The next government needs to start identifying the roles that might be replaced by automation and AI, and rather than living in fear of that, embrace it and tackle it head on.
This was the view of Lee Higgins co-founder of Diverse Talent Networks as he discussed why upskilling and training should be a priority for the next government.
By identifying roles that might be replaced, he said the government could then look at what children coming through the education system need to be taught today to prepare them for the work of the future.
“That will help HR in a number of ways, because [the government] identifying roles that can be automated or will be automated will help them look at what they are going to do with their existing workforce.”
Tone set from the top
He said that if the government can take a lead on that, then that speeds up the preparation of HR departments and helps them focus their minds as well.
“[HR and employers] would be getting a bit of support from an overarching body, rather than having to drive that change within your organisation. There will be a lot of people that don’t want that change to happen for obvious reasons. They will resist it.
“But if the government is setting the tone at the top, then I think that that really helps ease the path as well for those HR departments, and convince some of those leaders that the time is now.”
A great enabler
Education and careers advice needs to get up to speed with the way children today consume information and learn, he added.
“The technological change is only quickening every day. Technology and AI can be a great enabler. The government could help schools embrace that a bit more and think about what the skills required for tomorrow are going to be. So getting those children ready for jobs that don’t even exist yet.”
He questioned the current emphasis on traditional jobs and careers, and said that it’s time to help children understand that there is a whole new world out there that is changing quickly.
He advocated for a greater emphasis on identifying what a child’s passion is and relating education to the modern, and future, place of work.
Social capital
Higgins co-founded Diverse Talent Networks, which helps underrepresented talent get access to leaders and make connections that they wouldn’t typically be able to make.
“I wanted to level the social capital playing field and give everyone the opportunity to build a very good professional network, which would be incredibly helpful.”
He said that a lot of diversity initiatives had been exclusive and had put people into separate groups.
“We felt that there needed to be a place where everybody could network in addition to the separate groups because we see the benefit of those as well.”
Higgins said DTN tries to educate around what diversity means to the talent they speak to on a daily basis, for example awareness diversity that isn’t always visible.
“The focus is very much on skill sets, so do people have the relevant and transferable skills that can add value to your organisation.
“In my time as a recruiter, we saw so many biases and I wanted to correct that. So DTN is about creating the opportunity to have a pressure free conversation. Great talent can meet great leaders and you can build that relationship. Those relationships lead to greater trust and trust leads to inclusion. That’s really why we set the networks up.”
Higgins said DTN is already seeing the benefits of that, from helping people get hired to acquiring ongoing mentoring and reverse mentoring relationships, and making good industry connections.
