Skills to tackle challenges of the 21st century
When working in the field of education and learning - both individual and organisational - the final aim is to create some sort of change that will bring us to a next level. Several people have taken time to look into which skills are actually needed to tackle the biggest challenges of our times.
The so-called Future Skills outlined by the World Economic Forum, the Cross-cutting competencies for education for sustainable development by UNESCO (not to be confused with “education about sustainable development”), the Inner Development Goals, the Core skills in the 21st century by the International Labor Organisations, the Top Workplace skills for 2022 by Coursera… all these overlap greatly. Thankfully.
Our hypothesis is that all these "soft skills" - or call them with whichever name you find most suitable - are mere characteristics of a “good human being”, a human that is nice to be around and work with, who thinks before deciding, who looks at realities from different perspectives and who is open to change and learning - alone and with a group of people. A human who is authentic and embraces the fact that they might fail and not do everything right.
Self-awareness, curiosity, openness… to remain attentive to our own deepest needs and wishes.
Listening actively, trusting, doing our best to try to understand one another, collaborate radically … to maintain healthy relationships with others.
And looking beyond our own realities… to avoid losing touch with humankind and nature.
These skills, are thus, plainly put, skills that make us more human, and that connect us deeply with ourselves, with each other and with our planet. At step into action we place these connections at the heart of what we do, and use the image of an iceberg to show how easy it is to reach and develop these skills.
Developing these skills seems, thus, an easy task, right? Naha. It requires a lot of work, because we need to dive deep underneath the surface to connect with the depth of ourselves. We need to show ourselves vulnerable (hurt, ignorant, childish, weak) against our own nature of ego-led, defensive self-protection. Still, it is for sure worth it. Because it is only with pushing these skills that we will achieve what our planets needs us to be doing now.
Even if it requires hard work, it is very simple. To change the world we need to start with ourselves. Self-reflection, stepping out of the comfort zone and thinking things from a perspective different than ours, takes some practice. But only this way will we be able to make and be the change we want to see in the world.