Saskia Nijs

I am a big believer in the 21^st century skills. The human skills that are important in the 21^st century where technology is rapidly developing, and we have to ensure that our skills adjust to that. Unfortunately, I see that those skills are highly underestimated and misused. We have diminished it to learning how to work and deal with technology, and we focus it mainly on education. To something that our children should learn in school. It is mainly about the balance between creativity and technology skills. Agree that this is important, but I want to argue that the 21^st century skills is something we all have to develop or use even more. Especially during the transition twenties, we all have to be able to be creative, solution driven, collaborate and use technology where it can support us.

The current 21^st century skills are defined as: critical thinking, creativity, problem solving, computational thinking, ICT skills, communication, collaboration, self-starting. I think though, to be complete, we have to add three important competencies to the 21st century skills.

• Ethics

Ethics stands for Effective Technical and Human Implementation of Computer-based Systems but also has to do with the ethical way in which we develop technology in our work and lives.  As the technology industry is young and every company is becoming a technology company, we need to start this dialogue now. That is why the 5th technical revolution is called the age of ethics.  That means that ethical thinking is a skill that fits the 1920s of the 21st century. In addition to knowing the ethical issues and dilemmas, ethical thinking requires courage, integrity and a curious attitude. How do we want to live and work alongside and in relation to technology?

• Defining the right questions

How Albert Einstein puts it: if I need to come up with a solution, I spend 45 minutes to define the right question, and that makes it possible to come up with the solution in 15 minutes. We argue that too much of our effort is currently focused around finding answers and solutions. Since AI is able to show us answers, it is our human skill to define the right questions. What do we want to know is the basic question of every data analyst around the world. And since we will all have to work with data in the near future, we have to raise our skills to define the right question. Besides working with data, we argue that, focusing more in defining the questions, we will advance, be more creative and drive innovation.

• Imagination

One of the skills we have as human beings it to think ahead, to create a vision about the future. We actually think more about what we will do in the (near) future then we think about the past or present. But we have to use this skill much more to imagine ourselves our future. Imagination ensures or creativity, our innovation and our choices. We can start a project, or design a product by creating a picture with our imagination.

As Studio 21^st, our vision is that the future of work is not about work. The future of work is about being valued and adding value! Work becomes hybrid and what we see as work today may be different in the future. Because if AI & Robots take over our work, what space will be left for our human potential? Which activities of people and employees are valuable to our organisation?  How can we make more use of that when tasks are lost due to technology? With the rise of technology, we have the opportunity to redefine work and give room to (new) human 21^st century skills. Human + Tech = Potential. For the future of us people, our society, the organisations where we work and the 21st century employee.

Our mission is to help organisations harness the 21st century skills of people through a hybrid work model that combines technology innovation and human potential. That potential is about creativity, empathy & connection, solution-oriented thinking, being critical, ethical skills and dealing with technology. New jobs will be created, but how do we want to shape those new jobs in relation to technology? Since the late 1990s, we have been helping organisations both to introduce technology that can take over tasks in our business processes, and to determine what human values and skills are needed to innovate, grow and develop as an organisation.

www.studio21st.nl

 

 

It takes two to tango is een gevleugelde uitspraak die ik bijna dagelijks gebruik. Naast dat het mij herinnert aan mijn opa en oma die samen in de woonkamer de tango dansten, betekent het voor mij dat ik altijd probeer te kijken naar de andere kant van een verhaal, naar de reden waarom dingen gebeuren of niet gebeuren, en naar de vraag achter de vraag. Want als ik dat niet begrijp kan ik ook niet veranderen of oordelen over bepaalde situaties. We leren het op al de managementopleidingen: ‘vraag 3x waarom’ of ‘leer te luisteren’, en daarin is het belangrijkste wat mij betreft: stel de vraag. Een goede vraag is beter dan het juiste antwoord. Dat is wat ik ook zo mis in de hele discussie momenteel over de Corona bestrijding. We stellen vrijwel geen vragen meer. We kijken naar cijfers en grafieken en we discussiëren over oplossingen en uiten daarin onze meningen. We nemen vrijwel geen tijd meer voor de vraag. Want wat is de vraag die onder alle gesprekken, cijfers en maatregelen ligt wat mij betreft? Hoe willen we uit deze Corona tijd komen en hoe ziet dat er voor jou uit? Als maatschappij en samenleving of als organisatie, winkelier of gezin en jou persoonlijk? Als we die vraag gaan stellen aan elkaar gaan we elkaar ook denk ik meer begrijpen en zullen de oplossingen anders zijn dan we gewend zijn. We bepalen dan met elkaar een nieuwe horizon en daarmee ook een nieuw en positief vooruitzicht. Ik daag iedereen uit, niet alleen de media, maar ook tijdens gesprekken op het werk, op school of gewoon met vrienden en familie, te vragen naar ons perspectief. Hoe willen we na Corona leven, werken, vieren en samenzijn?

