NFCC C3: Colleges, Careers, Connections
Chris Steilberg delivers keynote address at C3 Conference
by Kelly DeLucia on 11/18/11
On October 18th, 2011, Chris posed a question to campus visitors while speaking about 'The Future of Work and Education,'
"Is it better to be prepared or ready?"
There is never a singular solution across all organizations. But there are components of person/environment/fit that are almost always relevant at any level within an organization. A lot of organizations don't fully understand this. Most organizations hire for skills, but skills are the building grounds of jobs, whereas, the soft skills, your character, your ability to continue to learn, your agility--these are the things that are the building grounds for careers. So the question is this: are you hiring for the person that can do the job today? Or for the person that you want to be around tomorrow?
Technology has broken all barriers. Bigger is not better. Small organizations are thriving. What are the implications for all this?
For Employers:
- Talent is the currency of human capital. You want to pay for Talent. Not the person. Organizations will find a way to get what they need: buy? build? borrow?
- Employment 'New Deal'
- How will pay scales look?
- Is there any loyalty between employee/employer?
- What is the 'talent' really worth?
- Training--can college become the training ground for employees? Can we create more collaboration? Small companies can form the basis of a network that has power.
For Colleges:
- What does student success look like? Do students really gain a lot of knowledge?
- We need to address the 'can do.' A lot of things could go wrong, but stay positive, stay motivated.
- Work/life balance is key. Work has an impact of domestic life. Domestic life has an impact on work. These issues do exist. Problems do not leave themselves at home just because you've crossed the threshold of the entryway.
- What about faculty? Do we continue to teach the same way? Sometimes it's easier/better to listen. Students will ask questions, lets have a conversation. All the technical answers are out there on Google, but students learn better when they are part of the answer. Teach with questions.
- The boundaries of education and work are fading. It never stops.
For Students:
- How many of you plan? Down the the details, the lists. You can plan a lot in life, and you should. But would you rather be prepared or ready? It is through continuous learning, and preparing to be ready, being strategically opportunistic--look to the future and try to reduce some uncertainty...and then, when you see an opportunity, take it!
- Become valuable. Make yourself indispensable.
- Eventually most of us will work for ourselves.
- People like optimists. Get confident. Build your own character.
So what does this all mean? There are many societal forces that are going to change the way education is delivered. According to Chris, those that get ahead are agile learners. Those that learn fast go farther and do it better. It's not just about being able to read a book quickly--it's self awareness, seeking feedback, learning about yourself, learning about others. The paradigm of the model for the education system is complicated. Let's take a wide-eyed 5 yr old who asks the question, "what do you plant to grow a seedless grape?" I'm sure the answer is easily available with a simple Google search, but perhaps it's worth a bit more than a quick answer.
