Learning or Doing?
The historical dissociation between learning and application has greatly contributed to today’s crisis of talent. This dissociation resonates in many contexts, the most typical ones, being in a school or university classroom. However, this dissociation is also experienced in the individual’s professional curriculum and in the work experience itself.
Let’s think about a common situation. What would you do if you would like to improve your skills in the hopes of getting a promotion or changing your career to a new field? The most common path would be to register in a program that will ensure a certificate that hopefully will lead you to a new job. That’s at least the promise they make!
Those that get the promotion might be considered to be the luckiest! Unfortunately, the real world paints us a different picture. 87% of companies worldwide have a significant skills gap (McKinsey & Company) meaning that there is not only a lack of talent in the external market but also that the talent that is already allocated in companies is not fulfilling the organizational needs. The big paradox is that the workforce that is being trained is not satisfied with the training they received or the opportunities they get. 66% of graduates wish to have more real-world work experience, and 42% of graduates felt unqualified because they did not have all the skills listed in the job description. Graduate Employability Report, 2021 Cengage).
The problem is persistent and won’t be solved if we continuously dissociate learning from the application. Just like in our example, learning is usually linked to the consumption of content and completion of standardized modules leading to certifications. Whether they’re short or long-term programs (digital or onsite) they follow a similar structure based on a unidirectional transfer of information for the acquisition of contents. Although understanding and remembering are the most common skills linked to the absorption of such content, these both are insufficient to prove that with such content you’re able to do something, to produce, create, or solve a problem. That application is what this complex world urgently needs. In other words, you will need to apply that learning to develop other kinds of skills. That’s what in Grey we call “inactive and active learning”. Only when you’re able to apply specific learning, your skill is ready to grow and you can demonstrate it.
I recently read a very illustrative story in the Harvard Business Review about the brutal talent shortages in the US: “more than 70% of the food servers who lost their jobs due to the pandemic have the skills needed to succeed in customer service, which is currently one of the most in-demand jobs on LinkedIn”. However, recruiters don’t recognize such skills and are only focused on work history. This is yet another example of dissociation between application and learning. The skills acquired by food servers are not just linked to serving in different types of restaurants. For doing so, they have needed to apply higher levels of skills, such as active listening, assertive communication, problem-solving, and attitudes such as openness, flexibility, etc. All those skills are also, by the way, needed in the customer service industry. This is also learning through doing that is valuable, and required in different fields, even if it’s not strictly linked to a traditional certification or if the restaurant you served for doesn’t recognize it. The current curriculum vitae model only prioritizes the long list of work history and that’s what employers prefer. The world of work is paradoxically rejecting the talent they need by excluding the power of skills.
Grey’s proof of skills values both: learning and doing, ending with the classic dissociation. Through the Grey decentralized skills ecosystem, professionals will have the possibility to own, grow and verify their skills through a unique digital identity. Grey’s system of Skills NFTs with on-chain claims demonstrates the learning experiences completion associated with skills acquisition (input-based) and links the application of such skills with specific projects, practice, and real-life challenges (output-based).
Today is more possible than ever to close such dissociation and build a bridge between two worlds, the world of work and the world of learning. Emerging Web3 technologies provide us with the tools required to disrupt the current skills economy and transform the future of skills. That’s Grey’s mission. (See Grey’s Whitepaper)
