[ApplyPedia] Because the idea of competencies is
probably new to you, I'd like to take this lesson to help you better
understand what is meant by the concept. As this a definition
from the OECD explains, a competency is more than
just knowledge and skills. It's a concept that captures
the ability to meet complex demands in a given context. Context can be anything from high end
retail to deep-sea well operations. An example of competency is the ability
to communicate effectively. Depending on the context, that may
draw on your knowledge of language, practical IT skills, and attitudes
towards those you're communicating with. What competencies will enable individuals,
firms, and nations to compete successfully in
the global economy of the 21st century? This question was addressed in
a literature review done by a group of researchers sponsored by
the Hewlett Foundation. You might recognize the name. The foundation was established by
the Hewlett of Hewlett-Packard. The researchers focused on
15 general competency areas, reviewed under five broad categories. The categories are analytic skills,
interpersonal skills, ability to execute, information
processing, and capacity for change. Let's review the key
insights from this research. First, almost all policymakers and
researchers in the OECD countries agree that these five competency areas are
critical for workers in the 21st century. The reason is the long-term
shift in the job market. There's declining demand for
lower skilled manual labor and increasing demand for knowledge work. In these jobs, you need expertise
in these five competencies, not only to get hired, but
to succeed and get ahead. The first competency area
covers analytic skills. One of the most common competencies
needed is problem solving. This involves goal-directed thinking and action in situations where no
routine solution is available. Problem solving is a critical skill in
an economy that demands flexibility and innovation, instead of repetitive tasks. Researchers have found that problem
solving correlates to higher job retention, faster promotions,
and higher salaries. A second area of desirable analytic
skills is critical thinking. This means the objective analysis and evaluation of an issue in order
to form a sound judgement. It calls for disciplined
thinking that is clear, rational, open-minded, and informed by evidence. Together with the Wall Street Journal
Career Center, The Society for Human Resource Management undertook
a study of critical skill needs for the 21st century. They found that employers placed the
greatest value on an employee's ability to adapt to changing circumstances and
to form accurate judgments, hence the situational interview questions
that you learned about in the last course. Accurate judgments, in turn,
lead to better decision making. And they go hand-in-hand with the ability
to conduct research and inquiry. The next competency area
covers interpersonal skills, where competency in the realm of
communication is needed for success in any job market, regardless of the level
of education or the type of work. It's important to recognize
that communication skills involve more than just language. Nonverbal communication
is also included here. Communication entails everything
that we would say, quote, sends a message, unquote. That includes factors of appearance,
personality, cultural fit, and professional ethics. Collaboration is a broader
concept that requires both effective communication skills, and
also a sensitivity to coworkers. This is especially important in
the increasingly interdependent world of the 21st century, where you need to engage
with people from a range of backgrounds. Related to this is the ability
to lead yourself and others. Self-directed, or autonomous group work, involves a high degree of leadership,
rather than traditional top-down control. This also calls for a deep sense of
responsibility, not just to your tasks, but also to your co-workers, to the
organization, and to the larger society. The next key competency area speaks
further to the importance of initiative. You need to be able to take responsibility
for managing your own life and situating your life in a broader,
social context. This means the ability to
manage your own direction, instead of always being told what to do. Being able to organize your own work and manage your own time should also
yield greater productivity. I hope you recognize that these
competencies are interrelated, nor do they exist in isolation
from specific contexts. Should be clear, for example,
that problem solving in engineering entails very different skills than
problem solving in social work. On the other hand, interpersonal skills
should translate across contexts. And if you're able to
manage your own time and organize your own work,
these skills should transfer as well. The next key competency
captures this central role information processing
plays in the 21st century. Information literacy refers to
the ability to understand and use information, whether at home,
at work, or in the community. Your ability to use information to achieve
goals and to develop your knowledge and potential is included here. This means reading skills,
writing skills, and numeracy skills. Media literacy, on the other hand,
is the ability to analyze, access, evaluate, and create media content. Physical access is only one aspect. The more important competency
relates to your ability to analyze, evaluate, and
apply what you find in the media. For example, you need both media and information literacy to
work with this MOOC. Both literacies apply to
the next competency as well. Digital citizenship. Digital citizenship refers to your ability
to participate in informed discussion in the public sphere and your willingness to engage as an active
stakeholder in broad, societal decisions. Now at first glance, this competency may not seem to
apply directly to the workplace. But the emergence of structures, such as the employee energy cooperatives
in Germany, point to a changing future. In these cooperatives, employees work as entrepreneurs,
running solar energy cooperatives. They install solar panels on the roofs
of the buildings where they work, and sell the energy that's generated. The employees, not only make money, but
they, along with their organizations, generate social capital by
supporting renewable energy. That's a form of citizenship
crossing over into the work place. It may become more common
in the years ahead. The last competency in this area
pertains to information and communications technologies, ICT. It's an umbrella term that includes any
communication device or application. That means radio, television, cell phones,
computer and network hardware and software, satellite systems, and
technologies that have yet to be invented. All the various services and
applications are included here. Competencies in developing websites,
iPhone apps, Android apps, and the like,
have obvious relevance to the modern day. Your ICT proficiencies are a good
example of their economic impact. You wouldn't be able to take advantage
of this MOOC without those skills. You should be able to leverage
these into a more fulfilling job. And the competencies you've developed
here then become a tool for finding job openings and
researching employers. The fifth key competency follows from
the rate of technological innovation and the frequency of
organizational restructuring that marks the modern work place. Your ability to adapt to this and innovate
is vital at all levels of the economy. Even manufacturing employees are now
expected to use their knowledge and skills to contribute to the production
of new knowledge within the workplace. This is an example of the broader
competency that's called adaptive learning. Related is learning to learn,
the ability to deal with change, learn from experience, and think and act
in a way that promotes positive change. If an employee is to be adaptive,
then he or she must also be flexible. This is important when considering
not only the skills you need for success, but
also what organizations need for success. Organizations need to be more flexible, enabling workers to shift from
less to more productive tasks. That means you need to be flexible,
in terms of skills and availability. The change in competencies of
the 21st century also call for flexibility at a higher level. Their traditional career,
where you entered it from, and stayed for years within that firm,
moving up the ladder, is dying out. It's being replaced by what's
been called the Protean Career. In the Protean Career,
the competencies of independence, self-direction, and
responsibility take on new prominence. The new career contract is
an agreement between you and yourself. It's a commitment to the work
that means the most to you. The path to the top has been
replaced by the path with a heart. [MUSIC]