Look for the "Explainers"

Last week I watched the video shared by Tony Bingham, ATD Ceo, "The Future of Work."

The images may have inspired or frightened others at the #ATDKC Fall Conference, but the phrase Bingham used that stuck with me was, "tech is not the issue." He shared research from Korn Ferry about a global crisis in talent coming due to a shortfall in skilled workers. (https://www.kornferry.com/challenges/future-of-work) He went on to discuss the disruption that was already occurring due to big data, AI, and ethical challenges. Closing out his talk he noted that we did not need to "react" to all of the technology but we in talent development should know about it. Someone has to focus on reskilling the workforce.

I had been at UMKC's Bloch School listening to Dr. Brent Never talk about "Leveraging Data Science for Business" the week before that. Never referred to the bundle of skills needed in data science: Code, Statistics, and Subject Matter Experts. We have incredible technology that coders can wield like a sword to provide massive amounts of data. Does the data and the number-crunching result in solving a problem? Do we understand the metrics we receive from all of the statistics gurus? There has to be "explainers." The Bloch School is targeting business leaders to help them ask the right questions to understand the data that they need so they can solve the problem they actually have.

Talent Development professionals have a key role in all of this disruption and data. We can be and teach the skills to be "explainers" that help connect the dots. Preparing for the future of work can be overwhelming. Mr. Rogers used to tell children to look for the helpers when they were overwhelmed. Businesses should look to their talent development explainers to be the external voice asking questions, connecting to create understanding, and getting the business results to excel in the future.