The shift to skills

In the latest Udemy 2024 Global Learning & Skills Trends Report, you see a gathering of industry insights from different world-renowned consultancy companies. This can give us a sneak peek at what is happening in business organizations regarding the future of work, and I find these insights fascinating.

Gartner estimates that the number of skills needed for a single job is increasing by 10 percent year-over-year, and more than 30 percent of the skills required three years ago will soon be irrelevant.

Harvard Business Review (HBR): Today, advances in technology are changing the demand for skills at an accelerated pace. Organizations and individuals need access to a wide range of skills to make a skills-based approach successful. This includes:

Practical business skills that can be applied on the job (sometimes referred to as role-based skills),

Professional or business skills such as communication, collaboration, and leadership, and

Technical skills that can be validated

According to Korn Ferry, more than 85 million people will be in talent shortage by 2030. The only path is to upskill and reskill, continuing to focus on broadening the skillsets of your workforce.

The World Economic Forum Future of Jobs Report 2023 found that six in 10 employees will require training before 2027, and half of those individuals need access to adequate resources to do so.

In addition, Deloitte found that only five percent of executives believe they are investing enough to help their teams learn the new skills needed to keep up with the changing world of work. This can create significant problems for many companies and leaders that will only grow with time.

Now, here comes a predictable finding that did not surprise me at all: AI is at the heart of the skills-based infrastructure.

Nearly every job is likely to be affected by these new tools, with 82 percent of the global leaders Microsoft surveyed saying that their employees will need new skills to prepare for the growth of generative AI.

Technology has always helped — and even pushed — people to think and work differently. It has allowed them to reshape what they work on and how they work. Technology will continue to help companies evolve toward taking a skills-based approach, more thoughtfully scaling core people processes around hiring, workforce planning, and developing and improving internal mobility.

AI enables employees to work more effectively on tasks requiring more conceptual thinking. And so, this makes me wonder: when hiring people to fill positions for the company, where does the role of academic achievements or the prestige of the school they graduated from fit into this picture? No wonder studies have indicated that Silicon Valley recruiters do not pay much attention to job candidates’ academic credentials; what interests them is the skills and capability of the individuals applying for a job.

A groundbreaking study carried out by The Conference Board and Udemy Business identified the “4 C’s,” or the four critical skills for highly successful modern leaders:

Connecting – Interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence, including empathy, compassion, and self-awareness

Coaching – Effective coaching and feedback skills

Creating an Inclusive Culture – Fostering an inclusive environment

Collaborating through technology – Leveraging technology for connection and collaboration

In this section, I am glad that the study addressed the elephant in the room: High attrition.

The study says that entry-level and frontline managers are key players who inspire their teams daily. If they fail, there is a cost. It often leads to increased employee attrition and decreased overall employee morale. According to Gallup, disengaged employees cost the world $8.8 trillion in lost productivity in 2022 alone.

As the workforce enters a period of intense disruption due to generative AI, automation, and technological innovation, leaders must lead with even more purpose, vision, strategy, and empathy. They must ensure that teams have access to – and engage with – development opportunities for reskilling, and they must continually rethink their approach to a constantly evolving skills landscape. A sense of purpose through work is a leading driver of performance and productivity. According to McKinsey, effective leadership helps teams connect with that purpose and maintain that connection through periods of instability.

Do you know why I am all worked up after reading the report? I wish I could now say and proclaim that these are practically what I have been saying in my Level Up Leadership training. Heck, why don’t I say it now? Yes, these are some of the many things I have been emphasizing in my leadership training.

Get the report. It is called the 2024 Global Learning & Skills Trends Report. It’s free to download anyway. But then again, if you ignore all this vital information, even though the report is free, not knowing will cost you.

Francis Kong’s “Inspiring Excellence” podcast is now available on Spotify, Apple, Google, or other podcast streaming platforms.