The world is changing, and employers continuously require new skills. The work environment is a touch volatile and ever-changing.
One of the things workers are concerned with at the minute is the skills they might be required to have for a future environment.
Those of the Millennial generation introduced a host of new skills many employers now look for in promising talent.
Before too long, the so-called Generation Z will come into their own and add new skill sets into the mix. What is it that you might need to learn to get ahead in the future, though?
The ability to identify problems and possess critical thinking skills which allow you to solve those problems will be thought of as valuable commodities in the future.
Referred to as “design thinking”, the ability to solve novel issues in complex settings will help individuals stand out in a sink or swim environment. Being able to use logic, consider various solutions to a single problem, and weigh up the best options could be essential.
The world is changing faster than many of us can keep up with. Versatility, flexibility and agility are commonly being bandied around as positive traits in the workplace.
Whereas your parents may have learned one specific skill set, the workers of tomorrow (and in some instances, today) are often required to have cognitive flexibility.
These skills will enable employees to switch between several concepts and adapt accordingly.
Long gone are the days when you only had to think of yourself. In the future, we’re going to need to take onboard the emotions of our colleagues and counterparts, too. Emotional intelligence will be vital in doing that.
Concepts such as service orientation are about finding ways to help others, be they colleagues, consumers or clients. In short, we’re talking about people management.
Getting into their heads and anticipating what they are going to need, and how best to offer your services could be as important as any of the future job skills listed here.
Millennials have taken to entrepreneurship. We are seeing more self-employed businesses and small start-ups than ever before.
One of the most in-demand skills is likely to be the ability to seek out new opportunities to create new strategies and ideas.
Turning little acorns into big ideas involves initiative taking. There is likely to be little room for people who suffer from a lack of judgement.
Avoid becoming a wait-and-see kind of person and become an effective decision maker instead.
Most people think of taking risk as sitting down at a casino blackjack table and just praying for the best, but those who'll excel in the future world will be different.
They'll be more like the notorious MIT blackjack team, where people calculated their expected value for playing in a certain way and then executed that plan with surgical-like precision.
That's somebody highly valuable in the future world, where machines are likely to do all the repetitive tasks.
Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it might just get you promoted. Being curious allows you to experiment with ideas – to be creative.
Creativity is not just about painting, writing or coming up with winning patents. Creativity is also linked to problem-solving.
It is about connecting the dots and finding the missing link between two seemingly conflicting ideas. Those who come up with the most ground-breaking ideas are likely to be those who have a powerful imagination.
High communication skills are already an important attribute to have in your locker. We’re not just talking about dotting the I’s and crossing the T’s when it comes to grammar.
There is more to it than that. It is no good having a great idea if you can’t communicate that idea to your team.
Moreover, projects tend to move faster when everybody is working in tandem. Being able to coordinate with others, being aware of their strengths and weaknesses and communicating that to team members is already of paramount importance today. It will be equally as much so in the future workforce.
Data has always played an essential part of work. You might think that in the future, we’ll continue using computers to analyse data. This is true. However, there is more to analysing data then crunching the numbers.
Plenty of data which is available online today is, for lack of a better word, spurious, or false. The digital age is flooded with misinformation and non-facts.
Analysing data to set apart the truth from the fiction might make all the difference, especially when it comes to seeing tides turning or predicting the next significant innovation or consumer demand. This is something no computer can do.
Pop over to any social media platform, and you will see that networking and influence are essential aspects of successful businessmen and women.
Working from home, remote working, and a non-stationary workforce are already things we’re seeing in businesses today. It is expected that over the next decade, as many as 40% of the workforce will be so-called non-assigned workers.
The ability to connect with others via networking and influence colleagues, consumers and partners is deemed a vital part of that plan.
