Objects of Interest

According to the recently released “AMA 2010 Critical Skills Survey,” the skills necessary for success in today’s workplace can be identified as the 4 C’s:

• critical thinking and problem solving, 
• communication, 
• collaboration, 
• and creativity and innovation. 

These skills have been determined to be crucial to workforce preparedness and business success. How do we encourage those skills in our students and our employees (professional development and personal growth)? According to the AMA survey results, 80 percent of executives believe that fusing the three R’s and four C’s would ensure that students are better prepared to enter the workforce. Proficiency in reading, writing and arithmetic is not sufficient if workers are unable to think critically, solve problems, collaborate or communicate effectively. http://www.clomedia.com/industry_news/2010/April/5186/index.php

How can an organization foster an environment where people can think critically, communicate, collaborate, and work creatively? Andrew McAfee wrote this week about the importance of implementing Social Software Platforms; even going so far as to suggest skipping a pilot. McAfee’s rollout plan for Enterprise 2.0 adoption encourages collaboration and communication in the organization. His six steps for deploying Enterprise 2.0 included:

1. Deploy tools that deliver a novel capability, like microblogging, social network formation, or prediction markets.
2. Make sure the tools are frictionless, freeform, and emergent. This lowers barriers to participation and altruism.
3. Give them to everybody with just enough policy-setting to satisfy the people who concern themselves with compliance, risk, and security.
4. Get a group of both formal and informal leaders to be heavy initial contributors. They’ll draw in others quickly.
5. Monitor usage over time and make adjustments if needed.
6. Collect examples of the good stuff that happens. Use these to justify the project, satisfy the sponsor / boss, and evangelize.

http://andrewmcafee.org/2010/04/drop-the-pilot/

Owen Ferguson wrote about Learning Myths and opportunity ending his post with these questions:

So, how do we equip staff with the necessary higher order skills needed to lead and manage in the complex modern economy? How do we ensure that decisions made in our organisations are based on sound information and not hocus pocus? These are questions and challenges for learning professionals and I’ve no doubt that as a profession we’re up to the task. We just need to get up to speed a bit more quickly than we’re doing at the moment.

These are the same questions educators are asking as well. Personally, I think Andrew Churches was on to something with his Digital revisioning of Bloom’s taxonomy. By encouraging our students (or our employees) to engage in the activities cited, we can help them build the skills (literacies) they need to be successful in the workplace. http://ow.ly/1CsyY