This recent article in Fast Company by CEO of Jotform, Aytekin Tank, discusses soft - or what people are increasingly calling - human skills in the face of the encroachment of AI in the workplace.
Tank mentions human skills such as emotional intelligence, the ability to adapt, empathy and resilience. Tank argues that these skills are important for “employees to grow and advance, yet all too often are left out of the conversation.”
Moreover, it seems that employees do want training in human skills.
As Tank continues,
“For a recent study, Adobe surveyed 1,000 Gen Z employees about their career motivations and workplace expectations. When asked what kind of training they’d like, 33% said they wanted more training on soft skills.”
So, clearly, there’s a gap and desire that's waiting to be filled.
While employers can and should be embedding human skills into their training and development offerings, I would encourage that we should also start the process earlier, in high schools, and colleges and universities. We can build human skill development across a myriad of disciplines, from engineering to the liberal arts, and incorporate them into curriculum design and course assessment. In this way, and learners who are present and future employees gain practice in developing these skills that they can extend in whatever workplace they choose to enter.
[Source illustration: uniquepixel/Getty Images]