Emotional intelligence, creativity, innovation…. The education of the future?

Not so long ago I read a very interesting article trying to give advice to students on what careers, studies and languages to pursue to ensure them a professional future in the workplace.

The conclusion the article drew was clear; in the new labour framework, neither university or post-grad qualifications, nor language skills guarantee a safe job. What previously gave competitive edge is now necessary baggage, but not enough.

Euprepio Padula, Managing Director of Padula & Partners states that “right now we cannot afford the luxury of not being creative. Something more is asked of all of us, and this extra something has to do with the spirit of adapting to the client or to the market.” He also commented, without becoming entrenched in the issue of emotional intelligence, we must discover this facet and note the fact that there are “basic values for the career on how we contribute to the team, the boss, colleagues, and subordinates…. Previously it wasn’t so important for someone to use the emotional angle for success. Today it isn’t like that, and in difficult times we become aware that either we develop these areas or there will be no development in teamwork. This is far more important than choosing a career over another.”

Andrés Fontenla, Managing Director at Futurestep insists on the relevance on the capacity to learn which makes people adaptable. He also highlights the importance of possessing “the capacity to maintain calm and unfazed in the face of changes.”

From his perspective, Federico de Vicente, Manager of the Finance, Consultancy and Strategy department at Michael Page said that “there is a call for profiles that can innovate and covert a difficulty into a milestone or a possibility,” adding that specialization would be another value for the professionals of the future, “profiles who know something specific in depth and can contribute value quickly will be prized more and more.”

The partner of Neumann International, Alberto Bochieri pointed out some values and attitudes in this new labour adventure, mentioning that “a high capacity to relate at all levels is vital—with open mindedness and cultural awareness

right from the start. This includes a relevant international facet, where it’s necessary to learn how to handle different cultures in a broad sense (corporate, social and political).” In this, Krista Walochik, president and CEO at Norman Broadbent in Spain also concurs, when she advocates what will be valued in future professionals, more than the ability to dominate a language, is their “capacity to move around in foreign cultures with the same impact—to be efficient in different cultures.”

The conclusion I reach after reading this article is that present and future companies give and will give a much higher weighting to skills, capacities and attitudes of an individual when selecting a candidate, independently of the knowledge and experience accrued.

Perhaps now your heads are buzzing with questions like: Are these capacities innate or can they be learnt and developed? Are the outcomes from learning satisfactory? Can these results be measured and quantified? My experience tells me that it is possible to learn and cultivate new skills and capacities as well as enhance the ones we already possess innately and which we do not use the way we should.

Over the last few years at Meta4 we have been carrying out an extensive personal development programme. The purpose of which is to enrich the individual personally, detecting and strengthening the skills and capacities already in place, and teaching new skills to be applied afterwards professionally and in day-to-day life.