Why People Power Is driving the 5th Industrial Revolution

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From the first industrial revolution through to the fourth, each one has been marked by dramatic leaps in technological advancement, demographic shifts, and the rise and decline of entire industries.

As we enter a new era, with artificial intelligence (AI) taking the world by storm, what feels different about this industrial revolution is the shift in the competencies we’ll need, from hard to soft skills, to make the most of this transformational technology.

The terms "hard" and "soft" skills were coined in the 1970s when the US Army used the phrase “soft skills” to differentiate machinery and weapons-related proficiency from interpersonal skills. Today, the terms are well and truly entrenched in the business world.

The 1970s was a time when technology was evolving and entering the mainstream. As a result, we increasingly valued things that could be measured easily in binary outputs. We focused on training people in the hard technical skills required for job-specific tasks and we idolised these abilities and qualifications.

Consequently, soft skills, such as communication, leadership, collaboration, problem-solving, creativity, and teamwork, were often treated like the poor cousin. Describing any skill as “soft” immediately undermines its importance. Yet, communication, leadership, collaboration, problem-solving, creativity, and teamwork are anything but unimportant. In fact, they are becoming increasingly critical in today’s modern business world.

Why? With the advent of more powerful and intuitive software such as AI, technology is becoming increasingly commoditised. And so are the associated hard skills needed to deliver such technology. That’s not to say that hard skills are no longer important. The task before us is how to connect and train on hard skills and soft, not to choose between them because in today’s highly competitive and fast-moving world, the interpersonal dynamic of a team is what makes a difference. It is excellence in individual, team, and organisational people skills that deliver a consistent competitive edge over time.

Take Google for example, which, as a business has emphasised psychological safety - a concept rooted deeply in human skills - as a critical factor in team effectiveness. Its research under Project Aristotle shows that teams with high levels of psychological safety were more likely to harness the power of diverse ideas from their members. This led to innovative solutions that would not be possible in environments where interpersonal skills were undervalued. In other words, the teams that felt safe to take risks and be vulnerable with each other were the most successful. 

Training teams on this type of skill is somewhat of a novel concept in many organisations. But this is changing. As the global workforce becomes human working alongside machine, companies and educators are looking at how best to build their people or soft skills.

This requires a major shift in mindset with a focus on personalised learning journeys. Businesses need to re-design their learning and development strategies so that they are agile, flexible, and data driven. And, in a time of innovation and change, it’s vital they build a culture of continuous learning for their people. Input from stakeholders, the use of technology for effective delivering, and the ability to measure outcomes are critical to training employees with skills that can directly impact business success.

For those that get it right there are significant benefits which can impact the bottom line.

• Soft skills training can be aligned closely to business objectives and market demands with a laser focus on the specific competencies identified by the organisation to drive innovation, respond to change, and create high performance teams.
  

• It can be developed across multiple roles, teams, and industries so that employees benefit from not just the theoretical knowledge but also actionable skills they can immediately apply to their day-to-day responsibilities.
  

• Individuals, and indeed the workforce as a whole, can thrive as employees gain practical abilities that allow them to excel in their roles, not only enhancing individual capabilities but also contributing to overall business success.
  
  

No one can overestimate the impact of AI on the 5^th industrial revolution. It will free us to focus on solving higher order problem and for this we will need people power and strong interpersonal skills to take full advantage of the immense opportunities open to us.

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