As part of my work with GO Productivity I have been all over Alberta conducting workshops on the impact and implications of disruptive and emerging technologies on small and mid-sized businesses.
Key questions we canvassed participants on was around the
changing skills needed to work in a digitized and automated economy. While many existing routine and even analytical
jobs in professions like law and medicine will be lost or changed, others will
be created. There is definitely a “skills
revolution” happening. It’s in early stages
but it has traction and is gaining momentum.
The new world of work and the coming skills revolution will have
disruptive impact on the next generation too. The Royal Bank of Canada has just released a report
dealing with this change called “Humans Wanted,
How Canadian Youth Can Thrive in the Age of Disruption.”
Here is how they frame the issue: “The next generation is
entering the workforce at a time of profound economic, social and technological
change. We know it. Canada’s youth know it. And we’re not doing enough about
it.”
The challenge they discovered is “…a quiet crisis — of
recent graduates who are overqualified for the jobs they’re in, of unemployed
youth who weren’t trained for the jobs that are out there, and young Canadians
everywhere who feel they aren’t ready for the future of work.”
In response, here is the ambitious commitment from the RBC
to deal with the issues: “RBC wants to change the conversation, to help
Canadian youth own the 2020s — and beyond. RBC Future Launch is our 10-year
commitment to that cause, to help young people prepare for and navigate a new
world of work that, we believe, will fundamentally reshape Canada. For the
better. If we get a few big things right.”
The RBC also puts out a related challenge to business,
government and educators. “We all bear
responsibility to change that. As employers, we need to rethink the way we
hire, retrain and continuously reshape our workforces. As educators, we need to
think beyond degrees and certificates.
As governments, we need to take
advantage of the world of instant information to harness the coming skills
revolution. And young Canadians everywhere need to seize the moment, to demand
more of Canada and more of themselves.”
We are all responsible and many of us are able to respond. As it stands now business, government and
educators are all weak links in dealing with this crisis and engaging in the
solutions. It will take a collaborative,
concerted and consistent effort to change how we do things, independently, and
more to the point, together, solve this….and it must be solved.
The place to start is to read the RBC report and reflect on the new skills and
the new mix of skills for the digitized automated Industrial Revolution 4.0. Then look at your operations and start
getting specific about what you can do to be part of the solution to our common
problem.
When everything is changing at the same time at ever accelerating rates, there is no option to watch and wait it out. We all must take steps to be the disruptors - not the victims. Adopt, adapt and take economic advantage of the change ... or whither and die. Stark? Yup. True? Absolutely!
