Is Future-Proofing Yourself or Your Business Even Possible?

What does ‘future-proofing’ even really mean?

And what does it take to be successful?

What skills and attributes do employees and leaders need?  

What it takes to be successful.

I have been working on this topic over the past fifteen years, discovering, and studying adult education and innovation. I have been connecting, learning and doing, and discovering big gaps between those two elements. 

“What got you here will not take you there” M. Goldsmith 

Collectively, we know that as the pace of change accelerates, retraining and updating skills is more important than ever, but why? What skills should we be updating? Over the last few years, with the upheaval experienced worldwide, individuals and experts alike are looking into this area with avid interest. 

We’re talking about reinventing many things: Workspaces, how and where we work, how we manage our lives, our jobs, and each other. But as human beings, we are wary and afraid of REINVENTING. 

I have analysed and worked with different people over the last 15 years and, in the last 3 years, implemented structured programs designed to help people to live today and change and prepare for the future.

I have heard countless people who tell me they are desperate to change, ready to grow and move on, and who want to be better, tell me things like: 

• “Oh, it is going to be work.”
• “Oh, it is going to be hard.”
• “Oh, I am super busy already, back to back. How will I find the time and energy to fit this into my agenda?”

You know what? If we do not find time for it, TIME will take us out. The number of burnouts, hardworking, overworking people, and those who want to change but CAN’T is increasing rapidly and nowadays so popular Quite Quitting.

By Quite Quitting you not doing bad only to your boss and the company you actually withdrawing from your own life. It is not their responsibility to keep you motivated and alive.

We have been working over the past 3 years with ambitious professionals who achieved a success in the areas of money, time, and fulfilment of their stated goals at the outset. Our programs are having 100% success rate. What is so special about our program, and how is that possible? ….

Today, I will break out the elements, not of the method but the skills we have identified that guarantee success in the next uncertain reality.  

We all talk about uncertainty but are we getting ready for it? Is education really preparing us for that? Is the workplace wanting us to change? 

NOPE. It doesn’t.

What gets us ready are those skills: 

How do you feel when you think about the future of work? Are you filled with excitement and hope? Or do you feel more dread and fear?

We’re living in exciting times. What some people are calling the Fourth Industrial Revolution, others call the Green Revolution. Either way, the speed of change has increased dramatically over the past few decades and shows no signs of slowing soon.

At weinvolve, we talk about the Skills of the Future a lot because we believe and we know that developing the right skillset can future-proof you against uncertainty.

You don’t need a crystal ball and see what’s coming to feel secure, if you have the skills to deal with whatever happens.

But what ARE the skills of the future? Are they static, or are they also ever-changing?

The Future of Jobs 2020

The World Economic Forum Future of Jobs Report 2020 listed the skills requirements predictions for 2030.

The above table presents predictions for fantastic changes in skills requirements over a few years, with only two of the top ten skills from 2015 and 2020 remaining on the list by 2030. But what’s even more striking is that the predictions were made pre-COVID. The pandemic sped up already existing trends toward remote working and digitalization. As a result, the 2030 skills are in demand not in 2030 but NOW. 

Why are Judgment and Decision making number 1? 

What is more important in an ever-changing world than the ability to make fast and accurate decisions? Those give a competitive edge. But making them with serenity and trust is priceless. 

How do you do that? By making a series of small, evidence-based decisions after quick data analysis rather than making sweeping decisions based on predictions and imagination of the future. Of course, creativity is crucial. Many ideas can be quickly evaluated in a small and risk-free space to train this skill. Learning strategies are not about obtaining and retaining information as before. These days, it’s all about the power of integrating knowledge into current problems to come up with novel, innovative, workable solutions. 

On top of that, we have dug deeper and analyzed our clients’ performance over the last few years. We have identified the most powerful skills that made a difference in fast progress and built them into the steering wheel to navigate in uncertain day-to-day activities. 

Building confidence in uncertainty 

What does it take to be competitive? 

The most dangerous phrase in the world is, “I KNOW”.

Did you know that research into newly graduated medical students who started to work revealed the highest death rates in July? Graduation month.

Why?

Because those newly graduated (and unexperienced) doctors believe they have figured it all out and are extra confident. They might make rapid decisions and oversee some critical elements that leads to wrong diagnostic. This phenomenon is called false confidence. The truth is that as soon as you stop growing, you will say ‘I know’. But the GAP between I know and I DO is huge. It is also called the knowing-doing gap. So it is not about how much you know but staying humble and open and knowing that the more you know, the more you realise how little you know. 

