Geschreven door Marijn de Geus | April 22, 2016
Visions of a future where robots rule humanity aren't lacking in popular culture. They present a technological paradise for some, a post-apocalyptic nightmare for others. However, the fact remains that more and more tasks and functions become automated. Research suggests that five million jobs will disappear before 2020. Which skills will then be relevant?
The World Economic Forum (WEF) report is clear: jobs are changing, required skills are shifting and whoever is not able to adjust in time, will notice it soon enough. “Without targeted action today to manage the near-term transition and build a workforce with future proof skills, governments will have to cope with ever-growing unemployment and inequality, and businesses with a shrinking consumer base.”
A bold statement, which is perhaps a little exaggerated. In the end, the mismatch between supply and demand of education will be adjusted by the market itself. Certain skills will grow in both absolute and relative importance however. The absolute need to possess or obtain them yourself, be it as a person or organisation, means that the relative importance in competition increases. The question remains: which skills are we talking about?
Future proof skills
Robert Went, from the Dutch Scientific Council for Government Policy, concludes “that it is important that you shouldn’t try to do things slightly better than a robot, but that you should try to do things that robots won’t be able to do now and in the next years.” He goes on to identify the six most important future skills:
- Solving complex problems
- Critical thinking
- Creativity
- People management
- Cooperating with others
- Emotional intelligence
What stands out is that the last three skills are social and communicative. The WEF even suggests that such skills will be more in demand than technical skills. An example: in health care, more and more diagnosis and treatment is automated, which makes medical functions focus more on communication towards patients. This poses a serious challenge to the HR or L&D Manager. Whereas a coding course might get someone well on his way in programming, emotional intelligence is something that you just have to be born with. Or not?
Soft becomes strength
For a long time, this was indeed the common thought: soft skills are largely innate, and even if a training day affects them, it isn’t measurable anyway. This has been refuted by now. Not only do we know that, for instance, someone’s empathy is developable, specific social skills such as bad news conversations can now be measurably improved. On a large scale. The solution is brought by the same automation that triggered the change in the first place: current technology enables thousands of employees to test their social skills levels simultaneously using video role plays and then develop them with unlimited practice.
Whether those five million jobs will really disappear or are nothing more than a temporary mismatch, the rules of the game have permanently changed. Automation and robotisation spur a competition in communicative power at each level of the organisation. In these soft skills lies the strength of the individual, the organisation and the country. Which makes it good to know that we can develop them.
Interested in learning more about developing communication skills through role plays? Click below!
