Leading Through Change: The Economy of Tech Globalization & Management
As robots, automation and artificial intelligence perform more tasks in this digitalized global age, and there is massive disruption of jobs, several policy and market-based solutions have been promoted to address the loss of employment and wages forecast by technologists and economists. A key idea emerging from many conversations is that changes in educational and learning environments are necessary to help people stay employable in the labor force of the future. A wider array of education and skills-building programs would have to be created to meet new demands. In this globally and digitally interconnected world, all learners, from cradle to career, need new skills and knowledge to succeed. If we want to prepare for, work and life, opportunities to learn 21st-century skills are essential. What are the most important skills needed to succeed in today’s work space?
Digital Skills
Alongside diverse problem-solving abilities, communication, and innovation, as a generation, we need to learn digital skills. The rapid digital uptake has demanded enhanced skills from workers across all industries – from those working remotely or at the frontline. Despite efforts to virtually upskill workers and raise their digital competence by embedding digital skills across subject curricula, digital skills remain a top priority to ensure no groups are left behind in the transition towards a digital economy.
Cross-skilled
Companies are not only keen on hiring upskilled workers but employees able to cross-skill. Specialists in one area such as data science need enough basic skills in another such as business. The ability to speak one another’s language and be comfortable in multiple worlds is a critically invaluable skill not just for collaborating on AI-related challenges, but for also deciding which problems AI can solve. A team of “multilingual” people who can integrate multiple tech and non-tech skills helps to assist non-tech employees with tech solutions and tech employees with business solutions while emphasizing the basics of each other’s skillsets.
Socio-emotional Skills
Socio-emotional skills are associated with the abilities to learn across different domains and throughout one’s life. In order to self-monitor and maintain motivation, workforce awareness and insight into their development, strengths, and weaknesses, and mental wellbeing became increasingly important. Socio-emotional skills include elements of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making.
Emotional Intelligence (EQ)
In many surveys, emotional intelligence plays a huge role. EQ describes the ability to be aware of, control, and express the own emotions and those of others. While the world gets more digital, we have to get better at understanding each other. Together with cultural literacy, it can help in many fields of a professional career and can be crucial for team building and company culture.
Leadership Skills
While not everyone wants to be a leader or has to be a leader, it is important to know what good leaders do. In a network society everyone can be in a leadership role every once in a while, so learning how to motivate, animate, and also lead people can be a great skill set. A key skill is the ability to inspire and also help others to become the best version of themselves.
Creative and Innovative Mindset
Despite a report by the World Economic Forum in 2018 suggesting robot automation will create more jobs than they displace, you’ll still do well to keep on top of your creative skills and maintain an innovative mindset. Much like having an excellent sense of social intelligence, natural creativity is something which can’t be easily replicated by the latest digital technologies. As long as you can think outside the box, you’ll be just fine.
