“AI will not replace human potential – it will help us unlock it.” – ChatGPT
As AI transforms how we work, it’s shining a light on the people skills that businesses must prioritize. I recently spoke about this topic at an event in Singapore and received a number of questions about the specific competencies that employees need to succeed and how staff can start building them.
To effectively leverage what makes us human, let’s explore some of the top talents that the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development [1] identified as essential for 2030 and beyond, including:
- Cognitive and meta-cognitive skills
- Social and emotional skills
- Practical and physical skills
Cognitive and meta-cognitive skills
These competencies empower individuals to reason more effectively and navigate their own learning. Examples include:
- Critical thinking: An employee evaluating the applicability of two competing approaches before recommending a course of direction to their manager.
- Creativity: A marketing team brainstorming fresh campaign ideas by combining customer insights with unexpected sources of inspiration.
- Learning to learn: A project manager embracing experimentation as they oversee the rollout of a software system using an agile methodology compared to their prior experience applying waterfall methods.
Social and emotional skills
These capacities shape how people relate to themselves and others. Examples include:
- Empathy: A manager partnering with an employee to readjust their workload after learning about their team members’ personal stressors.
- Responsibility: A colleague admitting they missed a deadline, taking ownership and proposing a plan to get back on track.
- Collaboration: A cross-functional team working together on a project, utilizing each member’s expertise to achieve their targets.
Practical and physical skills
These abilities help staff use tools, operations and functions to achieve desired outcomes. Examples include:
- Digital literacy: An HR professional navigating an applicant tracking system to support them in filtering resumes and identifying top candidates, while safeguarding against potential bias.
- Software use: A remote team transitioning to a new chat platform and re-structuring communication norms to boost efficiency.
- Effective application of technologies: A teacher using interactive polling software to assess student understanding during lessons and adjusting instruction based on live results.
Recently, many organizations have prioritized boosting the practical skills of their workforce, paying particular attention to their digital fluency, while the cognitive, social and emotional competencies of staff (often called soft skills) have received a reduced focus. While AI can simulate aspects of these capabilities, such as generating new ideas or mimicking emotional responses, its outputs are still shaped by limitations such as algorithmic bias [2] and one-size-fits-all approaches.
In the workplace, there will always be a need for authentic human connection, ethical judgment and lived experience, which cannot be fully replicated by technology. These capacities are not just what make us human. They are also essential to help our companies remain relevant and thrive in an AI-driven world.
How can organizations build these vital talents?
I recommend starting with cognitive agility.
Strengthening Soft Skills with Cognitive Agility
Research shows that people skills are some of the most valuable assets in business. A study from the University of Michigan found that training in communication and problem-solving can deliver a 250% ROI [3], and 85% of career success comes from having well-developed soft skills. [4] Boosting cognitive agility will help employees amplify these required capabilities.
Cognitive agility is the ability to quickly adapt to new information and problem-solve as situations change. It allows individuals to shift between different perspectives as needed. At Emergenetics, we call this concept “flexing.”
As the world continues to evolve and transform the way we work, communicate and live, cognitive agility will allow us to thrive. It helps us to understand the challenges of others, which contributes to our emotional intelligence and social competencies. It also encourages us to consider distinct approaches and open ourselves up to new possibilities, which are necessary to boost our cognitive and meta-cognitive skills.
One effective framework that can help leaders in developing this ability for perspective-taking is Emergenetics [5]. Our assessment reveals how employees prefer to approach their work using four Thinking Attributes and three Behavioral Attributes.
The Thinking Attributes include:
- Analytical, a style that tends to apply logic to solve problems and is interested in data.
- Structural, a style that appreciates practicality and details to bring order to work.
- Social, a style that tends to be relational and concerned about impacts on others.
- Conceptual, a style that often embraces imagination and the big picture.
The Behavioral Attributes are:
- Expressiveness, which explores the way a person prefers to process ideas and share information with the world at large.
- Assertiveness, which reveals the style and pace with which we prefer to advance thoughts, feelings and beliefs.
- Flexibility, which describes the manner in which we prefer to accommodate change.
By harnessing a personality assessment like Emergenetics, employees can better understand themselves and others, as well as notice where they may need to flex to support the success of the team or adapt to address new circumstances.
As a starting point, use the burning questions of the four Thinking Attributes to build cognitive agility. When faced with a decision or situation, always ask:
- Why?
- How?
- Who?
- What if?
These four questions set the foundation for greater understanding, an appreciation for the needs of others and respect for the value that comes from embracing a different approach. When individuals possess these building blocks, they can begin to elevate their soft skills.
Building Trust to Boost Success
As technology rapidly reshapes roles, the leaders who can pivot with cognitive agility will be better equipped to create the assurance their people need to succeed in an uncertain future.
Recent studies show that only 32% of employees believe their company has been transparent about AI [6], and just 14% of frontline workers have received training to prepare for the changes it will bring. [7]
The companies that will thrive in the age of technological transformation will be the ones that put people first by honoring multiple perspectives and upskilling staff with the cognitive, social and emotional skills that AI cannot fully replace. When individuals are empowered, teams excel, and when teams excel, organizations thrive.
To discover how Emergenetics can support your people as you future-proof your organization, explore our solutions [8] or fill out the form below to speak with one of our team members today!