By 2025, several million jobs may be displaced by a shift in the division of labour between humans and machines. While communication, analytical and people management skills will always be important, here are some specific ones that will be valuable in a post-COVID-19 world.
Critical thinking and problem-solving: The ability to think clearly and rationally and understanding the logical connection between ideas will always be in demand. Problem-solving enables one to control the environment and offers a mechanism to understand why something is not working and determining a course of action to fix it.
Active learning ability: This is a key ability to learn through discussions, problem solving, case experience, or role plays requires one to get involved in the process.
Resilience: This can be described as the ability to cope mentally or emotionally with a crisis and return to pre-crisis state quickly. In today’s VUCA world, people have to be ready to face unexpected challenges and bounce back.
Stress tolerance and flexibility: As a corollary to the above is coping with stress. Finding the work-life balance and the facility to manage and tolerate stress and to be flexible in day to day operations is crucial.
Technological know-how: With evolution of industry 4.0 and use of big data and artificial intelligence in managing different processes, the ability to learn and use technology at a fast pace will be a key skill.
Ability to learn, unlearn and relearn: Unlearning is uncomfortable. It requires you to get out of your comfort zone. But one’s knowledge or experiences may not be perfect, or may limit one’s ability to achieve more. Also, with technological evolution speeding up exponentially the ability to learn, unlearn and relearn and adapt will be a necessary skill.
The writer is Director, Symbiosis Institute of Business Management (SIBM).
