Is the Future Still Human?

It’s time to up-skill, tap into your humanness and get the creative juices flowing. These are the ingredients for managing employment in the face of artificial intelligence.

On the subject of labour markets transitioning to separate tasks performed by humans and tasks performed by machines and algorithms, the World Economic forum’s future of jobs report states,

“These transformations, if managed wisely, could lead to a new age of good work, good jobs and improved quality of life for all, but if managed poorly, pose the risk of widening skills gaps, greater inequality and broader polarization”.

It’s up to us to ensure wise management of the future in order to thrive alongside artificial intelligence and use it to humanity’s highest benefit.

Artificial intelligence is going to force us to dive deeper into what separates us as human, and cultivate these characteristics as our strengths. In their book Still Human, Brad Shorkend and Andy Golding explore twelve elements that support remaining relevant in business and building exceptional work experiences for human beings in a digital-crazy world. They refer to such healthy places where people want to work as CBA’s- Companies Behaving Awesomely. Shorkend and Golding traveled the world collecting data from the giants of workplace wellness. They discovered that beyond cutting edge technology, the business’ bottom line came from a focus on human elements, mainly the emotional state of employees. They highlight a relationship of reciprocal and genuine caring between company and employees, meaningful communication and a definitive purpose within the business that employees can subscribe to, as key components for “awesome behavior” and booming bottom lines.

Moving forward and managing such rapid change as presented by the fourth industrial revolution is going to rely heavily on communication skills and emotional management. We are going to have to take EQ to new levels. It’s imperative that businesses are enabling employees, and leaders particularly, with energy management training and a diverse portfolio of wellness and communication skills. Executive and “life” coaching is becoming a booming industry as leaders wise up to this need.

A recent conversation between 702 radio host Azania Mosaka and Steph Vermeulen, leading pioneer in the field of EQ in South Africa, placed emphasis on the importance of Emotional Intelligence in 4IR. The conversation pointed to the World Economic Forum’s list of ten skills for employees to possess as the workplace accelerates digitization- with EQ at number six on the list and critical thinking as second on the list, the need for what Vermeulen has coined Personal Intelligence (referring to self regulation and self awareness) is clear.

KLM Empowered’s MasterClass series places emphasis on developing EQ and personal related skill-sets to support leadership and change management.

Book your MasterClasses now to equip yourself for thriving as a digital citizen.