In The Future of Jobs, an attention-grabbing report from 2018, the World Economic Forum argued that more than half of the global workforce would need to acquire new skills by 2022.
The rationale has been well-rehearsed since: more and more tasks are being automated. And those tasks range from ones we are perhaps happy to relinquish, such as information and data processing, to those we are more comfortable thinking of as solely human preserves, like coordinating and advising.
We can all name the technologies that are on the march and due to make an impact on the world of work for treasurers. Artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain and data analytics come readily to mind – marking what the report’s authors referred to as a new ‘human-machine frontier’.
What is less clear, however, is the exact shape of their impact and how different treasury function roles might look in the near and medium-term future.
At the same time, there are demographic factors at play. More of us want or need to work for longer. There is a trend towards a greater proportion of those aged 50-64 remaining in paid employment.
We can all name the technologies that are on the march and due to make an impact on the world of work for treasurers
According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), the proportion of over-50s in the workforce in the UK increased from 21% to 32% between 1992 and 2019.
As a more affluent generation retires, the ranks of the 65-plus workforce are due to swell by 2.7 million over the next decade. That trend is reflected elsewhere in the world.
The business of learning or reskilling is not the sole preserve of younger professionals and workers. Technologies such as AI and blockchain will likely require different approaches in leadership and management, so the learning doesn’t stop for more experienced professionals.
What is more, professional qualifications that blend technical skills with behavioural skills, such as The Association of Corporate Treasurers’ (ACT’s) suite of qualifications – and in particular its Advanced Diploma – require a conscientious approach to learning and self-development, more often than not alongside the day job.
The message is clear: we need to learn if we are to remain relevant.
So, what conditions and tools help us learn, and how can new technology help?
Patricia Riddell, professor of applied neuroscience at Henley Business School, says to be effective, learning needs to be applicable.
“It’s important to work out the context in which you will apply learning. The responsibility of the learner – if they can’t see it immediately – is to think to themselves: how does this apply,” she says.
An Coppens, chief game changer at design consultancy Gamification Nation, designs learning activities and training programmes for the corporate environment. The prerequisite for any learning, she states, is curiosity.
“What sets us up to learn,” she says, “is an awareness that we don’t know or understand everything. If you can encourage someone to be curious, you can entice them to learn.”
For any job- or profession-related learning, there will be a hierarchy, however – a difference between the need-to-know, fact-based material around, for instance, compliance and the more involved or professional-level skills.
Coppens says: “If it’s a quick fix – something you need to know – delivery and content will be quite straightforward. With continuous learners, you need to delve a bit deeper. Why do they want to learn? If you can establish that, you can build a learning programme.”
Webinars, podcasts, online assessment and invigilation all now have their place in professional education and development, but what technologies are on the horizon?
Professor Riddell claims that Virtual reality (VR) will play a greater role in the future.
In VR, an online simulation might take individuals through a relevant scenario. Think of the flight simulator, she suggests. Working through a worst-case scenario that an individual has little experience of – an emergency landing would be a good example – will incentivise them to come back and try the procedure again, with VR creating a safe environment in which to do so.
It’s a method that might have particular application for leadership simulations, she suggests.
“That is where VR could have an impact, because you can experience scenarios online and have an opportunity to come back and rehearse a strategy,” she says.
Physiological changes take place in the body when we learn, which means that wearables that track our movements and even temperature changes will expand into learning, Coppens says, meaning that providers and ultimately employers will be able to track their effectiveness.
“That technology is not yet in the workplace, but it’s coming,” she predicts.
What trainers and educators need to bear in mind, Professor Riddell points out, is that subjects such as leadership also require interaction.
There is a broad range of channels through which we can transmit knowledge, but if the subject matter is essentially interactive, then the classroom wins hands down, she argues.
“If it’s about interaction, you can’t learn unless you’re in a room interacting. Anything around behaviour change requires motivation and the opportunity to practice.”
New learning needs to be reinforced, education experts agree, and technology can assist here
New learning needs to be reinforced, education experts agree, and technology can assist here, too.
