Preparing employees for the unknown jobs of the future

Live from Learning Technologies 2022, Craig Hamill, Customer Success Manager, Go1 moderated a panel with Laura Overton & Shannon Tipton Co-Founders of Emerging Stronger and Rosemary Hoskins, Global Capability Lead, AstraZeneca to discuss ways to help businesses support their current workforce for jobs that are yet to be created. 

Soft skills necessary for jobs of the future

The discussion begun with the panelist determining which soft skills are needed to succeed in future jobs, both from the lens of the employee and the employer. They concluded that agility, curiosity, collaboration, and communication were key to succeeding in almost any role, regardless of the level or technical skill required to complete it.

Specifically, they called out curiosity, and mentioned that in order to move forward, people need to have a curious mindset and approach risks head on — not letting the outcome of the risks stop them from exploring their curiosity. They used the example of certain deployments of new technologies such as robots operating in the fast food sector. Though there are great benefits to having this futuristic tech involved, there is also the risk they will take out curiosity for those working around them. 

Technological pain points

The panelists highlight their biggest pain points when it comes to technology usage and determined engagement, time, funding, and access as common challenges across the board. They find it is very hard to democratise and make technology accessible to every employee so they can acquire new skills, and while it’s great to have technology, what truly matters is how one applies it so employees can optimise their experience.

Quality learning experiences is key

The panelists also agree that, while having a variety of learning opportunities can serve as a benefit for every type of learner, too much of it can overload teams. They recommend choosing quality over quantity when it comes to learning content. It matters more to have content that has impact and reaches the right audiences with real purpose.

The importance of strong managers

Jumping to other topics, the panelist also recognise that the current workforce doesn’t value line managers as much as they should. They highlight how line managers are essential to the growth of the workforce - it is through their influence, guidance and encouragement that employees will acquire their skills of communications, adaptability, and flexibility. Line managers take on the role of both the cheerleader and mentor to their reports in order to make sure they are getting ahead and achieving their true potential.

The webinar closes out with practical recommendations for the audience, highlighting the importance of having a holistic view to L&D and business growth, allowing employees to have a breadth of experiences across a variety of sectors to make them future proof and inspired. Next, they advise that employers shouldn’t be paralysed by the fact that they don’t know what will happen in the future. Teams should stay true to the human core of the business but also play around with and embrace new learning tools available within their business, even if they don’t quite grasp them just yet. Much like in the early days of the internet, where companies were shy yet curious to master such groundbreaking new technology. 

Throughout Learning Technologies 2022, we ran six panel sessions over two days with an amazing lineup of specialist guest speakers of L&D analysts, researchers, and practitioners. Keen to catch up on all the fun? We've put together a wrap up of the event, including session recordings.

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