- Over the last year
organizations around the globe have come to a realization.
They face a future in which legacy businesses,
businesses that are not agile
and those that are not operating
on a modern technology platform
are quickly becoming obsolete.
The new business landscape
requires skills and cloud computing, user experience
data science, connectivity
and a vast amount of other technical capabilities.
As jobs are transformed
by technologies in the fourth industrial revolution,
we actually are expected to need to re-skill
more than one billion people by 2030.
A recent study showed that 77% of CEOs
believe that the availability of skills
is the biggest threat to their business.
So how can organizations create a re-skilling Renaissance?
It begins by leading with a growth mindset.
It's the belief that you and those around you
have the capacity to learn new things.
Then it begins with empowering employees
to re-skill and up-skill.
You can't replace tens of thousands of employees
or hundreds of thousands of employees.
From nano degrees to certifications,
organizations will need to provide a platform for employees
that supports, personalizes
and even incentivizes them for continuous learning.
Several years ago, I worked for a company
that defined future roles that needed.
They actually looked 10 years out
thought about the skills they would need
and the technologies that would be needed,
and they built a series of certifications
in partnership with the university to re-skill the workforce
today they're very successful.
Rapid technological change
at increased international competition for roles
extra requires a different set of skills as well.
It's the ability to adapt.
The pace of change in the increase in competition
also requires another set of skills.
Those skills are things like adaptability.
Those skills are non-routine cognitive skills
think abstract reasoning and systems thinking.
It includes collaboration and relationship development.
It's all the soft skills that we often forget about.
Next, your business should look at reshaping the workforce
and strategically using
independent freelancers and consultants.
As companies look to develop a workforce
and as the skills are constantly changing,
an alternative workforce
could be a path to actually being successful.
It's expected that by 2030
60% of the workforce will be freelancers
and over 40% of millennials today are already freelancers.
It will be important to bring in
the right talent at the right time
and for the right business outcome
versus using consulting as supplemental staffing.
As we look to reshaping the workforce
Gen Z and millennials want to work in places
where they have an opportunity for continuous learning.
They are the majority of your workforce of the future.
Reshaping re-skilling and up-skilling
are the key to organizational resilience.
It's critical to the survival of your organization.