What will it take to be successful in the future ?

I imagine we all know that the nature of the UK economy has changed dramatically over the last 20 years. If you were in a good job in London or the south east you probably didn’t feel it too badly. If, however you were in a blue collar job in a northern pit or mill town you did! The UK economy is not a manufacturing economy but a service, sales and financial economy. What does that mean to us?

It means that what the new economy requires is highly educated “knowledge workers” not manual workers.

A recent piece of research “Visions of Britain 2020”, by the Future Foundation suggested that the implications of the structural change meant that there will be a great and widening gap between the highly educated and highly qualified, emotionally intelligent “elite” workers and the rest or what they describe as “the excluded”. The elite will have access to the best jobs and the top salaries. For those highly qualified workers it means that they’ll be in great demand because there aren’t enough of them, and their focus will be on constantly upgrading and refining their skills.

It means that people who want to be on the right side of this polarisation, will be those who take responsibility for their own learning and development. For many working in corporate organisations there has long been quite a paternalistic / dependent view of personal development. If you need some training then the company will give it to you.

But the company will only give you what it can afford and what it wants you to have, that may well not be the same as what you need for your own personal development.

I frequently come across people in organisations who tell me that they really don’t need any further development in X topic because they’ve been on a course already. When I enquire further it often transpires that it was a 1 day course, 10 years ago and they can’t really remember what it covered. Clearly these people have missed the point about continuous personal development. Would you be happy if your doctor prescribed some treatment or drugs for you that was based on what she knew 10 years ago? The world is changing too fast for that to be a viable way of thinking about your personal development any more.

In the future those who are (or aspire to be) elite workers will need to take responsibility for their own capability development. They will be willing and eager to take advantage of anything their organisation offers and to source their own training and coaching both in their own specialist areas and in the areas of wider business skills such as communication, influence and emotional intelligence. It’s the eagerness to constantly learn and adapt that will be a key differentiator between the successful and the rest because according to the Future Foundation, this eagerness to build skills and knowledge that will enable them to gain or retain their “elite” status and lifestyles.

It’s a question for all of us to consider, what I am I doing

to upgrade my skills?

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