Analyze, Upskill, Repeat!
In today’s complex business environment, we are facing huge challenges due to immensely competitive market scenario, more than ever demanding customers and rapidly evolving technological advancements. Moreover, Covid-19 has completely disrupted the business dynamics and has accelerated the adoption of technology in almost every field.
Digitization, automation, Artificial Intelligence and various other facades of technology are posing threat to the skills that exist today. At the same time, new opportunities are being created expeditiously for the futuristic skills. It is inevitable that humans and technology will work side by side more than ever before. This is because machines, with the help of artificial intelligence, augmented reality, deep learning and many more technological advancements, are really becoming intelligent at exponential pace. Connected Machines in the IOT enabled world are going to be far more efficient and productive, maybe even beyond our imagination as of today.
Many skills and jobs that exist today will be extinct and replaced by technology in the coming years. Some of the currently existing skills will evolve and several new skills will emerge as we step forward. People will have to analyze their existing skills, upgrade or learn new skills to survive in their respective jobs and businesses. Regular upskilling will also enable them to stay at par or ahead of the industry. We must also remember that this is not a one-time process, rather this is a continuous journey which must be repeated from time to time.
The skills of the future will have to be quite different from what they are today. On one side we require skills which will innovate and develop the newer technologies and on the other we also require skills which will make productive use of such advanced systems and equipment.
If we try to plot a generic demand graph for different skills, we will see that contemporary skills remain in demand for several years, they become less rewarding once these skills are acquired by larger number of people. The skills and professions which become redundant due to advancement in technology are no longer required in future and can be categorized as dying skills. The new skills or professions which are getting created due to advancement in technology are futuristic skills. It becomes extremely rewarding to possess futuristic skills in the early stage due to huge demand supply gap.
We must have an attitude to repeatedly upgrade our skills as follows:
Analyze Conduct periodic assessment of your existing skills. Study demand versus availability in the market. Regularly gather information about advancements in the industries related to your field of work. Identify suitable futuristic skills in alignment with your strengths, aptitude and areas of interest.
Upskill as quickly as possible. Apply these skills in your profession to gain the early-bird advantage.
Repeat the entire process periodically. Periodicity may differ from industry to industry.
As our dependence on technology increases, we must also be mindful that we focus to upgrade our skills in the areas of our strengths that are complementary to the technology, without becoming its slaves or victims. However, the entire process of upskilling must not be done at the cost of an individual’s physical and emotional wellbeing or at the cost of environmental sustainability.
