Navigating Skills in the Knowledge Society: The Edward de Bono Institute Experience

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Today's knowledge society presents challenges of information overload. The Edward de Bono Institute at the University of Malta emphasizes creativity, innovation, and foresight skills to adapt and thrive. Considerations include learning skills, generational shifts, and career evolution in the face of exponential change.

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Future Skills through Creativity, Innovation and Foresight: The experience of The Edward de Bono Institute at the University of Malta by Professor Sandra M. Dingli ETF FRAME Conference, Montenegro, 18 September 2013

The Edward de Bono Institute Set up in collaboration with Professor Edward de Bono in 1992. Offers programs to University of Malta students and to the general public. Emphasis on the transfer of skills and knowledge, the ability to adapt to new contexts and the importance of creativity, innovation management, foresight and entrepreneurship to increase competitive advantage at a personal and organizational level. Website: http://www.um.edu.mt/create

Todays knowledge society ... Many of us today live in a knowledge society . In this knowledge society we are swimming in an ocean of masses of data, information, possibly also of knowledge. (Image source: http://mariovittone.com/2010/05/154/)

Today many of us are drowning in messages, information, data ... How do we deal with this overflow of data and information? What skills are required? Image source: http://www.fotolia.com/id/18491412

Making sense of information in times of exponential change ... How do we make sense of all this data and information? Are previously used methods of communicating, of understanding, of learning, of acquiring skills still valid today? Should we continue to use the skills and attitudes we cultivated in the past?

Summary of session To consider: How are skills learnt? How current and future generations operate The end of the career? Skills aquired through The Edward de Bono Institute s Masters Programs at the University of Malta Emphasis on Foresight skills Conclusion

How are skills learnt? Could reading a how to do ... manual lead you to become: A successful F1 GP driver? An orchestra conductor? An Olympic marathon runner?

How are skills learnt? Could reading a how to do ... manual lead you to become: A successful F1 GP driver? An orchestra conductor or a world famous musician? An Olympic marathon runner? Image source: http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/wr2pIzykiCkqk0ny_oolog-- /YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9aW5zZXQ7aD00Mjc7cT04NTt3PTYzMA-- /http://media.zenfs.com/en_uk/News/apimages.com/17172628.jpg

Current and future generations ... Different generations possess different values, attitudes, skills and ways of operating. Gen Y should definitely be taken into consideration when thinking about future skills in a fast changing and technologically saturated environment. This should assist us to identify skill sets which will be relevant in the future.

Who are Gen Y ... Gen Y were born in the 1990s into the internet age . They have grown up using the internet, mobile phones, and social networking sites for communication purposes.

Gen Y This generation are ambitious and self-confident. Baby-boomers (born in the 1950s) may consider Gen Y s to be arrogant. This is an obvious misperception. Gen Ys have high expectations and seek new challenges. They are not afraid to raise questions if something is unclear.

Gen Y ... ambitious and goal-oriented interested in self-development and improvement inclined to plunge into work they find interesting and important, even when they know little about it likely to equate job satisfaction with a positive work climate, flexibility, and the opportunity to learn and grow ... / Cont.

Gen Y (cont.) ... tend to value respect and want to earn it enjoy freedom to perform work as they think best likely to dislike menial work and routine tasks lack skills for dealing with difficult people may be impatient their technical skills may at times not matched by soft skills such as listening, communicating, independent thinking, being a team player, and managing time ... / Cont.

Gen Y (cont.) ... tend to look for instant gratification rather than long- term investment of time and effort value free time and remote working possibilities, enjoy flexibility, they work to live (not live to work) may regularly negotiate and pose questions prepared to work hard if they know they are held in high esteem change jobs easily when not satisfied with the way in which they are treated (increased job mobility)

Does increased job mobility imply the end of the career? End of the career hypothesis (Flores and Gray, 2000) Some examples: internet banking, e-publishing, travel agents, e-shopping, newspapers, new means of communication (skype, social networks, etc.)

The end of the career (Flores and Gray, 2000) Due to the accelerating rate of change (caused mainly by the increased uptake of new technology), policy makers need to reconsider the concept of careers. Traditionally, a career would span most of a person s working life. Today there is a trend towards internships, increased job mobility and fixed-term contracts. Yet, policy makers still consider careers to be the desirable model for employment policies and economic stability.

The end of the career (Flores and Gray, 2000) The very idea of a career now makes less and less sense of most people s working lives (Flores and Gray, 2000). New and less secure working patterns are emerging and the subsequent effects and implications need to be assessed. The current economic situation no longer provides the clear career paths it may have provided in the past.

The end of the career -displacement (Flores and Gray, 2000) Displacement is occuring through technological innovation, particularly in the services industry and in today s knowledge society. Examples include: travel agents, sales people in retail stores and the banking sector and the internet s effect on the publishing industry: New technologies (eg., e-books) are displacing the concept of the published book and newspapers.

The rise of a new form of trust? Control and authority (previously traditional managerial mindsets) are giving way to a new form of trust. Today trust is not always built on a face-to-face basis. Possibilities for remote working (digital nomads), virtual and remote communication, and the blurring of geographical boundaries give rise to a new form of trust building. This involves integrity, responsibility and respect. Some emerging issues need to be addressed (values, ethical issues, web security, privacy, cybercrime, addictions, distractions, remote work assessment, e-learning pedagogies, etc.)

Technological innovation Understanding these emerging trends enables policy makers to design strategies and to formulate policies that successfully address the changing context which is brought about due to innovation, technological change and the subsequent evolution of mindsets.

