The author of this text is Aleksandra Janakievska – a Product Growth Marketer at Brainster.io, co-founder of Laika, and a digital native. She has been working in the Ed-tech and SaaS space for over 4 years.
Employees’ capabilities have improved as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic’s sudden shift in workplaces. Skills started developing and transforming before the pandemic, but it has caused a much more dramatic transition.
In fact, Gartner’s new HR research showed that 58% of employees would need new skills to continue to do their jobs successfully. As a result, companies should take a strategic approach to skill up workers, encouraging them to migrate essential skills and assist in creating new ones as they become crucial and required.
Evaluating the skills required to succeed in an organization is imperative, particularly in light of business changes such as working remotely or procedures changes. Here are some of the post-pandemic skills Balkan companies have to make sure their employees possess:
Tech skills
As the pandemic has accelerated digitization, employees have to master as many digital skills as possible to help their companies overcome the transition period. Employees would need to be familiar not only with new technology, which ranges from communication applications to videoconferencing but also with their position in analytics. Data science is one of the jobs that are shaping the future so that companies will be looking for metrics-oriented candidate profiles.
Other skills that will become even more popular will be coding capabilities. Technologies that include cloud, Internet of Things, DevSecOps, and similar concepts, are on the rise. This means that companies will need more high-level engineers who can handle complex infrastructure and lead the way to digital transformation.
Emotional intelligence
Emotional intelligence is critical in both individual and career-wise situations. It’s the ability to distinguish, assess, and react while understanding one’s own as well as others’ emotions. EI is a demanded skill for management positions, but it applies to all jobs in today’s business environment. Individuals with higher emotional intelligence are more likely to manage the workplace successfully and are more productive.
There are five main components of emotional intelligence, according to Daniel Goleman, an American psychologist who popularized it:
- Self-awareness entails having a good understanding of your strengths and limitations, as well as acting with modesty.
- Self-regulation refers to controlling your emotions and your responses to certain situations.
- Motivation is the consistency to fulfill your aims and keep yourself to exceptionally high expectations for the results of your work.
- Empathy is the capacity to care about others and understand how they feel, helping you react to them more effectively.
- Social skills are about maintaining relationships with others and resolving conflicts in a more diplomatic manner.
Communication skills
Communication and emotional intelligence go together because genuine personal interaction and empathy are always needed in any job position. Emotional intelligence is characterized as the capacity to understand and empathize with the feelings and behaviors of others, which is critical, particularly when people are feeling uneasy. And this is where strong communication skills come in handy—with so many of us working from home, consistency in emails and virtual meetings is vital for building trust and retaining high efficiency.
Communication skills have always been in demand, but now they have become mandatory.
To promote connectivity both within and outside the organization, most companies have implemented video calls or collaboration software. Communication skills are also especially important for emails and simulated meetings while staff operates remotely. Communication continues, but it happens on different channels.
Flexibility
Since companies around the world are seeing a sharp increase in the number of people who will work from home, it’s possible that this new way of working will be around long after the pandemic is over. Adaptability and readiness to adapt will climb to the forefront of ideal employee qualities, much as an organization has easily adapted to new ways of working and connecting. While flexibility in the workplace used to mean being capable of moving about, it now means keeping an open mind, being able to handle pressure, adapting to new and unpredictable deadlines, prioritizing assignments, and, in some cases, taking on extra duties.
Cultivating the spark of imagination, delivering performance, and adding to the organization’s growth all have to happen at the same time. When confusion or challenges arise, you need to find new ways to work virtually and produce results. Employees must be able to work even though they are placed outside of their comfort zone. To develop this ability, encourage existing workers to take on new responsibilities.
Leadership skills
Don’t presume that only supervisors should be able to guide others—everyone can be a strong leader. Being a successful leader is not just about supervising or managing people. Rather, it’s about sharing your approach and goals while also inspiring others and accepting input from peers and supervisors. During these trying times, it’s especially significant to be self-aware and keep yourself accountable.
Creativity
Although computers and emerging technology have begun to play roles in analytics and business processes, humans remain exceptional in their ability to think creatively.
Creativity is not limited to traditionally creative professions. Instead, it is required in any business and field. The business world will continue to change and adapt quickly in the near future – someone wanting to work in a company, for example, will have to be able to tap into their innovative outlook in order to help the company through the risks and problems it faces.
Conclusion
Adapting to change, finding ideas, communicating, and leadership are qualities that are unlikely to become redundant as new job standards arise.
Organizations should look for and recruit employees who exhibit these qualities, but what can they do with their existing workforce? Consider encouraging existing workers to communicate or show these abilities so that they can take advantage of further job openings within the organization. This may be achieved by milestones or data, depending on the position. The same agile mentality should be present and exercised among the workforce, just as corporate leadership will remain important by adjusting to support business demands.
