Every day we hear and read about the advances made by Artificial Intelligence (AI), from Robotics and the Machines that learn. Policymakers and various experts debate its benefits and harms.
A OECD predicts that technology will transform the content and requirements of 1.1 billion functions over the next decade, with special emphasis on the application of IA e machine learning. Data from LinkedIn reveal that 25% of competences required to perform the duties changed between 2015 and 2022, and it is expected that by 2027 this percentage will double.

On the other hand, many functions will disappear and others, which we don't yet know which ones, will be created. Let's hope that the new ones will outnumber those that will disappear. This is the optimistic outlook that has been seen in previous major technological developments. In fact, despite the fact that machines are increasingly carrying out tasks previously performed by people, more jobs have been created than have been eliminated by machines. automation.

For example, when the car, As a result, many carriage and wagon drivers found themselves out of work, but found alternatives in other types of jobs, some of them probably as drivers of motorised vehicles. What the pessimists argue is that the same didn't happen to the horses, who were left without work, and that sooner or later this could also happen to humans (on this subject, I suggest you take a look at the TED Talk Professor David Author).

What happened to the cart drivers who started driving cars and lorries is a case in point. reskilling. O reskilling is learning completely new skills in an area of knowledge and practice that is different from the one we have been working in. Together with the upskilling, he continuous development of new skills in our field of work is a fundamental tool for people and organisations not to become obsolete.

O World Economic Forum has an ongoing reskilling which it intends to enable by 2030, billion people to take on new roles. This project involves 350 organisations and aims to avoid situations of mass unemployment and economic crisis caused by the accelerated introduction of technology.

It is essential that organisations and professionals invest in reskilling and the upskilling. The aim is not only to develop the skills needed to do the current job well, but also to develop the skills needed to do the current job well. training for new roles and increase the transferable skills most in demand now and in the future. Although this is uncertain, experts point to not only technical skills as the most valuable, but also digital literacy, but also behavioural skills such as creativity, adaptability, flexibility, working with multicultural teams, communication e leadership.

A Harvard Business Review indicates various strategies for organisations to make the upskilling e reskilling of their labour force: to consider them a investment and not a cost, create learning modules that involve various competences, introduce a component of fun, establish partnerships with companies, schools and consultants, empower employees with their own learning and make development decisions based on data.

Development is a partnership between organisation and employee, This is beneficial for both parties. For the organisation, it is essential to have people with the necessary skills now and in the future. A training is also a form of retention, The research shows that employees want to be challenged and feel that they are growing personally and professionally. Employees also have an active role to play, namely by creating a personal development plan.

The 360° feedback tools are very useful for obtaining data on priority development competences, defining and motivating individual action plans, and measuring the behavioural changes achieved through the various training interventions. We'll be talking about these tools and their practical application at the Postgraduate Diploma in Strategic HR Practices at ISEG.

Isabel Paredes, Partner eChief Psychologist from SHL Portugal

Published in RH Magazine on 8/5/2023