Proficiency - a defining trait

Technology is driving a massive shift in the away we work. Whether it is wearable technology or a simple app in your mobile, it is giving people information that enables them to make choices. What these changes are doing in almost invisible ways is to shift our approach to decision making. Every app provides us the base level of information that a specialist can use to make decisions.A fitness app can track the calories you are consuming and burning. It tracks and compares how long we have worked out and how our workout compares to the exercise regime we have followed in the past week or month or year. The data is instantaneously analyzed. So when we share that data with a physician or even our dietician, we can receive advice that the specialist can dispense based on the data patterns the mobile app can put together.Imagine if we could have an app that could collect such data points that could make the work of a coach more effective. Imagine an app that stores all the 360 degree feedback, the psychometric test results, our performance data and feedback over the years, the courses we have taken and then identify some key areas for us to focus on for self-development. That would be such a game changer.Ad Age recently reported that Procter & Gamble plans to buy 70-75% of its US digital media using programmatic ad tech by the end of this year. Remember that we are talking about the largest advertiser in the US and their ad budget in question is nearly $2 billion. We are moving towards a future where any job that involves analyzing vast amounts of data and crunching several variables will be better done by a machine. The thumb rule is that anything that can be programmed using an "if-then" logic will be done by machines. That will leave humans to do jobs that involve understanding people, creative thinking, etc.Apply this to the role of a coach. Imagine an app that analyses all this information to guide a first time manager with tips and feedback on managing his or her team. It could be easily programmed to pick up information from the web to tell us about the upcoming courses that are being offered in the city. Maybe even help us join a free MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) to sharpen one's knowledge of strategic thinking or innovation. It could connect us to the right people within and outside the organization to create a network of mentors and coaches we could work with. An app could certainly do a lot of the base level work that now we need to go to a specialist for.A technology-enabled future also means that companies and talent managers will be using analytics much more actively to assess people and capabilities more objectively. While a few progressive companies are doing it currently, it will become mainstream in the future. Employee assessments will be against performance, behaviors, skills and other capabilities and their correlation against each other. These analytical outcomes will likely be much more objective and credible. It will, therefore, replace present systems to assess and measure people based mostly on intuition and judgment.For example, there are instances when we tend to overlook assignments and skill programs, which do not indicate a direct correlation with career progress. At times, we need to be told by a mentor or an advisor about how a particular program or training module can contribute to our development and employability. In the future, technology will be able to translate the implications of such an event into all possible manifestations in an individual’s career and life.The technology already exists. IBMs computer has already been fed in with millions of documents and facts. At first we were tickled that they could defeat humans in Jeopardy. Now we know that they are able to diagnose patient conditions better than most doctors can. And they will be able to do the job of a lawyer more effectively because they can read through reams of legal frameworks and case laws to give clients advice that no lawyer could improve upon. The tech enabled future will finally take away the drudgery in most roles leaving only the most interesting parts of the role to be done by humans.---------------Written for People Matters Aug 2014