"Robots are spawning a reskilling revolution"/ "The impact coaching skills can have on employee mental health"

Apr. 2, 2018 "Robots are spawning a reskilling revolution": Today I found this article by Naomi Titleman Colla in the Globe and Mail:

Founder and principal Collaborativity Leadership Advisory.

One of the many images conjured by the words “future of work” is one of robots taking over the world. Studies show a wide range of numbers of jobs that will be automated in the next several years, but is this number what matters most? 

The conversation seems to be at a tipping point – from panic about how many of us will be overthrown by robots to what we can actually do to prepare for the reality that many tasks we perform today will and should be performed by robots. Welcome to the reskilling revolution.

Imagine the power of knowing which jobs in your organization are most susceptible to automation now and in the future, who is currently in those jobs, what the next-best-fit jobs are for those people and the likelihood of the best-fit jobs being automated. Organizations could then create targeted plans to develop and transition people effectively, at scale, into jobs that are a good fit for their skill sets. 

Too good to be true? 

This capability already exists and is being deployed in organizations around the world.

Rather than worrying about how many of us will end up jobless and at the mercy of robots, “ignore the impending apocalypse” was the advice given recently to a full house of Future of Work enthusiasts at a talk at Toronto’s MaRS Discovery District by Michael Priddis of faethm.ai. 

The company’s technology uses Bureau of Labour and organizational data to first assess which jobs are most likely to be highly automated and then provide meaningful insights such as job neighbourhoods, which map jobs to each other based on the similarity of skills required. 

Companies are using these insights to create action plans by job category, role and individual in order to upskill, cross skill and move individuals into new roles that are less likely to be automated, at least in the short term.

According to Towards a Reskilling Revolution, a report recently published by the World Economic Forum and the Boston Consulting Group (based on U.S. data), the future looks rather positive: about 96 per cent of jobs anticipated to be affected by technology in the medium term have “good fit” job transition matches for workers. 

Good-fit job matches means 

1) a medium or high level of job-fit (e.g. reasonable content, aptitude and experience match) 

and 2) realistic leaps in the expected years of education or school experience required.

What do we need to do as individuals, organizations and as a society to put these findings into practice? Interestingly, according to the same report, 70 per of good-fit matches require workers to move outside of their current job family, meaning we need to look at careers, career paths and development through a completely different lens.

Open this photo in gallery

The Amazon Robotics Drive Units move and store products at the Amazon fulfillment centre in Brampton on July 21, 2017, The 350 pound robotic units are able to store and deliver items in a matter of minutes, where previously it could have taken a human being hours.

Deborah Baic

Rethink career paths and talent pools

Organizations need to be more open to, and encouraging of, non-traditional career paths and broader/more diverse talent pools.

Future candidates may not have the same experience and background as what would typically have been required for given roles. For example, traditionally, an office clerk would not be an obvious candidate for a first-line supervisor role – they would likely not even get through a first-round recruitment screening; however, thanks to analytics, knowing there is a decent job-fit match, we can assume that with some moderate upskilling, an office clerk, whose job has a higher likelihood of being affected, could become a strong candidate for a first-line supervisor role. 

What happens if good-fit job matches don’t exist within your organization? Inter-organizational transparency can enable affected workers to openly seek opportunities outside of their current organizations, in cases where good-fit transition opportunities are more prevalent elsewhere. So, organizations that are proactive in identifying these scenarios and engaging employees in their future career choices – especially in cases where thousands of workers are in jobs that can be automated – will be able to better manage the transition.

Commit to life-long learning

In this new world of work, we all need to commit to life-long learning or risk becoming irrelevant. Even for those that are not highly affected by technology today, it is critical to stay curious and to develop transferable human skills and digital literacy skills required to be employable as the world continues to evolve.

Lead the change

Identifying good-fit job matches and transferable skills is only the first step in the reskilling revolution. Transformation is not possible at scale without a commitment to action among all stakeholders. Executives, human resources teams and employees must work hand-in-hand to create and embrace policies, practices, processes and cultures needed to support life-long learning and a new definition of careers in this new world of work. 

For chief human resources officers interested in this topic, please visit futurefoHRward.com and join us at our third annual conference in October.

Robots have moved into factories, warehouses, stores and even our homes. Now they’re heading to a construction site near you. Tech startups are developing self-driving bulldozers, drones to inspect work sites and robot bricklayers.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/careers/management/article-robots-are-spawning-a-reskilling-revolution/

Apr. 2, 2018 "The impact coaching skills can have on employee mental health": Today I found this article by Bill Howatt in the Globe and Mail:

How many employees miss work each week in Canada because of a mental-health issue?

