The decade ahead: committing to lifelong learning

This article was originally published in CPHR BC & Yukon's PeopleTalk magazine earlier this year, and has been updated to reflect the recent local and global changes.

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Alvin Toffler once wrote, “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”

 Some of you may have caught LinkedIn’s Canadian Emerging Jobs pre-COVID report for 2020 earlier this year. This report leverages LinkedIn data to highlight jobs experiencing tremendous growth, specifically the top 15 jobs that have emerged in the last 5 years. In addition, the report highlights skills associated with these roles and why they are important. What struck me about the results was how heavily tech was represented, not only the job titles themselves, but also the prevalence of tech skills in non-tech jobs.

Now, more than ever, there is a need for fluency with data and technology—where to find it and how to analyze and present what it means to others; COVID-19 and the associated changes to the way we do business has only amplified this need. There is also a need for people to be able to learn new skills, new platforms (like Zoom), and new ways of generating revenue. One of the best local examples I can think of is Jason Zanetta’s company, Novo Textiles. Faced with decreasing demand for pillows and insert cushions and increasing pressure to keep his team employed stay relevant in today’s market, Jason led a brilliant pivot and quickly turned his manufacturing facility in Coquitlam into a local/national leader in PPE production. 

For leaders like Jason, COVID-19 is demanding that we adapt and learn (or re-learn) quickly. A good friend of mine, a Senior HR Director with a national company, was recently sharing that due to mass layoffs in his company, and the lack of HR Personnel to assist, he was now required to be more and more proficient with his company’s human resources management and customer relationship management systems. Instead of him relying on this his team for their expertise, he was now being relied on for the answers.

As tech and data are woven into the fabric of our workplaces more and more, the challenge to keep up becomes more of a problem. Indeed, it is getting harder to organically keep up with the pace of change. People are also less tolerant of the excuse, “…I don’t know how that application works”, the question, “how do I run this report?”, or individuals who can’t quite get their audio settings right on Zoom or MS Teams. In COVID times, figuring out how a piece of software works, or how to fix or learn something independently has become an essential skill. My 12 year old daughter taught herself how to play the ukulele using an app, she even wrote a song called, “Social Distancing”; I taught myself how to facilitate on-line webinars using breakout rooms and polls, and bleed the brakes on my motorcycle by watching YouTube videos. Not sure how to add a background photo to your LinkedIn profile? Use Google to find out. As the pace of change is accelerated by global events like COVID-19, learning how to learn is more important than ever and is something that co-workers/customers expect and employers value.

The Risk

 In my capacity as counsellor and outplacement consultant with LoganHR and supporting people through unplanned job loss, I’ve seen first-hand how difficult it can be for people who haven’t kept their skills up-to-date attempt to re-integrate back into the labour market. Trying to play competency/credential catch-up after a significant amount of time can have catastrophic career consequences. It is another story for those that have continued to keep their hard and soft skills sharp, as they can easily demonstrate their relevance in today’s market. The good news is that you don’t have to enroll in a 13-week university course to learn a new skill or further develop a competency. Just as the essential skills and competencies have shifted to the tech-end of the spectrum, so too have the way learners gain access to new information.

On-Line Learning and Professional Programs.

Since Lynda.com (now called LinkedIn Learning) started offering courses on-line in 2002, there are more and more on-line learning platforms to choose from. Many of these skills-based courses are free and can take as little as 5 minutes to complete; with platforms like LinkedIn and Coursera, major obstacles to learning, like time and money, have been removed. These courses are easy to access and very reasonably priced, they are becoming more widely accepted by employers. These courses also give you a great response to the interview question, “What have you been doing to stay busy during COVID-19?”

 Never Stop Learning

Another option to keep you relevant in the marketplace is a professional program offered by a college, university or institute of technology that provide full-time employees an opportunity to add to their credentials by taking on-line courses. I’ve just completed the Graduate Certificate in Executive Coaching at Royal Roads which is a 7-month program – six days were spent on campus, with the remaining learning taking place on-line. I pursued the coaching certification to keep my soft skills in communication sharp, to expand my professional network, and to build on my existing credentials with an internationally recognized coaching credential. It wasn’t easy balancing work, family, academic and other responsibilities, however the program has already made a difference in the ways I can add value to our human capital firm through the customers and clients we serve.

The Road Ahead

There is a long list of job titles that exist now that didn’t 10 years ago, or even 6 months ago (e.g. COVID-19 Contact Tracer), and COVID is accelerating some of these market changes. If you are not making an effort to stay up to date with the rapidly evolving labour market landscape, it will be harder to keep up and be effective in your role, lead change in a data driven marketplace, and convince recruiters that you have the right stuff. The prevalence and ease of on-line learning platforms and professional programs removes all excuses, and all but guarantees that there is learning experience that will fit with the time and resources you have available. 

Albert Einstein said, "The significant problems we face today cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." Unless we keep pushing ourselves to continuously learn to help us adapt and thrive in the face of new challenges like COVID-19, not only will we be unable to solve today’s problems, but we may also struggle to stay relevant in 2020 and in the decade ahead.