises that are destabilising trading environments and fuelling volatility. As technological advances accelerate, it’s increasingly challenging to decipher which hard skills will be needed in industry and for how long.
Learning agility augments adaptation to increasingly fluid operating contexts. Growth mindset enables and supports learning agility, fostering greater personal resilience and adaptability. These are prerequisite characteristics that underpin the ability to successfully navigate increasingly complex commercial landscapes.
Conclusion
As executive leadership coach Marshall Goldsmith infamously wrote, ‘What got you here won’t get you there’.
This cluster of vital skills centre on our ability to unlearn and relearn, meeting new scenarios with full dexterity as they arise.
Fear of the unknown is paralysing. It prevents us from looking forward and explains why so many populist leaders currently promise representations of traditionalism and the past that are mesmerising and distracting. But we can’t go back, only forward.
Adjusting our mental models to positively meet new scenarios is a meta-skill, one that often comes from having to navigate unwelcome and destabilising life events. Feelings of grief and loss are a natural bedfellow of unwelcome change, but those who experience these deep emotions regularly go on to report profound growth and transformation and far greater meaning and purpose.
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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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