Future trends that are worth paying attention to now.

Modern entrepreneurs regularly face many new challenges. According to global consulting firm McKinsey & Company, about 50 percent of business leaders face challenges due to unanticipated lack of skills.

Technological progress does not stand still: everything is changing rapidly in the business world. How to remain successful and competitive, then? Metaskills may be the answer to this question.



What are metaskills and what are their peculiarities?

Metaskills are competencies aimed at working with other skills. These include the ability to learn quickly, understand what is required to complete tasks, and be able to regularly update your knowledge.

Imagine a building in which the foundation is metaskills, the frame is soft skills, and the exterior is hard skills. The most noticeable thing, of course, is the facade: after all, you can acquire countless hard skills throughout your life. But you will have to rely on soft skills, such as the ability to learn, work in a team, and so on.

The foundation lies much deeper and is not immediately visible, but it is what determines the success of an entrepreneur. People who have built a strong career or business have developed metaskills. And it is thanks to the “strong foundation” that they can withstand external influences, remaining surefooted in any conditions.

In practice it looks like this. For example, you learned your first foreign language. By doing this, you, among other things, acquire a metaskill. Namely, the ability to learn languages. Which will surely help you in the future. After all, learning new languages ​​will now become much easier.
 

Skills of the future

In the 21st century, a century of rapid change, metaskills are increasingly coming to the fore. All other conditions being equal, it’s these skills that determine an individual’s ability to achieve success.

Developing metaskills is an continuous process that requires time and effort. But at the same time, it is very important for successful and harmonious interaction with the world around you.

Some people confuse metaskills with soft skills. Indeed, these concepts may at first glance seem identical. However, unlike soft skills, which often focus on specific actions and behaviors, metaskills help you learn new competencies and apply them effectively in various situations.

Let’s look at how soft skills are based on metaskills:

1.
Soft skill: awareness.
Metaskill: the ability to understand and manage a situation.

2.
Soft skill: empathy.
Metaskill: the ability to understand other people’s feelings and motivations and use this information to improve interactions.

3.
Soft skill: objectivity.
Metaskill: the ability to look at a situation from different angles and make well-considered decisions.

4.
Soft skill: flexibility of thinking.
Metaskill: the ability to quickly adapt to changes and use them to grow.

5.
Soft skill: creativity.
Metaskill: the ability to find original ideas and implement them in practice.

6.
Soft skill: leadership qualities.
Metaskill: the ability to motivate and direct others to achieve shared goals.

7.
Soft skill: lifelong education.
Metaskill: the ability to quickly and systematically master the discipline being studied.

As the American philosopher and sociologist Alvin Toffler said: “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” These words once again emphasize the importance of lifelong education. This could be your first step towards developing the skills of the future. Get started right now by reading the article:

Lifelong education — a distinctive feature of a successful individual