As leaders, it is our responsibility to help those we lead become future proof, both as individuals and as a team. We are living in a world where things are changing really fast with AI technology leading the way.
I would not be surprised if there is a big shuffle or restructure in terms of the composition of the workforce (human, robots and algorithms) and their respective roles in the organization.
I believe that it is our responsibility to help our teams stay relevant in these turbulent and emergent future. We can do so by helping them learn new skills that would help them become future proof.
Here are a few skills that I think we need to help them learn. These skills will help us as a team perform well and stay relevant, while at the same time help the individuals in the team also stay relevant.
Learning How to Learn
The days of learning when the biggest chunk of learning used to be on the job (70:20:10) are long gone. The speed at which things are evolving, we will end up learning a lot more in class rooms (physical or virtual). And do so multiple times in our careers.
So, a key to being successful will depend on our ability to learn something new quickly and start working with it. So, knowing how we learn best and the ability to adapt our learning accordingly will make us effective at learning and do it fast.
Becoming Data Smart
Irrespective of what role we work in, we will end up dealing with data in one form or the other. We might generate, analyse or share data or be working with insights gained by an AI system which did all of that for us.
The ability to know to work with data and when dealing with AI tools, to know when and what data to trust and which data or insights that needs to be cross-checked will be key. In order for us to be able to do that, we need to at least know foundational statistics.
Initiating New Projects / Products
One of the things that I predict that AI will not be doing anytime in the near future is to start new projects on their own. So, all new initiatives will continue to be human led.
The ability to identify and initiate the right kinds of project or initiatives will become a key skill going forward. In other words, the ability to identify the right kind of problems to solve will become a critical skill.
Conclusion
In conclusion, there are a lot of other skills that will need to be developed to become future proof. These are good places to start and have the additional characteristic of making the learning of other skills easier and more effective.
As leaders, can we create opportunities, as part of our regular work, for our teams to learn these skills. Can we allow them to find the time and the resources needed so they can continue to upgrade themselves?
If we upgrade our mobile phones operating system once a year, do we not owe it to ourselves to update ourselves at least once a year? This will be the best investment that we make in our life.
