The future workplace is already here

Back in 2011 the IFTF (Institute for the Future) identified the six drivers that will reshape the workforce landscape and the 10 key skills needed in the future workforce in its Future Work Skills 2020 report. Six years on, many of its predictions have come true. Here we remind our community of these findings.

Six drivers (the disruptive shifts that will reshape the workforce landscape)

1. Extreme longevity: increasing global lifespans changing the nature of careers and learning
2. Computational world: massive increases in sensors and processing power making the world a programmable system
3. Superstructured organisations: social technologies driving new forms of production and value creation
4. Globally connected world: putting diversity and adaptability at the centre of organisational operations
5. New media ecology: new communications tools require new media literacies beyond text
6. Rise of smart machines and systems: workplace robotics nudge human workers out of rote, repetitive tasks

10 key skills needed in workforce

1. Trans-disciplinarity
2. Design mindset
3. Virtual collaboration
4. Cross cultural competency
5. Cognitive load management
6. Computational thinking
7. New media literacy
8. Social intelligence
9. Novel and adaptive thinking
10. Sense making