THE FUTURE-FIT CODE: 10 STRATEGIES TO FUTURE-PROOF YOUR CAREER AND ACCELERATE YOUR EMPLOYMENT MOBILITY IN THE DIGITAL ECONOMY

1. INTRODUCTION - THE FUTURE OF THE WORKPLACE

According to a World Economic Forum (WEF) report, The Future of Jobs (2016), in five years time 35% of the skills that are regarded as important in the modern workforce will have changed. By 2020, in the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution, advanced robotics, autonomous transport, artificial intelligence, machine learning, advanced materials, biotechnology, nanotechnology and genomics, will be prevalent and dominate the employment landscape and -ecosystem. These sophisticated developments will radically transform our personal and professional identities. Some jobs will become redundant and obsolete, others will expand and interestingly, jobs that don’t even exist today will escalate to prominence. It is abundantly apparent that the future workforce will need to align its skill set to keep abreast with the rapidly changing job space.

Furthermore, the WEF emphasize the top 10 skills required by 2020 and contrast the difference from the skills requirements of 2015. Refer to the image below.

Interestingly, complex problem-solving is sustainable as the #1 skill and the 2020 list is dominated by cognitive, emotional and behavioural competencies.

The above changing employment landscape and required skills, begs the following key questions:

• Are you future-fit?
• Is your job/career future-proof?
• What is your current state of readiness to respond to these changes within the digital economy?
• What are the future-fit strategies that we need to invest in to accelerate our employment mobility?

2. THE FUTURE-FIT CODE: 10 STRATEGIES TO FUTURE-PROOF YOUR CAREER

Based on my research, professional experience and my daily engagement and consultation with business, Human Resources and Learning and Development -managers, I've developed the Future-fit Code, which is an accumulation of 10 strategies which I believe will future-proof your career and accelerate your employment mobility and -marketability in the digital economy.

2.1 Relevance

"If you do not stay current, you will become redundant.“

If you don't empower yourself and stay on the cutting-edge of the latest developments and trends to retain your strategic relevance, then you will be easily replaced by more career-focused consultants. To stay competitive, your knowledge base, skills set and mindset must be next level.

Definitive relevance is often attributed to our mindset. Future-fit and unfit consultants are contrasted below:

Future-fit consultant vs. Future-unfit consultant

• Growth vs. Fixed
• Abundance vs. Scarcity
• Optimalist vs. Perfectionist
• Investment vs. Cost/expenditure
• Future-focused (strategist) vs. Present and short-term (tactician)
• Aspires to success and sustainability vs. Aspires to safety and stability

2.2 Differentiation

"If you don't differentiate yourself, you'll be traded as a low-end commodity."

I've developed Cotter's Hierarchy of Deeds: The 5 P's of Professional Success as the graduated process of differentiation to keep one step ahead of the job market competition. Future-fit consultants aspire to achieve level 5: Pathfinder status by constantly building and enhancing their professional brand equity. Future-fit consultants, at the top of their industry, are compensated at a premium (top dollar) rate.

2.3 Unique Value Proposition (UVP)

Just like salesmen accentuate their key selling points (KSP) to close the sale and organizations position themselves as an employer of choice through their employee value proposition (EVP) to attract top talent, so future-fit consultants must develop a Unique Value Proposition (UVP) to emphasize their distinctiveness. This imperative is best captured by my quotation (20 July 2017):

"Distinctiveness practiced with diligence and dignity is a dynamic and deal-breaking differentiator."

2.4 Specialization

Dispel the myth of being a generalist, trying to please all-and-sundry and to satisfy divergent needs, the business currency of the future, gig economy will be specialization. Future-fit consultants will offer a high degree of credible subject matter expertise and strategic performance advice.

"The on-demand workforce will be driven and dominated by expert taskmasters, not multi-taskers.“

2.5 Agility

“Future fit consultants will demonstrate the agility to transition with stealth-like fluidity and precision from gig conceptualization to actualization.” 

Future-fit consultants constantly demonstrate a high degree of resilience and flexibility, especially during turbulent times of change in the workplace.

2.6 Re-invention

Future-fit consultants relentlessly commit and subscribe to continuous self improvement. Stephen Covey, refers to "Sharpen the Saw" as one of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People as a means of self-renewal in the four areas of our lives, namely: physical, social/emotional, mental and spiritual. 

"Just like we constantly refresh our social media pages and update our status, so we will have to rigorously reinvent and transform our future professional/career status to sustain upward employment mobility."

2.7 Value Amplification

“Stop fixating on the cliché, value add – the business calculator function of the future, will be multiplication, so rather concentrate on being a value amplifier.” 

Future-fit consultants deliberately position themselves as solutions architects.

2.8 Next Dimension Thinking

To prosper in the Digital Economy job space, future-fit consultants will have to practice "outside-of-the-box" systems thinking and innovatively redesign their thinking and business model to take calculated risks by exploring uncharted frontiers and generating breakthrough ideas. This could typically include independent, virtual consulting gigs and they would have to abandon the notion and comfort of their full-time employment status.

2.9 Digital Literacy and -Citizenship

“To actualize to a responsible and responsive digital citizen, you’ll have to master the ability to navigate, curate, analyze and communicate via digital media sources across an array of 5-G technological platforms.” 

2.10 Hyperconnected Collaborator

The value of your business network will not be determined by the quantity of your direct connections, but rather by your analytical ability to penetrate, mine and harvest the business relationship potential and exploit mutually-beneficial collaboration opportunities within the scope of your secondary and tertiary connections.

3. TAKING THE TEST: FUTURE-FIT HEALTH CHECK

So, in light of the above Future-fit Code, do you believe that you are ready for the future workplace?

To determine your future fitness score you are welcome to complete the 2-minute, self-scoring survey. Please refer to the following link:

4. CONCLUSION

Given the high degree of disruption in the digital economy, those employees who adopt a "business as usual" mindset will flounder and struggle to improve their job, career and promotional prospects.

Conversely, those consultants who follow the Future-fit Code and implement the above 10 strategies, will have a sustainable competitive advantage enabling a future-proofing of their careers and accelerating their employment mobility in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. They are likely to pick up more gigs, enhance their marketability and prosper in a "business unusual" employment landscape.

ABOUT THE WRITER AND CONTACT DETAILS

Charles Cotter is a PhD candidate (expected graduation May 2018), a Learning & Development strategist, training facilitator, highly sought-after conference speaker who also specializes in professional, career and future-fit coaching. 

He is regarded as an influential, L&D thought leader on social media, with a global, learning footprint and -followership. You are welcome to connect with Charles https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/charlescotter and/or to follow on Twitter @Charles_Cotter Please check out and download Charles' portfolio of 115 SlideShares. At the time of writing, he can proudly claim over 400k views and 25k downloads globally Charles Cotter's Portfolio of SlideShares

Interested parties are welcome to contact him at [email protected] or +27 84 562 9446 for a customized consultation, training needs analysis and/or schedule a facilitated breakfast workshop for their management and employees.