It’s a bit of a shocker… but according to the most recent Skills Gaps in the Workplace report by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKES); the most common skills deemed to be lacking among existing staff are all adaptive work skills. Also, evidence from across the pond, by the Wall Street Journal reveals that that 92 per cent of senior managers recognise that these type of transferable skills are either as important as, or more important than, technical skills, with 89 per cent of organisations stating they had difficulty finding people who were able to demonstrate these attributes.
What are adaptive skills?
The term ‘adaptive skills’ can be used to describe the range of transferable abilities and work approaches which enable people to operate effectively within different environments and work situations. These flexible skills have been found to be an accurate predictor of many life outcomes, often providing similar results to those of traditional measures of intelligence. They are not role specific and can be applied across different settings to provide greater operational agility. Adaptive skills can be developed throughout a lifetime and add value by promoting operational versatility and building personal resilience. As a result, they are increasingly recognised by organisations as being one of the critical drivers of success in today’s rapidly changing workplace.
So, which are the specific skills associated with long term success in role?
Broad terms such as ‘transferable skills’, ‘social skills’, ‘human skills’ and the ubiquitous ‘soft skills’ have all been used (often interchangeably) to describe many of the adaptive work practices linked essential for success. In an attempt to develop a more robust understanding of the actual attributes which add the greatest value back to organisations, a ten-year independent study into the key adaptive work practices has recently been concluded. This project gathered feedback from 8,000 managers from across all business sectors including private, public and not-for-profit to confirm which adaptive skills organisations valued most in their employees. The research was undertaken by Endor Learn & Develop with support from the Knowledge Transfer Project (co-financed through the European Regional Development Fund). The study identified a set of key ‘transferable currencies’ – the workplace skills consistently associated with greater operational flexibility and which added value to an employee across multiple work situations at any stage in their career, regardless of position. The twenty-one attributes that resonated with employers were:
Ability to influence, Commercial impact, Commitment to change and adaptation, Constructive communication, Creativity and innovation, Direction and purpose, Effective planning and organisation, Enthusiasm for customer service, Focus on developing others, Interpersonal awareness and diplomacy, Intuitive thought, Motivation to succeed, Ownership of self-development, People management and leadership potential, Positive decisions, Professional ethics and social responsibility, Resilience and emotional control, Results through action, Specialist knowledge and ability, Teamwork and Collaboration and Use of information and data.
While the labels used to describe each of the skills varied from company to company, the scope and coverage of every one was both familiar and relevant within each organisational setting. Feedback demonstrated that these were the skills which also had the greatest potential to provide sustainable advantage for the majority of employees. However, it is worth noting that while all of the twenty-one items were acknowledged as universally applicable, some organisations prioritised certain skills over others, based on their own customs and/or strategic intentions. Interestingly, the study found no evidence that defined work sectors were consistently prizing the same skills at any one time. For example, while a high proportion of not-for-profit organisations might be expected to emphasise the development of ‘professional ethics and social responsibility’, there were also large numbers of respondents from this same sector who favoured ‘commercial thinking’ – demonstrating the fluidity of organisational culture.
Outputs of the study reinforce the findings of other research into this area. For example, a recent analysis of 2.3 million LinkedIn profiles demonstrates that 58 per cent of employees who listed ‘communication skills’ on the site during 2014–2015 were hired, making this adaptive skill one of the most transferable across all sectors of the job market. ‘Communication skills’ were closely followed by ‘organisational skills’, ‘teamwork’, ‘interpersonal skills’, ‘creativity’ and ‘adaptability’. Additionally, there is evidence to suggest that consciously upskilling around some of these more flexible themes may help with future-proofing careers. A global report by the World Economic Forum identified the skills which it believes will be in the highest demand by all employers as we move into the 2020s, noting that:
‘Overall, social skills – such as persuasion, emotional intelligence and teaching others, will be in higher demand across industries than narrow technical skills, such as programming or equipment operation and control. In essence, technical skills will need to be supplemented with strong social and collaboration skills’.
The benefits of upskilling in the workplace are widely recognised. Employees who are well supported with appropriate training and development opportunities are more able to adapt to the challenges of their roles. They are more productive, more engaged, more customer focused and more likely to stay with an organisation. Awareness of the specific skills most in-demand by organisations today, can support the development of a common language regardless of work specialism and help with career management. Knowing what is valued at work, can simplify the use of ambiguous terminology when describing talents and abilities – enabling employees to recognise and share their understanding of the adaptive skills linked to greater operational flexibility.
As Robert Greene once said ’The future belongs to those who learn more skills and combine them in creative ways’.
Upskill: 21 Keys to professional growth is available now through Crown House Publishing