2009-10-14
As a result of the global financial crisis, it is obvious that the need for skill development is greater than ever. People, goods, services and capital move freely around the world and everything goes fast.
At the same time, this global “village” is one step in the right direction. There are very few things that benefits development and prosperity as much as trade and openness between countries.
We also learn to vitalize our communities through impulses from other cultures and traditions. The problems arise when we do not take advantage of new knowledge, investing too little in order to compete on new markets and hold back the human force. The 21st century´s winners will be those individuals, companies and nations that continually and substantially invest in their production factors, especially human capital.
Think of a child who comes home and say and do things that we laugh about. We get entertained, but this is completely central to the child's positive development. The child observes the environment and then learns new words and new skills. It is also interesting that the child learns constantly - every second, every minute, every day - and the same should apply when we move into adulthood and begin professional work.
First of all, things change and develop constantly. Compare, for example, a mobile phone today vs. the late 1980s. Secondly, we never get fully trained. If we could only realize how little we actually know about different things, people would start questioning themselves and think over their situation. "Today, at least 10% of the time at work should be devoted to education," says the industrialist Carl Bennet, and I can only agree.
First of all, obviously to meet international competition, maintaining profitability, enhance efficiency of production equipment, etc. But the learning and training is also a lot of fun and leads to personal development. I remember the work group from a large accounting firm that was taking a course in bookkeeping in the middle of the South American jungle, but called home to tell his colleagues to tear up several projects.
They had simply made a mistake and now learned how it should be done. Or the production manager at a mill in Södermanland that carried out lessons learned from a training course. He organized coffee breaks for public officials and members together and earned 600,000 SEK by improving job satisfaction, new ideas and better flows. Many times it does not occur to us that there are lots of things we do not know.
In these economic times politicians, business leaders, union leaders and scientists gather to find solutions and focus heavily on technical adjustments to the tax and social security systems. But I think the best we can do is start taking advantage of people's creativity and dreams by strengthening the leadership and put great focus on different forms of learning.
A large study by the Boston Consulting Group about the HR work in EU member countries shows that 70% of businesses barely, if at all, seriously have begun to work on concepts that are crucial for future success – Talent development, managing cultural differences, etc.
I asked a coach for his opinion on Sweden's future in the world and he replied: "We are good. And many countries around us are good. But if we would only invest a bit more on the individual, we could get an advantage that many would have a hard time competing with."