If you have a profession that’s fulfilling for you and you feel secure in your current job, then it will likely give you a deep sense of innate satisfaction. Many individuals have trouble getting to that point, and it’s challenging to reach that state of equilibrium where you’re making money doing something about which you feel passionate.
What’s vital to remember, though, is that just because you’ve gotten to that point, you should not rest on your laurels. You should keep up with industry trends by doing things like taking classes, attending seminars, doing additional on-the-job training, etc.
Learning new skills and information about your niche can help you at work in a variety of ways. It shows your bosses that you’re committed to staying at the top of your profession and advancing if an opportunity presents itself. It demonstrates that you are taking the initiative, and you don’t take your position for granted. Besides, the more new skills you learn, the more valuable you are making yourself to your company. That’s the sort of thing that will put you in line for raises, bonuses, and promotions when the time comes.
Let’s say that you are in an industry like retail, real estate or software development or whatever the case might be, some trends in the workplace became prominent in 2019, and that should certainly continue as we venture further into 2020.
Here are a few of those trends of which you should be aware of:
- AI and ML Usage are Increasing:
Artificial intelligence and machine learning are two areas that once seemed like science fiction, but both are now becoming prominent in several different fields. These might seem a little intimidating to some individuals, but they are proving quite useful when it comes to things like reducing the need for humans to perform tedious or dangerous tasks.
- Employees are Warming to Automation:
Every industry throughout human history has eventually become automated to one extent or another. Although that means the loss of certain jobs, it also means the creation of others. Any time that humans can relegate things like mining or factory work to machines, it is going to improve our overall quality of life over time.
- Creating and Sustaining the Learning Culture:
Regardless of your industry or niche, wherever you can foster a culture of perpetual learning and development, it is for the best. Senior members of any organization should go out of their way to teach the junior members what they have learned during their time. That’s how a company thrives, and camaraderie is built.
- Customizable Learning and Development:
Related to this is the idea of customizable learning and development. These terms imply a personalized approach to learning new skills within the corporate structure. While it is the responsibility of every employee to try and learn new skills, it is the job of their bosses to continue educating them and giving them access to every available resource.
- Upskilling or Reskilling with Practice:
These terms refer to the concept of continuous learning. Again, it goes back to companies investing in outside training programs and on-the-job training. These are ways to minimize skill gaps so that employees can do better work more expediently, eliminating the need for additional hires.
- Maximizing Efficiency:
You have probably heard this term before regardless of your industry, but have you ever paused to think about what it means? Maximizing efficiency is something that every business should take the time to do. That means frequent evaluations of how employees in every department are spending their time. Sometimes it is helpful to bring in an outside auditor to evaluate how a business is being run so that any redundancies or inefficiencies can be eliminated.
- Support Personal and Professional Development:
It is always going to be the duty of responsible employers to help their employees develop their skill sets. They can do that by fostering work environments where active dialogue is encouraged. It does no good to have a system in place where employees cannot speak their minds. The best organizations understand that employees at every level are their most valuable resource, and their feedback is one of the more useful resources they have.
When you look at this list, it’s helpful to think about how many of these concepts have been incorporated within your organization. Is it a couple of them? Is it none of them, or all seven?
If you're in a position of authority within your company and you haven’t looked into these trends, or thought about them, now is the time to make a change. A new year and a new decade bring with them the opportunity for renewal. That applies to the structure of your organization just as much as it does your personal life.
Author Bio:
Slava Vaniukov, Co-Founder and CEO at digital agency Softermii, has over 9-years of experience in the web and mobile development industry. After getting extensive experience as an Engineer and Senior Tech Lead and Mentor, Slava joined forces with like-minded professionals to start their own company. Besides that, he is one of the authors at the Softermii blog and blogger featured at a wide range of other web resources focusing on the technologies and business management topics.