What skills we will need in 2030?
The world of work is changing by the waves of the technological development and by the appearance of the artificial intelligence and the rate of change continues to accelerate. In practice the change means that the workplaces automate the manual, repetitive, monotonous tasks, but at the same time the value of those jobs increases in which human skills are specifically needed and the computers cannot solve them yet. In the workplace of the future the most successful will be those who have digital skills and develop human skills relating to the attitude, work and cooperation with others.
In this article we have collected basic soft skills which are necessary for a successful career in the labour market of the future.
What are soft skills?
They are human skills related to the work of the employees and their interaction with others. It is different form technical skills that are position-specific (e.g. software usage). Human skills may be classified into the following categories:
- Communication and negotiation skills
- Interpersonal skills and empathy
- Leadership and team management skills
- Entrepreneurship and adaptability
- Continuous learning ability
Why human skills are important for the future of work?
Based on the survey of the Deloitte consulting company the positions and occupations requiring human skills will grow 2.5 times by 2030 and they will mean two thirds of all workplaces.
Even with that the human skills are traditionally considered lower level skills in many places than the technical skills. It is possible because it was always easier to evaluate and measure the technical skills comparable to the human skills. Even in the education the writing, reading and counting or the usage of excel or word are routinely evaluated. The teamwork, cooperation and flexibility are much more difficult to measure and evaluate.
The spreading automation and the rapidly developing technology quickly obsolete the technical, technological skills. As the nature of work rapidly changes, the companies must develop the social and emotional skills of the employees which machines cannot take over. For example, the organisations promoting diversity need persons having high emotional intelligence to accept inclusivity. The global giant companies like Google and Amazon also emphasize the importance of human skills. The Oxygen Project of Google pointed out that the most successful teams consist of such persons who brought strong human skills into the cooperation process. Thus, the importance of human skills shall be in the DNA of the organisations.
List of soft skills emerging in 2030:
- 4C
The learning skills of the 21st century are called “4C” including critical thinking, creative thinking, communication and cooperation. These skills are key for the success of the employees.
- Critical thinking
The artificial intelligence or the machine learning are outstanding in the interpretation, merging data of large amount of information. But finally, people are able to use the right data in the right place. For example, a manager may acquire and analyse the indices generated by the business intelligence to implement the optimization of the resource.
- Communication
Development of the communication skills of the staff may be favourable for the companies in the acceleration of the processes, the improvement of interactions between employees, the formation of customer relationship etc. that are crucial to generate income. But the employees working in human resources, sales and leading positions are excellent examples, whose successfulness depends a lot on their interpersonal skills.
- Cooperation
Cooperation is an interpersonal skill, that represents a great value in almost every industry sector. During the project-based work the cooperation skill is a basic requirement for the success of the project. If the employees cannot work as a team, it has a negative impact on the quality of work and the performance of the employees.
- Creativity
The creativity in the workplace is indispensable to the innovation and it is not simply repeatable by the recent technology. Whether a creative problem-solving or a brainstorming concerning a breakthrough product are an integral part of the business growth for the company and it promotes the competitive advantage. For example, creative employees may find innovative methods to execute the task and may reduce the duration, thereby improving the productivity.
- Contextualized intelligence
By 2030 the artificial intelligence is gaining ground more and more and the information becomes even more accessible than today. But the machines will still not have human intuition, judgement and empathy. Therefore, with the spread of algorithms the skill of classifying the information becomes more and more important. For example, the artificial intelligence may select the candidates for admission; but only the HR official will know, who is the most suitable based on the candidate’s personality. Thus, contextualized intelligence becomes indispensable and remains in a prominent position in the list of the human skills.
- Cognitive flexibility
The cognitive flexibility is sometimes called task-switching. The people having greater flexibility of thinking adapt faster, if the initial plans change, obstacles arise and they are often better at solving problems.
- Social and emotional intelligence
Digital technologies and artificial intelligence may replace many things, but the emotional and social intelligence remains human. The base of the cooperation during work is the understanding of another person, awareness and respect of the cultural differences. If we have these skills, they may help us in the successful career, good performance and to work in a cooperative environment.
- Leadership skills
All successful entrepreneurship is the result of two key factors – a strong, balanced leader and the team. Besides that, the leadership skills guarantee the advancement of the project and the team, strengthen the processes and the cooperation between people, thus contributing to the company results.
- Problem-solving
Employees having good problem-solving skills more likely perform their tasks independently, manage the challenges fast and effectively. People responsible for production, planning and strategy often rely on their good problem-solving skills. Its helps them considering the possibilities and actions and managing economically the complex, variable problems.
Source:
https://www2.deloitte.com/au/en/pages/economics/articles/soft-skills-business-success.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2017/12/20/the-surprising-thing-google-learned-about-its-employees-and-what-it-means-for-todays-students/