A tertiary qualification lays the foundation for a successful start in any industry. But in a fast-paced and rapidly evolving world, it’s essential to future-proof your career. This means being adaptable, and consistently taking advantage of any opportunities to upskill.
No matter what role you perform in the workplace, or what your goals are, there will always be more to learn. Especially when it comes to managing people and dealing with unprecedented global shifts.
To inspire you to future-proof your career, here are some thoughts on how to foster a culture of lifelong learning and build in-demand skills. These will set you up for an impactful and fulfilling career.
Develop a culture of eLearning
Regardless of the type of company you work for or manage, you’ll always need to learn. Not only for the sake of staying current but also to support company performance. As the famous motivational speaker Zig Ziglar said: “The only thing worse than training employees and losing them is not training them and keeping them.”
This is true for any kind of workplace, but especially in a business that offers knowledge-based services. Employees must be as adaptable and agile as possible for a company to stay relevant in a competitive marketplace. As many continue to work remotely, teams need to operate interdependently, with the relevant managerial, communication and leadership skills.
Many companies encourage mentoring and support learning outside of the workplace. However, developing a culture of eLearning within the workplace itself can integrate these important skills, which serve individual and company growth.
Keep pace in an ever-changing global economy
“With the global economy experiencing massive change, upskilling and reskilling have taken on a renewed sense of urgency.”
Harvard Business Review (HBR)
There is a lot of talk about the “future of work”, but what does this mean? As it stands, there has undoubtedly been a shift towards online learning, and equipping teams with the relevant skills to communicate and streamline processes online. All this has been necessary to keep things going where in-person interaction hasn’t been possible.
Apart from adapting to necessary changes, there’s a drive towards creating a culture of adaptability. This means that understanding human behaviour and how to communicate and manage people effectively is no longer a “nice-to-have” skill, but a necessity.
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have been popular for years, and have proved themselves to be an accessible way for people to learn all kinds of in-demand skills. This includes people management.
Create opportunities for career advancement
On a company level, it’s essential to train your employees and keep them, instead of doing the opposite. Incorporating a culture of online learning in the workplace can be an effective tool for agility and growth. However, it’s also possible to upskill independently and create opportunities for career advancement.
MOOCs offer the ability to broaden your horizons and take a variety of courses. They allow you to learn at your own pace and add valuable skills to your resume while you work. This means you don’t need to make a massive financial investment to grow your career, and keep pace with the latest industry developments.
All that’s needed to make the most of online learning is a desire to learn and create a culture of lifelong learning for yourself. You can do this by incorporating learning into your schedule, and aligning course selection(s) with your career goals.
So where do you start? At SACAP Global, we’ve put together a selection of courses that are specifically tailored to the working professional looking to grow their career with the relevant management, communication and leadership skills.
Future-proof your career and upskill with SACAP Global
No one knows exactly what the future holds, but at SACAP Global, we think the future will require people to work effectively with others. We believe the key to success is an understanding of human behaviour that facilitates constructive growth and change.
We offer a range of short courses and micro-credentials for the busy working professional that’s looking to take their career to the next level. These courses will help you keep pace with the demands for effective management and leadership in a fast-paced world.
Courses run from 6 weeks to 12 weeks, in the fields of Applied Psychology and Management and Leadership. If you’d like to upskill in any of these areas, contact us for more information about upcoming course schedules and how to sign up.
