This decade is going to see a lot of changes to how we work and what are the relevant skills to match. Automation is becoming more prevalent, slowly but surely and this, in turn, will make many jobs obsolete. So how can we the workforce, protect ourselves against this and secure our future employment? Well, for one we are going to have to start doubling down on certain skills and learning new ones. Just how the generation when the internet was introduced had to, we will have to too. Below we look at some of the more relevant soft skills for the 2020s.
Adaptability
This decade is going to be one of huge change and we are going to have to be adaptable to whatever comes. Just like a villain in a movie would say, resistance is futile. We have shown ourselves to be very adaptable to changes in working setups and environments, but soon this will be tested with new systems and processes which are being built with the aim of being more efficient. This will require a lot of learning and relearning from an employee?s perspective. Think about the rise of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology as a whole – we will have to get learn to embrace and take advantage of what is looking like the new norm.
Creativity
This is an exciting time in terms of technological advances and demand for creativity in the workforce is at an all-time high. New software and technologies, in general, are being developed from electric cars, blockchain technology, to improvements to current systems such as room schedulers. There is no shortage of jobs that require creative, forward-thinking minds.
Organisations are now more open to hiring people that can think outside the box and solve problems in order to give them competitive advantages. The days of performing, simple, almost robot-like tasks are well and truly behind us.
People management
Over the past few years, the population has become better at thinking critically and not taking things at face value. While this has been good for overall progression, this can be quite disruptive to organisations that have been used to employees just following orders and not questioning these. People management has therefore become an even more important skill, attempting to manage and get everyone on the same page to move in the same direction.
The traits of the best leaders have often not been their intelligence, although it is still very important, but their ability to manage people and have them working towards a common goal. Regardless of the rise of automation and artificial intelligence, the human employee will be an organisation?s best resource and they will need a leader to motivate and respond to their needs.