Beyond the Basics: Unveiling the Power of Metaskills
We are currently living in a world of constant and rapid digital disruption. The rise of digitalisation has completely transformed how we create, operate and lead businesses. Today, it is more important than ever for businesses to possess innovative capabilities in order to remain relevant and competitive. At the same time, the accelerated growth of technology means that tasks that were once routine can now be automated. This change now requires people to tap into their creative capacity, exploit their strengths, and engage in meaningful work. In order to develop these human superpowers, the benefits are numerous. They include more innovative and future-proof organisations, happier employees, satisfied customers, and more value for both businesses and societies.
The Future of Jobs report by the World Economic Forum has stated that 50% of all employees will need reskilling by 2025, which is directly related to the increased adoption of technology. In this report, the World Economic Forum also lists the top 10 skills needed for the future:
Analytical thinking and innovation
Active learning and learning strategies
Complex problem-solving
Critical thinking and analysis
Creativity, originality and initiative
Leadership and social influence
Technology use, monitoring and control
Technology design and programming
Resilience, stress tolerance and flexibility
Reasoning, problem-solving and ideation
Nine out of the ten listed skills are what we call metaskills or soft skills, which are not tied to any specific profession or education. These skills are needed to thrive in the 21st century, work well with technology, and develop as a leader in the digital age. With industrial leadership and management practices becoming outdated, these skills are essential.
As technology continues to advance, it will continue to change the ways in which we work. The routine jobs and tasks will be automated and handled by machines, leaving us humans to utilise our human superpowers. We will use our ability to think holistically and generate new ideas and insights from the information gathered by our digital assistants, use our creativity to solve the complex problems we face, and increase our ability to collaborate, understand and support each other in this ever-changing world.
Businesses are dependent on people and their skills to solve problems, create new solutions and develop their innovation capabilities to keep up with the pace of change. It is why we need to build on the existing potential we all have within us and develop the necessary skills to succeed. By doing so, we can create more innovative and future-proof organisations, happier employees and customers, and more value for businesses and societies.
Digital age change makers are essential in today's business landscape. We need more people who possess these future skills and are capable of putting them into practice at work. These digital age change makers are courageous, think critically, strategically and systemically, are curious and creative, futures oriented and futures conscious, and utilise their human superpowers to build sustainable businesses, overcoming egocentricity. They need metaskills to drive change and create future proof sustainable businesses and to flourish in the 21st century work life. The most essential skills to achieve the above and skills that one can learn, are:
Strategic thinking - an a ability to grasp complex situations, think both short and long term, identify insights and alternatives, analyse and solve problems.
Futures thinking - to be aware of the futures, and not to focus on analysing the past. Futures thinking requires imagination and being conscious of the future.
Business conceptualising - to translate abstract ideas and insights into a more tangible form that can be debated, discussed, communicated, reflected and processed onwards.
Curious creativity - studies have linked curiosity to our survival as species. Curiosity leads to creativity, which leads to innovations and new ideas.
Constructive challenging - to move things forward and drive change, we have to challenge the old ways of doing. Contrarian thinking, caring personally, having an entrepreneurial mindset and courage are keys to challenge constructively.
Empathetic listening and learning - Understanding people is the heart and soul of every business. Putting our egos aside, listening and empathising others, flexibility and be capability of self-reflection will remarkably help us to achieve goals and create impact.