Educators have long known that in classroom learning, the ‘a-ha’ moments students experience will show up in their facial expressions.
For online distance learning, the degree to which new information has been taken on board can be tested by sending a small number of quick-fire questions to participants’ mobile phones.
“Revisiting topics in quick bursts, reinforcing them with quick questions is a nice way of enhancing learning,” says Professor Riddell. “We’re more likely to learn if we’re examined, so it’s a good way of assessing how we’re doing over time.”
While some of these new technologies remain on the horizon, good use is already being made of online and mobile technologies.
Webinars and podcasts, including short pieces that students can view on their commutes, are already a feature of the way the ACT curricula are delivered, Colin Linton, the association’s chief assessor, points out.
He notes that educators and awarding bodies need to maximise the potential of these channels: “That is how a younger generation of students works. There is a whole new market emerging and they want more interactivity, easy access, with information delivered in short bursts.
“They want a quicker turnaround on results, more feedback and quick retakes, which has been shown to reduce student dropout rates. Previously, students would wait a long time for results and then have to wait again to resit. It’s a different world for students these days.”
Indeed, the ACT offers flexible sittings and a quick turnaround of results.
As a tutor, Jon Jeffrey, lecturer and training provider, has been involved with the ACT for 10 years.
He is core tutor for the treasury qualifications and also wrote some of the material for the Advanced Diploma, with which he assists with the dissertation supervision.
Over the decade he has been involved, he has seen the evolution towards blended learning for the ACT’s students with the introduction of videos, podcasts and webinars.
“When we first started, it was largely about face-to-face delivery,” he says. “The technology wasn’t there to support delivery of more interactive or online forms of learning. Now, online means of delivery provide much better support for companies.
“One example we have is a German industrial services group with 15 students enrolled, working in different parts of the globe. The expense of bringing all these individuals together for tuition would be prohibitive, so the online resources enable us to reach a geographically dispersed student base.”
In some cases, he notes, face-to-face learning “is just not economically viable”.
The ACT’s introduction of online invigilation pushes the boundaries in terms of access to professional qualifications.
Since its introduction three years ago, the ACT has refined an offering that enables students anywhere in the world to sit the exams, providing they have access to wi-fi plus an online video facility via a smartphone or desktop-embedded camera – plus a quiet room in which to sit the exam.
An online invigilator will observe candidates as they use a phone camera to show that the desk and their surroundings are sufficiently neutral and free from material that would assist them.
The invigilator then watches the candidate as they work their way through a computer-based assessment in the usual way, using their observational skills just as they would were they physically in the room with the candidate.
While online invigilation has attracted concerns around verifying the identity of the candidate as well as the practicalities of keeping watch remotely, the technology adds value in both respects, says Linton.
He notes: “There have been concerns around: do we know they are who they say they are? In fact, it’s better now we have video evidence. Invigilators are highly skilled in body language; they have a high level of observation skills; it’s actually an enhancement.
“The concept has been around for a few years. What this does is open up markets where there is no alternative.” All videos are also reviewed by the ACT as the awarding body if issues are flagged by the online invigilators or if there are concerns over students’ identity.
For some, learning will always need to be a social activity. “There are still individuals who want and need face-to-face,” says Jeffrey. “It’s a case of making sure the opportunity is there.”
Within its Advanced Diploma, the ACT provides a three-day face-to-face residential school, alongside interactive webinars that give students the opportunity to ask questions, share best practice and post opinions or thoughts on an online forum.
It is a feature that has proved well-used and popular, admits Jeffrey. “Students spend quite a lot of time in that environment, and none of this would have been viable a short time ago.”
While there may be no difference in how we assimilate new information and learning compared with 10 years ago, new technology can certainly enhance the experience – not least in its flexibility.
“It enables us to deliver in a way that is better for students; flexibly, so they can take advantage of the spare time that they have – and wherever they are based,” says Jeffrey.
Liz Loxton is editor of The Treasurer
This article was taken from the February/March 2020 issue of The Treasurer magazine. For more great insights, log in to view the full issue or sign up for eAffiliate membership