Technological advances are rapidly automating many traditional job functions, forcing businesses and their leaders to constantly adapt how work gets done. While automation offers many benefits like increased efficiency and productivity, it also brings disruption as certain roles become obsolete. For organizations and individuals to succeed in this changing landscape, they must thoughtfully consider which skills will remain valuable and how best to cultivate them both internally and externally.
Today we will explore the skills less susceptible to automation according to various analyses, provide a research foundation for why these skills matter, and offer practical recommendations for how leaders can develop them within their teams and industries.
Soft Skills Will Remain Highly Valuable
A breadth of research has identified soft skills, or human skills, as among the most important for navigating future work. The World Economic Forum predicts soft skills like active learning, critical thinking, creativity, people management, coordinating with others, emotional intelligence, judgment and decision making, service orientation, negotiation, and cognitive flexibility as skills least likely to be automated (World Economic Forum, 2018). Similarly, a study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development found soft skills like communication, collaboration, and problem solving as less automatable than more routine cognitive and physical tasks (OECD, 2016).
Soft skills require human qualities of emotional intelligence, social interaction, initiative, adaptability, and judgment that are difficult for technology to replicate. While automation may be able to perform discrete physical or administrative tasks, soft skills enable humans to effectively lead, connect with, and solve problems alongside other humans and technologies. For businesses, soft skills help promote organizational agility, innovation and resilience in uncertain times. Leaders must thoughtfully cultivate these irreplaceably human attributes within their teams.
Heads of Departments Can Foster Soft Skills Through Coaching and Development
Marketing directors at tech companies, for example, can implement coaching programs centered around soft skills. Quarterly one-on-one meetings between managers and individual contributors focus less on goals and more on holistic development areas like effective communication, creative thinking, or relationship building. Managers receive training on conducting empathetic, solutions-focused coaching conversations and providing constructive feedback. Team-wide development workshops bring learning directly into projects, such as practicing emotional intelligence during stressful deadlines or experimenting with out-of-the-box ideas. Consistently nurturing interpersonal skills in this hands-on, supportive manner better prepares marketing teams for an automated future requiring exceptional collaboration and problem solving.
STEM Skills Remain Highly Relevant as Technologies Advance
While certain technical roles focused on routine tasks become automated, skills in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) will remain highly important for innovating new technologies, maintaining automation systems and adapting to new frontiers like artificial intelligence. The World Economic Forum predicts skills in emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, internet of things, autonomous transport, nanotechnology, biotechnology, 3D printing and new materials as high priorities for the future (World Economic Forum, 2018). Likewise, a McKinsey Global Institute report found STEM occupations growing 1.7 times faster than non-STEM occupations between 2008-2030, with new technologies spawning jobs requiring complex problem solving and technical skills (Manyika et al., 2017).
Technology Leaders Can Promote Lifelong STEM Learning Programs
For technology companies, investing in continual STEM skill-building helps ensure teams stay on the cutting edge. At Intel, for example, engineers receive an annual professional development stipend and paid time off specifically for courses, conferences and online learning that expose them to emerging technologies. Communities of practice and mentoring programs pair senior engineers applying new skills with others just getting exposure. These initiatives foster a growth mindset and allow skills learned today to translate into the workforce problems of tomorrow, futureproofing Intel's talent for an automated future driven by ongoing innovation.
Design Thinking Remains Highly Relevant
Beyond hard and soft skills, the interdisciplinary practice of design thinking cultivates patterns of innovation that are less prone to automation. As defined by the Stanford d.school, design thinking uses empathy, creativity and experimentation to solve complex, open-ended problems in human-centered ways (Stanford University, n.d.). The approach demands a combination of perceptive, systems-level and solution-oriented thinking that struggles to be replicated by today's technologies. According to IBM, skills in design thinking rose 145% between 2015-2019 due to its holistic, interdisciplinary applications across industries grappling with disruption (IBM, 2019).
Business Leaders Can Institutionalize Design Thinking Across Functions
For example, a Fortune 500 technology company institutes cross-functional design studios where teams work intensively over short periods on self-identified business challenges requiring an innovative, empathetic mindset. Projects range from improving customer experiences to redesigning organizational structure. Studio participation is mandatory for all managers. Returning to their day-to-day roles, participants apply new perspectives cultivated, spreading design thinking methods organically across the organization. The democratic, peer-driven process cultivates curiosity, collaboration and experimentation less probable to be automated anytime soon.
