The Skills Economy: the new era opened up by AI

13/6/2024
Ecosystem
Article
2 min
Ecosystem
Article
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The Skills Economy: the new era opened up by AI

The average lifespan of a technical skill today is 12 to 18 months. Indeed, with digitalization and advances in technology, skills are evolving ever faster: 44% of skills will evolve within 5 years, compared with less than 20% in 1970. Learning to learn is becoming a priority. The power of AI, which is accelerating the obsolescence of skills, is beginning to propel learning departments towards new horizons. 

They take on a whole new, highly strategic role: in this era of constant change, the ability to upskill effectively becomes the new imperative, revealing new challenges and opportunities . Technology gives a new value to skills through the exploitation of data, redefines the employee experience by placing skills at the heart of exchanges, and offers guidelines to help employees and accompany managers in this transition. 

1. Technology at the service of data Competence

Technology plays a central role in the creation of a new common data base, placing skills data at the heart of organizational strategies. This repository, fed by the automation of profile reading and the active contribution of employees, will very soon be able to offer a clear reading of each individual's skills. As with historical HR processes for assessing skills, AI comes into play here by enabling reliable, real-time feedback of the latter. Thanks to this "data" vision and real work on future skills, training departments will enter the era of predictive skills management.

This is what LVMH is doing with the development of its Talent Marketplace. This one-stop-shop for talent development aims to create a new common data base to manage skills data, and thus put skills data at the center. As Laura Vandendaele, Future of Work Director at LVMH, points out, "This strategy meets a dual objective of employee experience and data, enabling us to move into long-term skills management mode. "

2. Redefining the employee experience: skills as a basis for exchange

This analytical framework facilitates the identification of skills already mastered and those to be acquired, and guides acquisition strategies in line with the company's needs. To do this, it assigns a value to each skill, considering its rarity and impact, and opens up new perspectives for the development and growth of skills within the company. Ultimately, AI-based matching between profiles and skills, and then between training programs and skills, will enable training to be much more modular but also much more personalized. The right program for the right person, at the right time.

What's more, skills are becoming the basis for exchanges between employees and human resources (HR). It's no longer just a question of assessing skills in relation to hierarchical positions, but of enabling talents to build their own values in this economy. Competencies are becoming multi-purpose tools, enabling unexpected lateral movements and thus fostering more agile, personalized career management: there is no such thing as a clear-cut path. This approach, uncoupled from traditional patterns, opens up a field of possibilities in which cross-functional development becomes just as important as hierarchical advancement. Competence becomes the pivotal point around which exchanges and career development revolve.

3. Guide employees and support managers through change 

To successfully navigate this transition, it is essential to guide employees and support managers. The logic of personal development takes center stage, requiring companies to guide employees towards a better understanding of themselves. As Anselme Jalon (CEO of NUMA) points out: "We can orientate ourselves well because we know where we're starting from, because we know ourselves better. In other words, there is no orientation without a compass. At Numa, we help our employees to build their compass so that they can better project themselves in the company according to who they are, but also to acquire the basics of this questioning which will be useful to them throughout their lives." Building a personal compass becomes essential to projecting oneself in the company and acquiring the basis for a constant questioning of "why learn".

At the same time, managers need to be equipped with the keys they need to conduct development conversations and help their team members to grow. These exchanges, akin to a manager-coach posture, require a widespread feedback culture within the company, which is unfortunately not yet the case everywhere. The aim of learning teams? To provide them with a range of skills (skill set) that will enable them to serenely support the development of their team , through effective communication, efficient delegation and performance monitoring, good management of emotions and conflicts, the right collaborative leadership reflexes, etc. 

This technological revolution is paving the way for more proactive talent management, flexible careers and a culture of perpetual learning. The skills economy is no longer just a concept, but a reality offering exciting opportunities and stimulating challenges. It's up to companies and employees to seize these new opportunities! 

The average lifespan of a technical skill today is 12 to 18 months. Indeed, with digitalization and advances in technology, skills are evolving ever faster: 44% of skills will evolve within 5 years, compared with less than 20% in 1970. Learning to learn is becoming a priority. The power of AI, which is accelerating the obsolescence of skills, is beginning to propel learning departments towards new horizons. 

They take on a whole new, highly strategic role: in this era of constant change, the ability to upskill effectively becomes the new imperative, revealing new challenges and opportunities . Technology gives a new value to skills through the exploitation of data, redefines the employee experience by placing skills at the heart of exchanges, and offers guidelines to help employees and accompany managers in this transition. 

1. Technology at the service of data Competence

Technology plays a central role in the creation of a new common data base, placing skills data at the heart of organizational strategies. This repository, fed by the automation of profile reading and the active contribution of employees, will very soon be able to offer a clear reading of each individual's skills. As with historical HR processes for assessing skills, AI comes into play here by enabling reliable, real-time feedback of the latter. Thanks to this "data" vision and real work on future skills, training departments will enter the era of predictive skills management.

This is what LVMH is doing with the development of its Talent Marketplace. This one-stop-shop for talent development aims to create a new common data base to manage skills data, and thus put skills data at the center. As Laura Vandendaele, Future of Work Director at LVMH, points out, "This strategy meets a dual objective of employee experience and data, enabling us to move into long-term skills management mode. "

2. Redefining the employee experience: skills as a basis for exchange

This analytical framework facilitates the identification of skills already mastered and those to be acquired, and guides acquisition strategies in line with the company's needs. To do this, it assigns a value to each skill, considering its rarity and impact, and opens up new perspectives for the development and growth of skills within the company. Ultimately, AI-based matching between profiles and skills, and then between training programs and skills, will enable training to be much more modular but also much more personalized. The right program for the right person, at the right time.

What's more, skills are becoming the basis for exchanges between employees and human resources (HR). It's no longer just a question of assessing skills in relation to hierarchical positions, but of enabling talents to build their own values in this economy. Competencies are becoming multi-purpose tools, enabling unexpected lateral movements and thus fostering more agile, personalized career management: there is no such thing as a clear-cut path. This approach, uncoupled from traditional patterns, opens up a field of possibilities in which cross-functional development becomes just as important as hierarchical advancement. Competence becomes the pivotal point around which exchanges and career development revolve.

3. Guide employees and support managers through change 

To successfully navigate this transition, it is essential to guide employees and support managers. The logic of personal development takes center stage, requiring companies to guide employees towards a better understanding of themselves. As Anselme Jalon (CEO of NUMA) points out: "We can orientate ourselves well because we know where we're starting from, because we know ourselves better. In other words, there is no orientation without a compass. At Numa, we help our employees to build their compass so that they can better project themselves in the company according to who they are, but also to acquire the basics of this questioning which will be useful to them throughout their lives." Building a personal compass becomes essential to projecting oneself in the company and acquiring the basis for a constant questioning of "why learn".

At the same time, managers need to be equipped with the keys they need to conduct development conversations and help their team members to grow. These exchanges, akin to a manager-coach posture, require a widespread feedback culture within the company, which is unfortunately not yet the case everywhere. The aim of learning teams? To provide them with a range of skills (skill set) that will enable them to serenely support the development of their team , through effective communication, efficient delegation and performance monitoring, good management of emotions and conflicts, the right collaborative leadership reflexes, etc. 

This technological revolution is paving the way for more proactive talent management, flexible careers and a culture of perpetual learning. The skills economy is no longer just a concept, but a reality offering exciting opportunities and stimulating challenges. It's up to companies and employees to seize these new opportunities! 

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