How to Get the Skills Your Organization Needs for the Future
It’s not an easy thing to accept that we live in a different world than we did just a few years previously. To wake up and realize that all the things we thought we knew and the skills we’ve accumulated over the past 50 years may not be as relevant anymore. But looked at in another way, it’s also very encouraging because it means the skills that humans are actually designed for are valued more now than ever.
What the skills of the past tell us about the future
Over hundreds of years, humans created new tools to build, transport, and manufacture. The technological revolution over the past 50+ years facilitated yet more evolution as computers opened up a world of information previously inaccessible. We had to learn the technology, understand its constraints, and intuit how to make it work for us. We developed new languages to interact with the computer and adapted processes to optimize its capabilities. We learned to type on keyboards to capture our thoughts and to swipe on a screen as we navigated multiple pieces of information. We adapted ourselves and the technology to help us find and analyze this information more quickly. We focused our skills on efficiency and standardization.
In the last 20 years we have needed new skills for knowledge work to collect and manage the data created through technology. We designed interfaces to make the technology accessible no matter the user’s skill level. Then we moved all this great technology from our devices to the cloud, requiring us to live in a serverless world and secure our identities. This new world required a new kind of technological fluency.
Businesses began hiring people fluent in digital technologies and created new roles and departments for them, distinguishing this type of work from traditional ways of operating. Companies shifted toward software-as-a-service, requiring employees to actively use technology for daily tasks. The focus was on training more people to utilize these new tools in ways that would improve efficiency and productivity.
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