Skill sets for today and for the future? The skills required today are no longer those that most people were taught at school or university. Education should be regarded as a lifelong undertaking and employees provided with opportunities for continuous professional development and frequent re-training. This should be geared to provide individuals with the skills that organisations require and an entrepreneurial mindset where opportunities are recognised and individuals are prepared to take risks.

Skill sets for today and for the future ... The aims behind the Masters Programs at The Edward de Bono Institute, UoM The Masters Programs are based on four pillars: Creativity (including idea generation and critical thinking); Innovation Management; Entrepreneurship (including Intrapreneurship); Foresight (or Future Studies). Underlying all four pillars is: Research Methods.

Skill sets: Research Methods Research Methods: To conduct qualitative and quantitative research (structure of report, data collection, data analysis, sources, interpretation of results), dealing with and critically summarising masses of information and data from various sources, writing skills, communicating research procedures, data analysis, data interpretation, summarising results of research.

Skill sets: Creativity (including idea generation and critical thinking) Idea generation skills: Using tools and methods to generate novel ideas, to consider creativity as a skill, to be open minded and consider a variety of possibilities and solutions, to scan for possibilities broadly, to switch from one mode of thinking to another (eg., Six Thinking Hats, flexible thinking, etc.), recognising opportunities for the application of creative and constructive thinking, adding value to current products, processes and services.

Skill sets: Creativity (including idea generation and critical thinking) Critical thinking: Not to accept at face value what the media presents to its public, recognising sweeping statements, generalisations, unfounded assumptions, information provided without sufficient justification or evidence, asking pertinent questions, cultivating intellectual curiosity, objectivity, open mindedness, intellectual skepticism, intellectual honesty, persistence, decisiveness and respect for other viewpoints.

Skill sets: Innovation management Innovation Management: Recognise and apply strategies for innovation management within an organisation, harness ideas generated from a variety of sources (employees, customers, suppliers, users, general public), recognise and act to overcome obstacles to innovation in organisations, design and apply creativity and innovation audits.

Skill sets: Entrepreneurship Entrepreneurship: Recognise and apply the key factors involved in setting up a new enterprise, including opportunity recognition and risk taking, identify opportunities for the introduction of innovative products and services, conduct feasibility studies to assess the likelihood of profitably exploiting the identified opportunities, formulate business plan for a new enterprise; Explain what is involved in starting up a business, formulate a strategy for the exploitation of an idea into a new or an existing enterprise.

Skill sets: Foresight Foresight: Scanning for trends, awareness about long range strategic future planning, use and application of simple foresight tools, relevance of foresight for intelligence gathering, corporate strategy and policy making, managing a foresight activity, learning and dissemination in foresight.

Emphasis on Foresight skills ... 2001: eForesee FP5 STRATA two-year Malta Council for Science and Technology 2002: COST A22 Foresight Methodologies: Exploring new ways to explore the future WG3: Interactions between researchers, decision makers and the public October 2004: Master in Creativity and Innovation with Foresight as key theme October 2006: Erasmus Curriculum Development Program eInnForM 2007: Dingli, Sandra M. and Casingena Harper, Jennifer Quality Television for Children in 2015 , in Programmi Ta Kwalita ghat-Tfal, Eds. Aquilina, K., Axiak, M., DeBono, D. and Muscat Azzopardi, M., commissioned by Broadcasting Authority (Malta) and Commissioner for Children (Malta), Progress Press Company Limited (ISBN 9789993221050) October 2009: Joint MSc in Strategic Innovation and Future Creation (with University of Potsdam, University of Turku and University of Teesside participating)

Emphasis on Foresight skills ... 2012: Dingli, Sandra M. and Casingena Harper, J., 6.45.17. History of Foresight Techniques for Creativity and Innovation, in Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), Developed under the auspices of the UNESCO, Eolss Publishers, Oxford ,UK, [http://www.eolss.net] 2013: Dingli, Sandra M. Dissemination and Implementation of Foresight Projects in Participation and Interaction in Foresight: Dialogue, Dissemination and Visions, Eds. Borch, K., S gaard J rgensen, M. and Dingli, S., Glouchester, U.K.: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited 2013: Goodman, M. and Dingli, Sandra Creativity and Strategic Innovation Management. Oxford, U.K.: Routledge (Taylor and Francis Group) (Paperback edition ISBN: 978-0415663557, Hardback edition ISBN: 978-0-415-66354-0)

Successful and sustainable programs require: Flexibility to adapt according to the context, culture and sensitivity of all those involved; On-going development of the initiative, through self-reflection and self-evaluation Research to evaluate, constructively criticise and modify strategies and to continually improve them; Motivation on the part of the key people involved; The establishment of a creative climate where mutual trust and self-confidence are developed and where communication flows without barriers.

To conclude ... Traditional methods of training for the acquisition of skills no longer apply in today s scenario where young people (digital natives) are raised on fast interactive multiplayer online games and generally require challenges for their imagination to be fired and for their motivation to be increased. Baby boomers too (born ca. 1950s) are moving beyond traditional methods of skills acquisition.

To conclude ... The concept of careers may be coming to an end. The potential of Gen Y needs to be better addressed. The best way to acquire transferable skills is not through explanations or mere understanding, rather, it is through relevant experience that transferable skill sets may be acquired and maintained. eg. driving a Formula One racing car, playing the violin or running a marathon.

To conclude ... Inspiration and motivation Future skills foresight workshop with new student intake! Story of the fly .... Positive thinking, foresight (with inbuilt flexibility).