A ‘classic’ may be defined as a piece of work or art, literature or even science which ‘literally’ does not ‘go out of print’. It stands the ‘test of time’. You have no doubt heard about books or even music of yesteryear which seem to get more popular with the passing time. They are “classics”. Are there ‘classic competences’ too? And how do they manifest? Then, “empowerment”: The concept ‘empowerment’ has been defined variously in development programming. One inspiring definition is that by Pittman & Wright, 1991 who looked at ‘empowerment’ as ‘providing opportunities’ for individuals to develop the competencies they need to become successful contributing members of their communities. In this ‘sense’ empowerment can be one of the most effective strategies for providing people with opportunities to develop competence. The expectation here is that once an individual acquires the requisite competences then he or she can ‘graduate’ to take up responsibilities and power in society.
According to Webster (1998), empowering may also mean giving official authority or legal power. This definition presupposes that the individual being given the authority or legal power already has the competences needed to achieve the desired outcome.
The importance of the two definitions lies in the employment options companies and organizations take in the course of recruiting their employees. Should employers look out for requisite competences from a pool of competences out there that have ‘stood the test of time’, or should they invest in developing on-job competences for on-boarding and existing employees? In attempting to answer this question it is useful to consider a number of important factors:
- The rapid advances in science and technology have led to a roller-coaster of rapidly changing business models with accompanying equally-rapidly changing competence needs. It has become practically impossible to divorce business from technology
- In the face of rapidly changing competence needs are there overarching competences that can be developed to stand the test of time i.e. some kind of ‘classic’ competences?
- In this period of rapidly changing technological advances organizations and individuals will have to quickly adapt to the changing labor market needs if they have to survive
Some key questions stand out. Should empowerment strategies be tailored to existing company or organizational business models? How can empowerment strategies cope with the rapidly changing business models? Should empowerment strategies focus on building ‘classic’ competences?
A more fundamental question however is with regard to whose responsibility it will be for preparing the adaptation process to the changing labor market needs.
In his article “The job for life model is dead” Jonas Prising offers the following insight:
“Going forward, we’ll need a generation of workers who are hungry to learn and eager to keep pace with the times. They will pioneer new ways of combining business and technology to be more productive, and they’ll update old work models to match. Organizations across industries will look for curious, flexible, data-driven minds in both blue collar and white collar jobs. They’ll want people with the proven ability to keep learning and stay relevant in their field of expertise; people who actively pursue opportunities where their transferable skills might be applicable”.
Jonas Pricing puts the onus to the worker to keep updating himself or herself and develop the necessary competences to enable him or her to adapt to the changes. But he goes beyond this! He charges the worker with an extra responsibility- that of updating the ‘old work models’ to match.
The challenge for the employer will be how to make workers that have invested in such competences as to make themselves agile at their work, stay to work for them. The secret to success for employers, as Jonas writes, is to offer development opportunities to the workers to ensure they attract the best talent and they (the employers) are not left behind themselves.
Clearly, “the way work gets done is likely to change substantially in the face of technological advances and action is needed to help our future workforce make the transition and develop the necessary skills.
Related topics
Find related topics on careers and career enhancement below:
1 Getting to new heights in your career. 2. Still wanted: Career leverage by Katie Wacek
3 Critical success factors in your career. 4. Career growth: Is your attitude letting you down
5 Career Advancement: The warrior within you. 6. Career progression: lost at the top of the ladder
7. Developing a career: Just like fishing 8. Who wants to stay here: A tale of the disengaged employee
8.Want to find a job you love?
http://www.expressexpertise.com/want-to-find-a-job-you-love/
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