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With the ongoing commentary about the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the threat of automation and artificial intelligence, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the skills needed for the future are purely technological.
And there will certainly be a need for specific, high-level technical skills as automation and AI become more commonplace. But there are also a number of skills that robots simply can’t replicate – such as people-focused skills, like leadership and management.
In fact, with the rise of the robots, these skills will be more in demand than ever. Research by the City & Guilds Group last year revealed that 41% of British workers rate leadership and management skills as the most important for their future careers prospects in ten years’ time.
Because even if robots can be developed with those skills, would we really trust them in that capacity? Probably not.
However very few people are natural born managers. If businesses want to remain competitive in the future world of work, they need to adapt and prepare their workforces. That means investing in training to develop their leaders.
When you think about training, you may think it’s all about learning new technical skills or understanding a complex issue. But it’s so much more than that.
Training has the ability to transform the way people communicate, as well as their management styles. It can teach new, valuable people skills that don’t just develop an individual, but can improve an organisation’s culture.
One organisation who has capitalised on this is Ricoh – the global technology firm. Ricoh is made up of seven organisations, which meant they had multiple cultures – different ways of working and different thoughts on how to lead the organisation which ultimately led to a lost sense of purpose. So, it implemented an award-winning leadership programme to transform their leaders and better prepare people to respond to the strategic needs of the organisation.
The programme was underpinned by coaching, and focused on self-awareness and emotional intelligence. This helped managers understand their strengths and development areas, and align these to Ricoh’s strategy.
Following the programme, the organisation saw an increase in sales, customer satisfaction, employee engagement and efficiencies.
As Ricoh shows, training has the ability not just to develop people’s technical skills, but to reinvent an organisation, transform its outlook, and boost staff engagement. In turn, it can also reap huge rewards – not just in terms of the bottom line, but by improving an organisation’s culture too.
Has your organisation invested in training and seen an improvement in business performance?
Entries for this year’s Princess Royal Training Awards are now open until 31 March, for more information and to enter please visit: www.princessroyaltrainingawards.com
