LinkedIn’s 2020 Workplace Learning Report, 57 per cent of talent development efforts will focus on leadership and management skills, 42 per cent on creative problem solving and design thinking skills and 40 per cent on communication skills.
The pandemic has transformed the way practically every industry functions. Overnight, organisations and employees have had to change the way we do business and live our lives. In the past few months, we’ve witnessed companies restructure teams, redesign jobs, innovate, and adopt new ways of working. As we challenge the new normal and find our way back into our workplaces, a revamped set of skills will prove invaluable. As someone who prefers to see the glass half full, the pandemic has offered massive opportunities for organisations and individuals who are ready to evolve, spot and quickly capitalise on opportunities and focus on what we can control. Keeping up with this wave of change and applying creative strategies for staying on top of your game will be key. And we have seen great examples of this with companies offering flexible and safe “space as a service” or industries like food or grocery delivery, personal hygiene, education, e-commerce, etc.
Collaboration
Remote working, staggered work shifts, and flexible workspaces are the future. As remote working, working near home and rostered shifts become our new reality, we have no choice but to adapt to new kinds of digital technology and communication. Organisations will look for talent who can adapt to advanced technologies to ensure work is streamlined and productivity does not take a hit.
While there is no replacement for face-to-face communication, we will rely heavily on digital communication to fill the void. To be able to work without bottlenecks, minimise conflict and drive a high-performance culture, organisations will be looking for talent who can inspire and develop young teams, challenge existing systems and processes and work comfortably with data analytics, machine learning, etc.
While communication through digital platforms will certainly be important, social and emotional intelligence will be in greater demand than ever before. To ensure our relationships remain strong, employees will need to find innovative ways to work together to feel supported, continue to drive change and demonstrate empathy. Business networks need to continue to be nurtured and finding ways to create new and build on existing relationships during a challenging and unanticipated crisis, will be important in the years to come.
Last but not the least, managing oneself to stay centred, focused and resilient will become a core competency. Sensitivity to mental wellbeing for self and our colleagues and seamlessly integrating healthy habits into our new lifestyles will help build strong and sustainable teams and organisations.
Learning agility
According to LinkedIn’s 2020 Workplace Learning Report, 57 per cent of talent development efforts will focus on leadership and management skills, 42 per cent on creative problem solving and design thinking skills and 40 per cent on communication skills. The same study reveals that if these skills aren’t quickly honed, customer experience and satisfaction, product development and delivery, and the company’s ability to innovate over the next three to five years will be drastically affected. To keep up, professionals need to be open, agile and able to mould themselves to various roles.
Acquiring knowledge beyond your own comfort zone requires one to invest in appreciating the new context, learning quickly and honing creative problem-solving skills relevant in the new environment. Organisations need to invest in a whole array of skills -- digital, cognitive, social and emotional, change management and resilience skills -- regardless of an employee’s role in the organisation. From defining the strategy at a leadership level to a front-line executive who is adapting to new technology to serve the customer, a live learning culture will need to prevail.
The pandemic has pushed us to peek into the future. Employees will quickly need to adapt to successfully operate in unforeseen environments. In a digital era, every organisation and talent segment will require a mindset shift towards flexibility and collaboration.