By Michelle Gibbings
If someone were to tell you that in less than five years, your skills would be 50 per cent less relevant than they are today, would you believe them? Research suggests that the ‘half-life’ for skills, in general, is around five years, while for technical fields, it’s closer to 2.5 years.
The term ‘half-life’, commonly used in physics, refers to the time it takes for something to reduce to half its initial value. The breadth and pace of workplace change isn’t limited to your skill set. The rise of borderless teams, flexible work practices, collaborative technologies and the gig economy impacts what you do and how you do it.
Career success requires you to be adaptive and strategic and not wait for your employer to give you the skills you need to thrive in this changing workplace. Here’s how to do it.
Robots will destroy 85 million jobs at mid-sized to large businesses over the next five years.Credit: Les Hewitt
Get future focused
The 2024 Work Trend Index Annual Report by Microsoft and LinkedIn found 66 per cent of leaders wouldn’t hire someone without AI skills, and 71 per cent would rather hire a less experienced candidate with AI skills than a more experienced candidate without them.
You want to know what’s happening and how your role, profession, industry and sector will likely change. Use those insights to set yourself up as an early adopter of new technology. Experiment with the latest tools and techniques so you are ready to adapt.
Elevate your USP
Everyone brings specific skills and ways of operating to their work. Think of this as your unique selling proposition (USP). It’s the value you deliver through your work that makes you stand out from everyone else.
However, the things employers value change over time, so make sure your USP is meaningful, current and targeted. Author of Exponential Organisations, Salim Ismail said: “Today, if you’re not disrupting yourself, someone else is; your fate is to be either the disrupter or the disrupted. There is no middle ground.”
Be your learning master
The quest for knowledge and understanding never ends, particularly in a world of increasing connectedness and complexity. However, it can be easy to let self-generated learning fall away when you’ve been in the workforce for a while.
Challenge yourself. When was the last time you proactively learnt something new? Last week? Last month? Last year? Or is it so long ago that you can’t remember?
This isn’t learning your organisation paid for you to attend; it’s learning you decided was necessary. It could have been a course you attended purely for enjoyment because you wanted to master a new craft. It might have been expanding a skill set or acquiring a new set of skills because you wanted to expand your knowledge and expertise.
People learn most quickly when the learning is relevant to them and when they take responsibility for it. The choice is yours as to the direction you travel with your learning.
Remember, this is your investment in your future employability and progress. Some learning might have a monetary cost, while others won’t. All learning involves the cost of time. But consider the cost to your career of not being proactive and taking charge.
Focus on the human side
A joint study by Kellogg Northwestern and MIT Sloan School of Management (both in the United States) examined how new technology impacts workers and their earnings. The researchers found the effect varied depending on whether the technology could perform a task ‘in place of a worker’ or ‘complementing workers performing a task’.
The latter created more variability, such that “the most experienced and highly paid workers suffer, while new hires appear to benefit”. They concluded AI could level the playing field within an occupation, and the people most impacted would be those who are better at their jobs.
Importantly, their research found roles that relied on interpersonal skills were hardly affected by technological change. That’s because AI cannot replace the human-to-human connection. While the routine-and-process elements of roles will be automated, the relational, emotional and leadership skills won’t be.
Consequently, strong self-awareness and emotional intelligence are just as important as technical skills. So, when upskilling, invest in the human side of the equation. The future is changing and uncertain, so become the leader of your career to place yourself in the best position to adapt and thrive.
Michelle Gibbings is a workplace expert and the award-winning author of three books, including her latest, Bad Boss: What to do if you work for one, manage one or are one.
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