WHAT DO PEOPLE NEED AT WORK?

Millions of people are out of work yet millions of jobs are available. Technology is rapidly advancing and digital literacy is in demand due to the requirement for remote or hybrid work, e-commerce, management, and innovation. Workers quit their jobs, en masse, as mentioned in (link to Hunova website blog post) Understanding Employees is the Future of Work. Skills gaps

The solution begs the question: how do we determine what these gaps are and how do we help both organizations and the unemployed get back to work?

Technology. Or, artificial intelligence, is defining the Uniquely Human Future of Work by doing just that: identifying what is needed for the path forward.

While the threat that AI will steal our jobs seems real and has been the topic of science fiction media for decades, the best I can do is form a bridge across this chasm. Figuratively, the uncanny valley theory is that chasm or valley that won’t allow robots to be fully human because humans find it repulsive, and while this concept was conceived by robotics professor, Masahiro Mori, in 1970, as a metaphor it’s applicable. Yes, it’s a stretch, but bear with me.

“Mori's original hypothesis states that as the appearance of a robot is made more human, some observers' emotional response to the robot becomes increasingly positive and empathetic, until it reaches a point beyond which the response quickly becomes strong revulsion. However, as the robot's appearance continues to become less distinguishable from a human being, the emotional response becomes positive once again and approaches human-to-human empathy levels.”

The Harvard Business Review’s article, Why Robots Won’t Steal Your Job cited the World Economic Forum Future of Jobs Report 2020, that, “85 million jobs may be displaced by the shift in labor between humans and machines by 2025, while 97 million new roles may emerge…

The same report that predicts robots will soon steal our jobs also says that even more roles will open as a result of this shift — 97 million to be exact. These are the ‘jobs of the future,’ and they are actually better opportunities, specifically for early-career professionals.” 

What does this mean for employers?

Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and The World Federation of People Management Associations (WFPMA) spells out Recommendations for Decision Makers in the June 2021 study, The Future of People Management Priorities. They are summarized as, “five key actions for people management leaders to take in 2021 and beyond.” Topping the list, put employees at the center. Continuously listen to and collect feedback from employees to focus HR work on what they really need; upgrade employee journeys and organize HR workflows from their point of view; and individualize career paths and learning opportunities.”

Like Ferris Beuller says, ““Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

The last two years have proven that immediate digital transformation was necessary to stay afloat. Organizational change and procedural assessment needed to happen by means of extraordinary circumstances. Without onsite managers, there’s not much of a way to stay connected as a workforce or teams and to know what they need. Unless you have the tools that identify what would otherwise be missed.

How does AI create a more uniquely human organization?

Techcrunch breaks it down in The combination of human and artificial intelligence will define humanity’s future: “In this pursuit of effort arbitrage, the smallest of intelligence advancements has the power to yield enormous gains for humans, individual and collective. A seemingly simple change 2.5 million years ago — using stone tools… led early hominids down the path to becoming modern humans.”

What will AI find? AI will find what it doesn’t actually possess. What humans have that robots don’t: adaptability quotient. It’s what Fast Company calls, the uniquely human skills that employers say robots can’t do. Adaptability quotient is essential to the constant upskilling required of the future and ability to roll with changes in organizational and team structure.

What is the Adaptability Quotient?

“The Adaptability Quotient or “AQ” measures a business’ ability to greet changes in the marketplace, consumer preferences, and technology. In the definitive treatise on the adaptability quotient, entitled Adapt or Die, the AQ is defined as ‘the ability to adjust course, product, service, and strategy in response to unanticipated changes in the market.’”

To the individual, BBC Worklife freelance contributor, Seb Murray, defines it as, “a subjective set of qualities loosely defined as the ability to pivot and flourish in an environment of fast and frequent change.” 

Hunova, offers multi-modular tools to augment individual, team and organizational success. Within this ecosystem, Adaptability Quotient is very much at the center, now deemed more important to the human quotient of organizational change, than any other employee characteristic.

Using Natural Language Processing, Tambr, a product powered by Hunova, can assess a person’s ability to adapt using as few as 650 words, then repurpose that data to coach both managers and employees toward better business outcomes. Standard cognitive and personality tests don’t work for a number of reasons outlined in, (hyperlink to website post for) Finding Talent, Blind.

Tambr’s utility is uniquely human because it augments capacity, talent, and action. It’s an acknowledgement that people are different. Unique people inform a more holistic decision-making process. But, those people cannot only be guided by human bias. AI offers data and machine learning based insight toward creating a culture of uniquely treated people.

Simon Sinek, Optimist and Author at Simon Sinek, Inc., talks about this insight in a recent LinkedIn video: “I hate the term soft skills. There's nothing soft about them. And when we talk about hard skills and soft skills it’s as if they're in opposition to each other, which is nonsense. It's hard skills and human skills. Hard skills are the skills I need to do my job and human skills are the skills I need to be a better human being… And human skills are the skills that make better leaders. … You need mentors and teachers and metrics to measure things like listening empathy.”

Data essentially tells the story of where are we now, and where do we go from here?

Human Capital as a Service relies on uniquely treated people. Your greatest assets are the people who work for you, and with you, and when you do everything you can to train, manage, and nurture those people using ethically sourced and privacy protected people analytics, the future of work is uniquely human,” said Corey Norman.

Your customer, client, or prospect benefit as does your business resilience.

Hunova is an enterprise insights and solution tool based on people analytics including relationships, skills, psychometrics, and work style preferences, offering unbiased and validated data on human capital. Our products provide far reaching organizational benefits across every segment of teams, management and individuals.

Contact us for more information on Hunova's enterprise solutions.