Learning to Adapt and Be Adept through unLearning and reLearning
How you can Move Ahead by Staying Current
It is estimated that at least 50% of what our students are learning in the Universities and other Institutes of Higher Learning will be obsolete within less than a decade from now, and they will be working in jobs that have yet to be created. Know that the top 10 most in-demand jobs today did not even exist 10 years ago. Few of our children are being prepared for the new jobs from 2025 as identified by the World Economic Forum (WEF).
“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” - Alvin Toffler, Futurist and Philosopher
Many do not even notice the warp speed of the changing world. Most have denied that permanent change is happening at an increasingly faster rate every day. The ability to adapt and be adept makes the decisive difference to our survivability. And it is not enough just to keep up with the speed of change and the changing nature of the work we do, but also how we do it and where. The Covid19 pandemic has forced so many to work from anywhere, even as it changes the nature of work everywhere.
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.” – Charles Darwin
Traditional jobs are disappearing as technology emboldens and empowers the global talent pool to become more skillful, mobile, and versatile. When you stop or resist learning or unlearning and relearning, you also narrow your options and available opportunities considerably. As you wait for change to be ready for you instead, the world will just pass you by as you become redundant and obsolete; becoming irrelevant for anything or to anyone in a future drawing away from you.
To remain relevant, competitive, and successful, you must be in a constant state of adaptation — continually unlearning old “rules” so as to relearn some and learn new ones. This requires critically questioning assumptions about how things work, challenging old paradigms, and learning new current and relevant stuff about your “new” job, in an evolving industry, affecting your “vanishing” career and refreshing by renewing your life into the future.
Where the world, jobs, and careers are changing fast, your ability to be agile in letting go of obsolete “lessons” and learning new ones is increasingly important. Learning agility is the competency needed to unlock and unpack your change responsiveness so as to engage proficiently and succeed in an uncertain, evolving, and unpredictable environment.
Learning Agility is the Competency to Become Adept by Adapting.
Learning agility means being prepared to unlearn, relearn and learn about the future impact of your job, business and career. For examples;
· Unlearn your Habits that are not making a better you.
· Unlearn your Life-styles that are no longer of value.
· Unlearn the Skills & Knowledge needed to get to the next level.
· Unlearn how to Get the Most from people around you.
· Unlearn your New Markets, what they want and why.
· Unlearn your Corporate Value Communication.
· Unlearn the Technology you use.
· Unlearn the Designs you use.
· Unlearn the Methodology you use.
· Unlearn the Way of your Branding.
· Unlearn the Way you Deliver Value.
“To attain knowledge, add things every day. To attain wisdom, subtract things every day.” — Lao Tze, Chinese Philosopher
Unlearning is about moving away from something — letting go — rather than acquiring. It is like stripping old paint to lay the foundation for new layers and overlays of fresh learning to be grasped, acquired, and internalise. Any good painter knows that in order to prepare a surface, stripping the paint is 70% of the work while repainting is only 30%.
“Everyone has to bring something extra;
Being average is no longer enough.
Everyone is looking for employees who can do critical thinking and problem solving … just to get an interview.
What they are really looking for are people who can invent, re-invent and re-engineer their jobs while doing them.”
– Tom Friedman, Economist
The changing global economy creates waves of unprecedented market forces to drive competition with new skillsets in new jobs. The learning agile talents who have proactively worked to expand, upgrade and diversify their skillsets will be the best and better placed.
The learning agile talents who see and engage known unknown opportunities in a changing environment are those who are actively looking for them. They know that change is the only constant to be truly engaged, by learning to navigate and adapt to become adept at survival.
Survival is not compulsory, however. Many in fact live as if survival is optional.
So, take ownership for mapping out your learning path beyond the well-traveled road to oblivion.
[Inspired and Adapted from an article by Ms Margie Warrell in Forbes Magazine]
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