The future of work: AQ will become increasingly important
Christophe Vanden Eede is Head of the Center of Expertise Talent & Learning and is also responsible for worldwide career management at ING. Does he have an opinion about the future of working and which skills we should develop? You bet he does. "The speed at which change is happening today is the slowest you are ever going to experience from now on," Christophe says. "So a strong ability to adapt is essential."
Digitisation drives change
"Our organisation is changing completely because of what is happening out there. Digitisation is an important factor. It puts pressure on classic business models but it also causes huge changes in the expectations of staff and candidates. As an employer, we have to be able to respond to that."
Christophe makes sure that ING has the right people with the right skillsets and personalities on board. "I firmly believe that you, as an organisation, become successful thanks to the people in your organisation, not thanks to the technology or to a brilliant idea that can quickly be copied."
Owner of your own development
"As an individual and a professional, you know best who you are and where you want to be positioned. You have to develop your own purpose. Only then can you see whether that matches with the organisation for which you are working. Only then can you develop a career plan. Here at ING, we support our colleagues in this process. And also in the rest of their development. We allow people to choose their craft, and give them the freedom to continually improve it. They know very well what is to be expected, within their craft. We offer them a learning ecosystem, but the employee is at the helm of their own development."
Lifelong learning is a must
"The most important task people have is to keep learning. We're talking about 'learning agility'. Learning new things, unlearning old things, relearning other things, questioning yourself and being inquisitive enough. There are two components to learning agility. One is about IQ: the amount of intellectual horsepower you have inside your skull. The other is about having the right mindset to be able to cope with change. In other words: in addition to IQ and EQ, AQ (the ability to adapt) will become more and more important."
Soft skills are becoming more important
"Machines are becoming increasingly intelligent", says Christophe. "But it's a very one-sided intelligence. Through experience, AI can draw logical conclusions, but it's very bad at lateral thinking, for example, which is where creative ideas arise. Humans are still the ones making that difference. In communication and collaboration with others, we can really show our strength as humans."
Embrace the change
"Humans have always been successful at changing. We have always adapted, so I am quite confident that things will work out with digitisation and the emergence of intelligent machines. One thing is clear: digitisation will cause the disappearance of around 10% of jobs and change roughly 100% of them."
"We humans are good at flexibility. New projects, changing teams. That's what distinguishes us from animals. Bees have the same mission for their entire lives. We do not. The better able you are to overcome new challenges in a changing context, the stronger you will become as a professional."
About Christophe
Christophe lives with his wife and three children in Hove, situated between Antwerp and Brussels. He studied law at the University of Antwerp and went on to do an MBA at Vlerick. He is active in his spare time: he is the chair of the parents' council at his children's school, founder and chair of the HR Digital Community and a sports enthusiast. His guilty pleasure is reading his daughter's fantasy fiction books, preferably those about dragons. His latest discovery is The Sword of Truth.