Publish at November 26 2013 Updated February 22 2023
Talking about skills of the future means envisioning the jobs that may emerge in the years to come. But it also means thinking about if not predicting the skills that will be required in the near or distant future for any type of job, such as the computer skills that have become so prevalent today.
The Institute For The Future, which looks at the future of organizations, has looked at this and come up with a dozen key skills that any worker will need by 2020. In a succinct report (pdf), the institute says its intention is not to predict the jobs of the future. "Many studies have attempted to predict occupational categories and qualifications. Consistently, and over the years, it has proven that such predictions are difficult and many of the old ones have turned out to be wrong."
Zevillage echoes this report and translates into French the meaning of these key skills, some of which may not seem obvious: social intelligence, transdisciplinarity, virtual collaboration, the ABCs of new media, computational thinking.
Harold Jarche, meanwhile, tried his hand at prototyping the job of the future. Following Lou Adler, he alleges that today's jobs can be summarized in four skills: ideation, design, improvement, and production.
He believes that in the new economy, a sharp distinction will emerge between work and talent. Those who lack talent will be marginalized, while the work of production and improvement will become more automated.
Clearly, the job market will need thinkers and designers more than any other qualification. This does not mean that the race of "producers" and "improvers" will disappear but that it will lose value. And to Jarche to conclude that his model is simplistic but useful for food for thought.
In light of these emerging thoughts, what will become of your profession in the future?
Harold Jarche. "The new work". Accessed November 26, 2013. http://www.jarche.com/2013/05/the-new-work/.
IFTF. "Future Work Skills 2020." Accessed November 26, 2013.
http://www.iftf.org/uploads/media/SR-1382A_UPRI_future_work_skills_sm.pdf
Ogez, Emilie. "The 10 skills that will be needed in 2020 according to the IFTF." Zevillage: telecommuting, coworking and remote work. Accessed November 26, 2013. http://www.zevillage.net/2013/03/27/les-10-competences-qui-seront-necessaires-en-2020/./p>
Illustrations. Header: photo credit: teo_ladodicivideo via photopin cc. Body copy: illustration from Harold Jarche's biellet, The new work.
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