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Foresighting future skills
needs for the ICT
professional
Dr Marcus Bowles
Head, Digital Economy & Regional Futures, University of Tasmania
Chair, Working Futures Foundation
Foresighting
What is it?
Foresighting is a participative approach used by
businesses or industries to create shared long-term
visions that inform decision-making processes, in
particular as part of workforce or strategic planning.
Why do it?
Foresighting can support long range forecasting by
providing more tangible deliverables that generate
immediate wins or ‘stepping stones’ to a desired future
state (18-36 months) that may be part of a longer term
plan (10+ year).
2
Foresighting: recent insights into
future skills for ICT professionals
This presentation make observations based
on foresighting exercises that include recent
ICT related foresighting for:
Australian industries including ICT, Printing &
Finance
NZ Health
Digital Futures Capability Project for SingTel
Optus
3
We are still a little confused….
We talk about the Digital Age or
Knowledge Age but we still have key
decision makers with thinking echoing
back to how they were skilled.
Source: http://cyprischat.org/2011/05/12/brain-
teasers-conversation-problems-for-fun/confused/
4
The HR manual tells us the ‘ideal’
ICT recruit is one that best fits
the job requirements
5 Applicant
‘Best Fit’
The ICT profession has actively
defined and specified attributes
that help determine ‘best fit’
CBOK, Seoul Accord
Graduate Attributes, etc.
SFIA, Specialist Bodies of
Knowledge (e.g. System
architecture), national
competency standards,
etc.
National competency standards,
Vendor and company specific
variations, etc.
=
=
=
Discipline
knowledge core
to ICT
Specialist
knowledge and
skills common to all
workers in job role
Specific competence
for context and
tasks
6
ICT Discipline
Attributes
Context-Task
Specific
Attributes
Discipline Area
Specialisation
Attributes
Specifications of attributes are used by
organisations to build job profiles
7
Specifications guide education
and training solutions so a skill
gap can be closed quickly
PRMG6 Project Management
=
AQF Level 7
Graduate Diploma in Project Management (ITIL)
or
Focus on Value
=
Company in-house 1 day workshop
Creating a compelling value proposition
9
HANG ON!!!!
10
Control and tight specification of
skills and knowledge for ICT
careers can make sense
11
But the volume and intensity of
technology change and industry
variations in ICT roles has
increased turbulence
12
Now it is just scary
13
The future looks bad for those
that want to ‘rigidly’ define ICT
discipline knowledge and educate
people for an ICT job
14
Foresighting
Insights into skilling future ICT professionals
15
Agility is essential in the digital age
While discipline and specialist technical skills
are important, organisational capabilities
and competitive differentiation require tight
management of system-level and task-level
attributes!
Organisations need
people to be emotionally
ready and willing to
respond
Organisations need
people that understand
‘why’ not just ‘what’
16
ICT Future Capabilities: A Shift in
Logic
As an example, Optus Future Capabilities Project found:
Digital capabilities span all ICT disciplines and jobs.
Focus must fall on systems-level attributes that drive
both individual and organisational development.
Define what a person brings to the organisation, not just
the job.
Involve attributes that inspire and underpin shared
purpose.
Form a cultural glue with shared values, standards of
behaviour and ethical practice that influence
performance right down to task level.
17
The Future Capabilities for ICT
Professionals
Future capabilities vary but seven seem to reoccur across
different organisational validation processes.
1. Inspire
others
2. Enhance
self
knowledge
and learning
3. Forge
collaborative
relationships
4. Drive and
manage
change
5. Enhance
strategic
agility and
thinking
6. Create
solutions
7. Build an
ethical
culture
18
So what does that mean for ICT
professionals?
Two observations
19
Observation 1
Being an ICT professional is as much about
who you are as it is what you can do.
To quote a General Manager with 400 senior
ICT professionals in his ranks:
“We have so many swans that think they’re
highly skilled and glorious creatures. It is all
about them. I would happily employ ducks so
long as they realised technical skills are the
base-line and removing barriers to client
satisfaction is more precious than personal
magnificence.”
20
This is the ‘old’ argument about
personal versus technical
attributes
It is harder and more expensive to
develop somebody who is motivated
and wants to engage with others,
than it is to develop most ICT skills.
21
Future capabilities emphasise
personal attributes alongside the
technical
Future
Capability
(Bowles, 2007 Human Capability Development with permission)
22
Observation 2
When we teach ICT discipline specific and
specialised knowledge and skills we want
young people to emotionally engage in
what they are doing.
As Hunter and Csikszentmihalyi (2003) noted:
“Bored students learn less and become
emotionally disengage from the application of
the skills.”
23
In fact we already have research into
how young people use and engage
with ICT
Our research extending on the MacArthur Digital
Youth Report[1] confirmed the following stages in
young people’s use of, and engagement with, digital
media:
Hanging out
Messing About
Geeking About
Speaking out
[1] Bowles & Wilson, (March 2009), How young people learn ICT skills, Flexibility in Training Packages , IBSA: Melbourne referring to Ito, M.,
Horst, H., Bittanti, M., Boyd, D., Herr-Stephenson, B., Lange, P.G., Pascoe, C.J. & Robinson, L. (November, 2008). Living and Learning with New
Media, John D and Catherine T MacArthur Foundation.
24
We know about Flow or the so-
called ‘zone’ of engagement
After:
Csíkszentmihályi,
Mihály (1996),
Creativity: Flow and
the Psychology of
Discovery and
Invention, New
York: Harper
Perennial.
25
We are only just learning how deeply ICT
future capabilities are linked with how young
people already use digital technology and
media
Messing
About Hanging
Out Geeking
About Speaking
Out
1. Inspire others
2. Enhance self
knowledge and learning
3. Forge collaborative
relationships
4. Drive and manage
change
5. Enhance strategic
agility and thinking
6. Create solutions
7. Build a positive
culture
26
The conclusion
The most valuable IT Professional in the
future will have both:
Passion & Competence
Slide
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