Curiosity

Curiosity shows up in continual learning but is also vital for ensuring you have the motivation to do all that re-skilling, relearning, and unlearning. If you don’t stay curious, you become set in your thinking. You not only miss opportunities, but you also stop learning and get left behind.

Courage

But what it really takes is something that comes before all of them. Something that cannot be bought with a degree but with practice and continuous work. And yes this is one of the most desired skills of every employee and employer in the world. WHY?

Because it allows you to face anything with confidence and with strength and walk the path despite the fear.

It is more difficult than it sounds. Many people say they are courageous while sitting in their comfort zone. When it comes to do something NEW, they come-up with good reason why they cannot do it. They say they are ‘back-to-back’ or they ‘wish’ or it is my ‘environment’ or ‘I KNOW.’

Whatever it is, it is accepting it and seeing what you can do about it. Because it takes courage to try new things, risk failure, and step into the unknown. You have to do all of these every time you want to learn a new skill, change careers, or make any major changes. Playing it safe is not an option in a world that’s changing as quickly as ours.

Positive habits / Attitude

‘I don’t have the motivation to do this’, or ‘I don’t feel’ or ‘it will not work anyway’.

When you have courage, you need something else, something that will keep you walking when there is no motivation. HABIT. We all are working on the habitual level – known as autopilot. Doing the same things the same way but on a different day. 

In order to reverse this autopilot program, you need this motivation. By using your metabolism system that deliver DOPAMINE when seeing and feeling progress. 

We call them Positive habits and attitudes. This isn’t about blind optimism or magical thinking. It’s about knowing that anything is possible; we just have to figure it out. It is about creating good HABITS – the beneficial shortcuts to get you to success. And not giving up – taking the best out of what we have around us and seeing what we can do next. Learning super fast and applying directly not in case studies but in real-life projects. 

Discipline and Time Management

You build habits through Discipline and Time Management. Being BUSY is not a sign of importance but of lack of control. Replace ‘I am back to back’ with ‘I can do whatever I want – I am in control of my time and can and will make my decision accordingly with the goals and priorities I want.’ 

HOW is all this being done, some might ask? And this would be a very good question indeed. Let me ask you: How much do you like it when other people push their ideas toward you? In other words, when they SELL them to you. This is not only about the business owners, but we all sell every day, all the time. YES, it doesnt feel good. 

Cocreation

Following research and insights, we know that people are much more likely to buy and pay more for the products they build themselves, not as perfect but as theirs. 

Using Cocreation in this process increases the chances of clients buying and succeeding. This is related to any ideas, products and experiences. It is when a buyer, client, or employer comes to your door and there is a seller, YOU, responding to their needs together in the common process of building and creating something new. 

Creativity

With the use of CREATIVITY from both diversified sides, we are tapping into collective intelligence to bring new perspectives. Creativity is our HUMAN secret weapon. The one we all have but most rarely use. In the face of AI, and advancing technology, the base for our competitive advantage and maximizing potential is using creative thinking and finding solutions. The purpose of tech is to make our lives easier and better, not to be scared that they will take our jobs. They will push us to the next level, where we will thrive and be comfortable in building new and more exciting and relevant products, services, and experiences. 

Analytical thinking & Innovation

Something new (be that a product, service, or a small upgrade in the customer experience or projects, delivering more revenue, cost reduction, process improvement, etc.) is called innovation. Innovation is an outcome of creative ideas, that only comes from looking at and analysing the problem accordingly to bring the best solutions, profits, and BENEFITS to people, the planet, and businesses. Analytical thinking & Innovation are directly connected.

Steering Wheel of the Future

Our skills of the future are chosen to future-proof YOU, not just your career. They are the traits and skills you need to cultivate to thrive no matter what happens. Because with them, you can keep an open mind, investigate, analyze, and devise a solution. Whether you want to be part of the digital revolution, the green revolution, or the social revolution doesn’t matter. Whether you want to work online, hybrid or offline doesn’t matter. Nor does whether you want to be a care worker, a teacher, a big-data analyst, or a biotech inventor. 

Everybody needs these 8 skills because they are the toolkit for navigating life, its problems, and other people. However much the world changes, the skills you need to navigate it remain the same.

Following long education, research and our own post-pandemic work, we have created, tested and proven that those 8 skills are the most EFFECTIVE to achieve success in any area of your professional and business life. As there is no separation now between work and personal life, we call them INTEGRATED life skills. Mastering them helps to fast and sustainably navigate under any circumstances. 

We are launching the special course series with a practical approach. We are here to create time, more profit and help to get more fulfilment. 

Take a quiz HERE to discover how you stand on those 8 skills!