Complex Problem-Solving Abilities Remain Highly Relevant
Beyond specific skills, the ability to effectively solve complex, ambiguous problems through analysis and reasoning represents a distinctly human strength that will retain value in an automated world. The OECD defines complex problem-solving as "the ability to use logic and reasoning to identify the heart of a problem and find effective solutions when multiple alternatives, constraints or interdependencies are involved" (OECD, 2014). As technologies continue automating routine tasks, more difficult "multidisciplinary" and "cross-functional" problems remain for human problem-solvers to unpack (World Economic Forum, 2016).
Leaders Can Use Real-World Challenges to Develop Complex Thinking
For instance, executives at multinational consultancies intentionally give project teams unstructured, "wicked" business issues to solve without clear parameters or solutions. Teams follow a process of divergent and convergent thinking, systematically breaking problems down while maintaining a holistic perspective. Projects involve collaboration across business units, research, prototyping and innovative proposals judged on comprehensive analysis over metrics alone. Such real-world experience cultivates nimble, multifaceted problem-solving transferable to any industry's constantly evolving landscape. Providing these open-ended challenges on an ongoing basis better equips consultancy talent for the complex, interdisciplinary problems of tomorrow.
Social and Cultural Skills Remain Highly Important
As technologies automate routine tasks, human skills in creativity, originality, leadership, social influence, negotiation and managing others remain important for coordinating teams solving complex problems (Manyika et al., 2017). The Conference Board predicts social and cultural skills like coordination, persuasion, negotiation and active listening will increase in demand (Conference Board, n.d.). Culture-building relies on these soft skills that technology struggles to intrinsically demonstrate.
Leaders Can Foster Culture Through Inclusive Communication
For instance, pharmaceutical company leaders intentionally diversify perspectives within cross-functional teams through inclusive communication practices. Company intranet features respectful discussion boards involving remote and office employees across generations, gender and roles. Managers receive training spotlighting unconscious biases and leading with empathy, periodically revisiting cultural initiatives. All-hands “state of the culture” quarterly meetings bring transparency around progress and upcoming initiatives. Ongoing engagement cultivates understanding across differences while breeding creativity and belonging essential to solving tomorrow's problems. Strategically developed social skills help build a cohesive culture resilient to future uncertainties.
Conclusion
While technological change rapidly automates routine tasks, developing skills requiring human qualities like complex thinking, creativity, social-emotional intelligence and problem-solving will remain highly important for work. Leaders can thoughtfully foster these less automatable skills within their organizations by implementing practices emphasizing coaching, continuous learning, experimentation, cultural awareness and nuanced problem-solving. Whether enhancing soft skills through empathetic management, cultivating technical expertise with lifelong learning programs, spreading design thinking methods across functions, or tackling ambiguous business challenges, leaders play an active role ensuring their workforce thrives amid disruption. Organizations that make iterative, human-centered investments in developing complex thinking abilities will gain competitive advantages as technological progress raises the stakes of work. Moving forward with curiosity, agility and care for human well-being, businesses and their leaders can navigate an automated future by equipping talent with the irreplaceably human skills demanded in a constantly changing world.
References
Conference Board. (n.d.). The 10 skills you need to thrive in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. https://www.conference-board.org/publications/publicationdetail.cfm?publicationid=7473
IBM. (2019, January 24). New study reveals top 10 in-demand hard and soft skills of the future. https://www.ibm.com/thought-leadership/institute-business-value/report/skills
Manyika, J., Lund, S., Chui, M., Bughin, J., Woetzel, J., Batra, P., Ko, R., & Sanghvi, S. (2017, November). Jobs lost, jobs gained: What the future of work will mean for jobs, skills, and wages. McKinsey Global Institute. https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/future-of-work/jobs-lost-jobs-gained-what-the-future-of-work-will-mean-for-jobs-skills-and-wages
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2014). PISA 2012 results: Creative problem solving: Students’ skills in tackling real-life problems (Vol. 5). OECD Publishing. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264208070-en
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2016). OECD work on technology and jobs. https://www.oecd.org/els/emp/OECD-Work-on-Technology-and-Jobs.pdf
Stanford University. (n.d.). An introduction to design thinking. https://dschool.stanford.edu/resources/getting-started-with-design-thinking
World Economic Forum. (2016, January). The future of jobs: Employment, skills and workforce strategy for the fourth industrial revolution. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Future_of_Jobs.pdf
World Economic Forum. (2018). The future of jobs report 2018. https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-future-of-jobs-report-2018
Jonathan H. Westover, PhD is Chief Academic & Learning Officer (HCI Academy); Chair/Professor, Organizational Leadership (UVU); OD Consultant (Human Capital Innovations). Read Jonathan Westover's executive profile here.