I keep on being surprised that one topic during this COVID-19 is not being addressed. What are the jobs that we need at this moment and which jobs will lead us to the future? What is work and what is a job in the transition twenties of the 21^st century?

We keep on investing in the jobs that we think are relevant for because they already existed, but we don’t use this time to have a closer look at the so called ‘bull-shit’ jobs. A term introduced in 2013 by David Graeber and more relevant than ever. Estimates show that only 25% of the current jobs are focussing on creating products or delivering services that we really need. Like in education, healthcare, police, public transports, journalists, cleaning and so on. COVID-19 showed us in only one year time what the real important jobs are for our society. The other 75% consists of jobs where even 20% of the employees themselves say that they have a bull-shit job. A lot of this is in management, financial services, marketing, administration etc. But still we put all our effort and public treasury to keep these jobs and the employees with these jobs at work.

If we want to redesign the labour market, now is the time. Why paying for jobs that are not relevant anymore for our (future) society? Can we start a dialogue together on what we define as real work? The basis should be ‘added value’. We can look at that for 3 levels: work that adds value to society. Work that adds value to your organization. The added value that you want to bring as human being. Measuring added value asks for other views but also other metrics. So, we can start by ourselves. What value do you want to add in your work, organization or society? What skills, competences and talents do you want to contribute? And can technology take over some of your more repetitive tasks so that you can focus on your real value? #studio21st

And that is how we roll into the 5th revolution in one swoop. Whereas the 4th was mainly about the rise of technology, the Internet and the world that became flat, the 5th revolution will be mainly about trust. Ethics and humanity are at the heart of this. In January 2019 during the WEF in Davos, this was already a major theme. It is about us, in all our diversity, it is about our planet and about our ethical values and norms. Especially after the rise of technology, where we would lose to robots in the worst-case scenario. I think that COVID-19 has once again made us realise very clearly what our human values are, both positive and negative. And what we value as a society. Think of the vital professions, the role of democracy, inclusiveness in society and the fact that we are globally connected.

In an article in the Harvard Business review, I read about the mid-life crisis we are facing as managers. The old theories no longer work, and the new ones do not yet exist. But what Professor Gianpiero Petriglieri says is: ‘We need a truly human management, one that makes room for our bodies and spirits alongside our intellect and skills. That cares for what work does and feels and means to us, not just for what we can do at work and how.  Because we can also leave much of our intellect and skills to technology.  And he concludes: ‘If efficiency is the aim of instrumentalism, freedom is the aim of existentialism. Deepening our humanity, in business, politics, and every other field, requires an equal devotion to both. The day that freedom is as central as efficiency to its practice, we might declare management dead and welcome it to a new life. Please read the whole article if you are interested in management theory and the time in which we live now. https://hbr.org/amp/2020/06/are-our-management-theories-outdated

The human part of organisations is almost always left to HR or related functions. And once that subject has been discussed, we move on to the business! As if they exist separately. The capital of organisations is people and technology. I have been advocating for a long time that the HR and IT director determine the company’s strategy. In my opinion, the time when the CFO or CRO are in charge is over. How do we want to achieve success? How do we want to keep our customers satisfied? Not by becoming even more efficient, but by making maximum use of the potential of our organisations. And let that potential now mainly consist of your people and your technology. But there is also the question: do you dare to tell your shareholders that you are going to do things differently? Probably with the same results, but with a different approach that we do not know from management theories?

As early as 2019, there was a plea for a Chief etchical and humane use officer in companies. This role on the board ensures that you make precisely that connection between people and technology and that you act on the basis of ethical values as a company. I think that the urgency for this is now higher than ever. And not just as a picture for the outside world and the image, but sincerely and with clear objectives that are on the board’s agenda on a weekly basis. Please also read this article from Davos in January 2019.

https://diginomica.com/the-fifth-industrial-revolution-is-coming-and-its-about-trust-values-and-saving-the-planet