Methodology
In researching this topic, Apollo Research Institute drew upon foundational forecasts made by the Institute for the Future in areas as diverse as education, technology, demographics, work, and health. This content was enriched and vetted at a workshop that brought together experts from a wide range of disciplines and professional backgrounds. During this workshop we engaged experts in a number of group exercises to think through key drivers of change and how these will impact workplace skill requirements.
Key Findings
We chose to highlight six drivers—big, disruptive shifts that are likely to reshape the landscape for organizations and workers. Although each driver is in itself important when thinking about the future, it is the confluence of several drivers working together that produces true disruptions. We then identified 10 skills that we believe will be vital for success in the workforce:
- Sense-making: ability to determine the deeper meaning or significance of what is being expressed
- Social intelligence: ability to connect to others in a deep and direct way, to sense and stimulate reactions and desired interactions
- Novel and adaptive thinking: proficiency at thinking and coming up with solutions and responses beyond that which is rote or rule-based
- Cross-cultural competency: ability to operate in different cultural settings
- Computational thinking: ability to translate vast amounts of data into abstract concepts and to understand data-based reasoning
- New media literacy: ability to critically assess and develop content that uses new media forms, and to leverage these media for persuasive communication
- Transdisciplinarity: literacy in and ability to understand concepts across multiple disciplines
- Design mindset: ability to represent and develop tasks and work processes for desired outcomes
- Cognitive load management: ability to discriminate and filter information for importance, and to understand how to maximize cognitive functioning using a variety of tools and techniques
- Virtual collaboration: ability to work productively, drive engagement, and demonstrate presence as a member of a virtual team
Topic: Workforce Preparedness
Download a PDF copy of Future Work Skills 2020