8 Professional Training, Leadership & Development How to be


future-proof Professional development guru Gabriella Goddard on the magic of upskilling. Words by: Andy Hill


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“T e wave is coming,” warns executive coach, leadership expert and Greater London Businesswoman of the Year 2023 Gabriella Goddard. “AI will inevitably lead to a massive increase in automation. T ere’ll be more of some jobs, and less of others. So teams, and individuals, need to upskill now, before it’s too late.” We caught up with Goddard, founder of Brainsparker, for an inspiring chat.


How will the skills landscape change? Clerical skills, like admin jobs, are likely to fade away. But jobs requiring interpersonal skills will then pop up to replace them. T e World Economic Forum recently published a report suggesting some key skills that’ll be needed after the wave are in analytical thinking, creative thinking and resilience or fl exibility.


Why will interpersonal skills be key? Jobs like coding or data gathering will be increasingly done by machines. But humans will still need to analyse data or trends and decide on the appropriate action to grow the business or pitch to outsiders. T is is where, for instance, empathy — the ability to properly understand another person’s needs — will be invaluable.


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What about creative skills? T e ability to think creatively, applying what we call ‘design thinking’, will be absolutely essential. T at means learning to experiment, test and iterate alongside the new tools of AI. T e app I created — Brainsparker


— helps people approach and solve problems that don’t necessarily have concrete answers.


Can companies prepare for ‘the wave’? Absolutely. T ere’ll be talent shortages, specifi cally in these creative, analytical and interpersonal fi elds. It’s vital right now, as a leader, to foster an environment in which your teams are thinking ahead. So, within existing performance appraisal


certifi cates awarded at the end. Udemy is brilliant for courses on, for instance, how to use popular design software Canva for digital marketing, and it’s cheap, too — under £20. Coursera brings together university courses from all over the world into one portal, ideal for learning about ‘design thinking’ or project management. I personally have a certifi cate from Harvard Business School that I earned doing an online course in my own time.


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processes, we need to put learning and development front and centre. Make sure time is set aside — say half a day every month — to focus on upskilling.


What are some good resources for upskilling? Another word for upskilling is ‘learning’. If you pay for LinkedIn Premium, you get access to LinkedIn Learning, which has fantastic courses pitched at management level, with recognised


How do I motivate my teams to learn? T e great thing about these courses is they fi t around your lifestyle. We all love binge-watching Netfl ix. Why not try ‘binge learning’? Several companies I work with also use the ‘teaching back’ method. One person does a course, then goes into the offi ce and teaches a handful of skills they picked up to the team. Alternatively, mentoring is a good way to make it personal. I always suggest reaching out to professional institutions of bodies — for instance, the Chartered Institute of Marketing — to ask about mentorship schemes. Individuals can, and should, be proactive in this way.


What’s one simple thing I can do today to upskill? Believe it or not, ChatGPT is fantastic for upskilling. If you want to negotiate a pay rise, ask it for a four-week curriculum on the topic. It’ll create a personalised programme for you with articles, YouTube videos and actionable tasks. It’s extraordinary. You can learn an awful lot in this way — and stay ahead of the wave.


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