'Life-long-learning - life long employability'
Updated: Feb 20, 2021
‘Learn New Skills. How to Trade those Skills – Increase your personal Business Value’
Business then has the opportunity to embrace and attract the right Skills for the business strategy and planning - new growth and new opportunities.
You are the skilled driver that creates, enables and delivers Business success in the 21st Century. Business does not enable you. You, enable it.
Design your own part in the Workplace of the Future.
That, makes you a business commodity or a product of new learning, new skills training. One that the future business needs for it to exist, succeed and prosper.
Make sure you have the opportunity in any business to continue to hone your personal skills. Working for any business, only learning what you need to do your job - Will limit you & your capacity to grow, to add new skills, to seek alternate pathways, experiences, career opportunities. The demand for new skills is an accelerating curve.
Learn how to increase the ‘Value of your own Product (the unique You) or Service'- Teach yourself to be a better resource, to be valued more highly’.
Firstly, you need to learn how to develop and trade your Skills. You’re not stuck with what you are doing now. This is just how you make a living, for now. There is a another or better path for you. With time in-hand, endless energy and deep learning ability.
Don’t get stuck like your parents and their parents generations. Falling into “I have a job now, so I’ll do what I’m told. I’m loyal to the business that pays my wages and I’ll keep doing this as long as I have a job.” Learning and understanding, only what they needed to keep that job.
You have an opportunity your ancestors never had – ‘on-line' is your potential, and ease of access to abundant learning content. Use it, and develop your ‘Own Product’- fine tune your skills and add new ones.
Using on-line resources to develop and hone 'New Skills' matching to trends you know or can see.
If you even think, you are working ‘Like a Robot’ – Trust me, you are
Take charge of the ‘Capacity and the skills of your own Product - You’.
Taking charge in this way makes the next career change, your decision alone. If you’re skilled in the right areas, you move from ‘Scrap Heap potential’ to ‘In-demand Product’. Name your own price and conditions.
I know it sounds odd, thinking of yourself as a Product. But think in these terms. If you wanted to hire new talent, rich in skills and resources. Skills that could add value to your business. What would those skills and talents be?
Just for the record, you may have arrived a couple of years ago at your new job with a shiny new degree and feeling pretty good. Sorry, you are a few short years away from being out-of-date.
I’m thinking there are too many potential skills to even think about. You can however, be certain, if you are skilled with new capabilities. Modern and relevant, for example; creative, design, conceptual thinking and well versed in ‘soft skills’ (non-robotic skills). There will be a Business that will hire you – even better, think of that Business as a potential client. It is, all about you, "the business of you". To be in high demand think in terms of AI, Data Science and new tech related skills - that places you at the front of the pack.
"The Business of You"
Remember our generational predecessors thought the world would not change. You already know with a degree certainty, that everything will change, and soon.
Your current job, and the business you work for, may be your first step to achieving those new skills – it may need some help, but hey that’s why you’re there, right?
If the business that pays you now, only has learning for themselves ‘the business’ – compliance training, how do the required jobs/tasks/processes. Completely designed from the businesses perspective. Ring the alarm bells and start planning your next career move.
That business is living on borrowed time.
You need them to think of 'you' as a ‘Product’ too, helping 'you', to hone skills you already have, adding new ways, new skills and capabilities, to be the 'best product-you-can-be'.
You can help move the needle in your favor. You need access to any number of on-line resources for learning – from LinkedIn to Khan academy or a on-line course(s) some great links here for data science and AI for Business. Access to any reputable resource that has training for skills you want to acquire.
If you think about this in the right way – you may just become much more valuable to the company, you already work for.
Access to learning is a first step. Step 2 - Ensuring all learning (internal and external to the business), events, and any self-learning you undertake. Is all recorded for you, valued and understood by the business.
Enabling you to add value to ‘you as the product’.
Next you need (the business also need), to utilize your new skills. The business to promote your knowledge to others and your helping your team(s). Or even business division(s). You are on your way to become an SME (Subject matter Expert) in your role. Adding value to the overall team capability, collaborating with your peers, sharing what you know.
And for you, to use the Social tools to advance your work persona and knowledge to encourage others to follow your new learning paths = You, a valued person.
Almost no-one has a meeting with their manager to ask for a pay rise anymore.
How you do this, is increase your 'own Value'. Add new Skills, up-skill and re-skill. Expertise is the measure of your value to business.
Good luck, and say hello to that Robot sitting next to you, wait, is it watching what you're doing.... don't worry, they don't have empathy or people skills. Listen to the upcoming podcast on 'Power Skills'.
The Goal of this podcast series is to remain Free. Your Career & your skills are the priority. If you are helped by the podcast series or able to help keep this series free, a donation of any amount would be appreciated. Thank you.
John Driscoll
AgylisANZ
+61 (0)8 8311 3713
3/55 Gawler Place | Adelaide | South Australia | SA 5214