The correct answer is approximately 500,000. A mental-health issue doesn't mean a person has a mental illness. They can miss work because of life stressors such as financial troubles, relationship difficulties and work-related stress. Mental health can be defined by a person's general sense of well-being and happiness.

The typical full-time employee sleeps an average of eight hours a night. Including commuting and work time, in a typical week they spend 50 hours focused on work, representing approximately 45 per cent of their waking hours. It only makes sense that this much time and focus on work can have both a positive and negative impact on their overall mental health.

One factor that influences employees' mental health is their workplace experience with their direct manager, whose words and actions can affect their mental well-being.

• Negative examples: Setting unreasonable work-demand expectations; 
• creating uncertainty through lack of feedback; 
• and facilitating distrust by a lack of interaction, rapport-building and conversations. 
• An employee’s risk of being negatively affected is increased exponentially when they’re unable to self-advocate and lack coping skills.
• Positive examples: A leader makes an effort to get to know each employee; 
• constantly checks in with employees to see how they’re doing and what they need; 
• is always open and happy to see team members; 
• and is approachable to address employees’ questions and needs.

Using coaching skills to facilitate mental health in the workplace

Coaching skills provide leaders with tools to facilitate safe and productive two-way conversations for achieving targeted goals and desired results. 

Some of the core skills that support leaders include: empathy, finding employee strengths, asking open questions, building trusted relationships, giving meaningful feedback and improving communication skills.

In fact, one research study found the single most important core competency for highly effective leaders is coaching. The study authors reinforced the benefits of coaching and its impact on employees in their roles, because it was found that 70 per cent of learning happens on the job.

How true are the following two assertions for your organization today?

• Many leaders were promoted to manager because of their subject matter expertise, tenure, operational and financial excellence, or some combination of these.
• Seldom were leaders evaluated, or even asked, if they like working, interacting and communicating with people, and supporting employees’ development, learning and success. Why? Either it’s assumed, not thought of, or perhaps people skills are not valued as being critical for success.

If you agree with these assertions, one approach to remove any assumptions and to help leaders develop their people and coaching skills to support employees' mental health, engagement and productivity is to provide those who have gaps an opportunity to learn how to develop their coaching skills.

Do you agree that one of the most important factors for every employee is their direct relationship with their manager? Leaders who agree with this statement and are aware of and take responsibility for their words and actions are the ones who are more likely interested and motivated to do all they can to support employees and understand how their words and actions can support employees' job fulfillment and mental health.

Tips for preparing and investing in coaching skills for leaders

• Define the key numbers needed to complete an ROI analysis at the end of the coaching skills training: The cost to train leaders in coaching skills can vary, based on the learning method chosen.

Consider the following case study: Company ABC was experiencing 25-per-cent employee turnover. Exit interviews uncovered excessive work demand and negative employee-manager interactions as root causes. Replacement costs for exiting employees were found to be 1.5 times an average salary of $70,000. 

The coaching method chosen to support managers was a three-month, one-on-one coaching program that included unlimited coaching, curriculum and software, at a cost of $5,000 per leader, each of whom had on average 15 direct reports. To coach 10 leaders who oversee 150 employees, the investment was $150,000. 

Each leader was given a target of retaining one full-time employee over the next 12 months, which would save the company $1.05-million in staff-replacement costs.

• Get leaders’ buy-in: Before training a leader in coaching skills, it’s of value to get their buy-in. This can be done by educating them about how coaching skills can make their job easier and strengthen their effectiveness with their work force. Too often, leaders are sent to training without understanding why. 
• Leaders who are open to learning, are willing to make changes and are committed to helping their employees thrive are ready to embrace and learn coaching skills. Once they agree and buy in, ensure that they’re clear on the goal and what defines success.
• Pick the best learning strategy for each leader – There’s a difference between educating and learning. Information doesn’t equal learning. Most leaders have a preferred learning style. Some enjoy classrooms, some prefer online and some like learning one-on-one. It’s often best to match the learner to their desired learning method whenever possible.
• https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/careers/leadership-lab/the-impact-coaching-skills-can-have-on-employee-mental-health/article38350882/

My opinion: The part that stood out to me the most is "Information doesn't equal learning."  It's also about applying it.