The "Real" Essential Skills for the Future Workplace

By IAAP Education & Professional Development Manager Susan Fenner, PhD

Not too long ago, I attended a conference where one of the presenters offered to tell us the skills we'd need for the future. I pulled out my pen and opened up to a clean page in my notebook, expecting to hear about new software coming down the pike or some workplace niche that I'd never heard of that was now in vogue. You can imagine my surprise when he gave us the following three pieces of advice.

1. Learn how to learn. The most important commodity in the future will be the ability to keep pace with change and be willing to toss out the old (equipment, technology, processes, etc.) and welcome the new with open arms. Things are changing so rapidly today, we can't ever hope to know it all. That's why we have to know where to go (or who to go to) to get the information we need. Just like the changes in TVs, cell phones, and computers, we don't even know what we don't even know until we're confronted with the fact that we're out of date. At that point, we have two choices - stay stuck in the past or learn anew. So, the greatest skill you can have in the future (as well as today) is the love and passion for lifelong learning. If you can keep the same enthusiasm for learning as you had when you were just heading off to elementary school, you'll have a job (and a job you love) for life.

2. Learn how to choose. A strange one - but when you think about it, it says it all. Having the ability to move on and not "get stuck" is wonderful. But better yet is the ability to think ahead, weigh consequences, and be willing to take calculated risks. We all have to be open to taking chances, making mistakes, and learning from our failures. In this sped-up world, as the old saying goes, "He (or she) who hesitates is lost." We no longer have the luxury of waiting out the marketplace to see which road to take. We have to make decisions on the fly and be prepared to change course if if doesn't work out or if things change while we're in the process of changing. The best businesses (and most successful) are the ones that can look at data, talk to workers and customers, then make a choice. To have paralysis of analysis is a killer. But the great part? The more you choose, the easier it becomes to make choices and to predict the ones that have the greatest chance of being on the dime.

3. Learn how to relate. There may have been a point in time where a person could live alone, work alone, exist alone. Not any more. The bigger the world becomes, the smaller the world becomes. The more global, the more communities are formed. The more options, the more divisions of categories. The more information available, the less we can hope to know it all. In the end, it all comes down to interacting with and relating to people. Projects, work teams, collaborative writing, think tanks, group analysis, segmented parts in an integrated unit - they all are in our futures (if not already in our lives). And the neatest thing? We can talk to and work with the best of the best. We don't have to look for the best in the neighborhood, we can team up with the best in the world. Doctors can read X-rays (and perform robotic surgery) across continents; scientists can share research and build new work platforms in outer space; people looking for jobs anywhere in the world can meet in cyberspace, share advice, receive support, and find the perfect job. But, it all starts with your ability to relate well with others and to take direction and feedback and practice a lot of give and take.

Seem too simple? Well...it is, relatively. To be successful in life and work in the future, all you have to learn is how learn, how to choose, and how to relate. That's it!