Learning
to Learn
In the digital age, the skills we have
traditionally been learning in schools are
quickly becoming insufficient. It is time
to rethink our approach to learning.
When we hear the word ‘education’, most of us think of schools,
universities and hard skills such as learning to read, write and do
the math. But while our perception of education may not have
changed all that much over the past decades, what has changed
is the world around us.
It is estimated that due to the technological revolution, 375
million people, or 14% of the global workforce, will need to
switch roles by 2030. Unsurprisingly, some companies are
already investing in up/reskilling of their workforce to make
the most out of this new reality. For instance, Microsoft in
partnership with General Assembly will re-train 15,000 workers
in AI skills in the next three years.
Simply put; in the digital age, the skills we have traditionally been
learning in schools are quickly becoming insufficient. Because of
the failures of the more conventional education to provide the
skills we need, it is time to rethink our approach to learning.
The one thing you, your country and your company need to do
in 2020 is to embrace lifelong learning!
But how do we move from education solely understood through
the prism of schools and universities to the more individual
and dynamic form of learning? To answer that question, Alain
Dehaze, CEO of The Adecco Group joined Prof. Dr. Katharina
Lange from IMD to record a podcast on lifelong learning (and
how to do it well).
Here are the key take-aways from their discussion:
• Public sector: recognising the failures of the educational
system to teach all the necessary skills we need for the
21st century, some countries have begun rolling out new
innovative policies that will help bridge the skills gap. For
instance, France and the Netherlands have introduced the
so called individual portable accounts, which will encourage
people and companies to put money aside to fund the
necessary up- and re-skilling training.
• Private sector: companies, therefore, play a key role in
facilitating the lifelong learning of their employees. But many
of them are yet to take the full advantage of the power and
benefits of re-training one’s own staff. To change that, the
private sector should invest less in outplacement budgets
and more in re-skilling the employees.
• Individuals: did you know that on average people lose
as much as 40% of their skills every three years? In the
fast-paced changing world there is no time to waste time.
Each one of us, individually, bears some responsibility for
advancing our skills to remain competitive. The best way to
start is to enhance the hard skills we have by learning new
and important (but often overlooked) soft skills.
Life-long learning is a never-ending process, but it is a step in
the right direction en route to success and employability. If done
well, lifelong learning can be an opportunity for both the public
and private sectors as well as for us individually. Those who are
willing and prepared to adapt to the digital age stand to gain the
most. Are you ready to embrace lifelong learning and learn how
to learn properly?