In a constantly evolving world, permanence is a matter of adaptation.
“Machines will take over, technology will take our jobs, and the digitalisation of tasks will leave us with nothing to do.” We’ve probably heard someone say this or have thought of it ourselves. Pop culture has been responsible for telling us that the future is less human, and technological advances don’t seem to contradict this trend.
Even when Artificial Intelligence is increasingly sapient, there’s something inherent in the human condition that can’t be substituted, that is our adaptability and ability to face changes and make the most of them.
One of the most necessary skills for the future of work comes in the form of Learning Agility, which is nothing more than the eagerness to learn, to apply existing knowledge to new approaches or novel information to known processes. We already know that uncertainty is part of the current outlook and this condition is not going to change; it may even increase. So cultivating our curiosity, problem solving, finding comfort in the unknown and resilience in change will lead us to a longer and more successful professional life.
The Future of Employment: How susceptible are jobs to computerisation?, published in 2013 by Carl Benedikt Frey and Michael A. Osborne from the University of Oxford, states that 47% of current jobs are expected to disappear over the next 25 years. This implies that the majority of the current workforce must assume roles for those who haven’t yet prepared and learn at a dizzying pace to remain active in the professional market.
Learning agility comes naturally for many, but it is something that can be cultivated. Other characteristics of these types of people include the active search for feedback and the proactive application of possibilities for improvement received, the taste for resolving complex problems, their active listening of different opinions and reasoning to find different views to everyday problems, flexibility and speed to rule out possible answers and find the best solution in unexpected places in a short amount of time.
Possessing this ability is a good predictor of our future capabilities. It’s difficult to see it in hindsight, which is why it sometimes goes unnoticed. It’s one of those invisible competencies we find difficult to express in CVs, but that increasingly more recruiters look for in applicants. Starting with the recognition of our own behaviours and actively working on them to get closer to Learning Agility is definitely a commitment to the future of our careers
