Digital and Continuous Learning
Founder, Director of Avaali Solutions Pvt Ltd, Ms. Srividya Kannan’s article published in ciol
No investments in digital can realize returns, without embracing change. Embracing change requires people to get behind it. It’ll not happen without their strong conviction that change is necessary and it will be good. And this requires people to be knowledgeable about such change. Enterprises are focusing on convergence – bringing together people from different disciplines to deliver projects and outcomes faster. This requires people to build and rely on inter-disciplinary skills. In the digital age, the only way to keep oneself relevant is to embrace continuous learning. Gone are the days when learning is enforced primarily for promotions. Education is no longer mandatory; it is almost a necessity.
There is a massive shift in workforce skills that enterprises need to invest in, to realize maximum returns from their digital investments. Access to data is no longer a major challenge, but the capacity to translate that into meaningful and actionable insights and execute necessary changes required is a key differentiator. It is estimated that more than one in three workers will need to adapt their skill mix.
More importantly, there needs to be lifelong learning across the workforce. What one knows is less valuable than what one learns. Employers are looking for people who can adapt and learn quickly and who are interested to build expertise in areas they are not adept in. This is quite a contrast to the motivation of adults to learn, which decreases with age. In fact, adults are typically keen to preserve what has been learnt and tend to resist anything that challenges their views and experiences. The change management process within enterprises, therefore, becomes increasingly difficult, as this needs people to initiate and believe in this change.