What\u2019s keeping finance executives up at night? A number of key things: The speed of technological change and how that\u2019s changing the industry generally; the inroads the big technology companies such as Google, Apple and Amazon are making into the sector; globally, the entrenchment of players such as China\u2019s Alipay in the mobile payment space; the growing number of fintech companies popping up and raising the bar on consumer expectations; big data and how to use it effectively. And the question underpinning all this is “What are the critical skills necessary to drive growth in this new environment?”<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not about machines taking over, it\u2019s about a shift in skill sets and how to best use new technology. We need to be thinking about training for the future and not just filling the gaps we have today. That\u2019s a big change. We weren\u2019t attuned to that in the past,\u201d says Jennifer Reynolds, president and CEO of Toronto Financial Services Alliance (TFSA), a not-for-profit with a mandate of driving growth and competitiveness in Toronto\u2019s financial services industry.<\/p>\n
Of course, there has always been an evolution of skill sets in the workplace. It\u2019s the accelerated pace of change that\u2019s different. The result: \u201cPeople across all industries, not just financial services, are thinking about how we are going to use technology effectively and the skillsets we will need to pair that technology with,\u201d says Reynolds.<\/p>\n
So what are the top critical skills the finance industry will need in the next three to five years? While all the talk right now may be about technical skills, it\u2019s the so-called soft skills that will be key. Unlocking the Human Opportunity: Future-proof skills to move financial services forward<\/em>, a new report from TFSA and PwC, has identified four categories of future-proof skills:<\/p>\n Human experience skills<\/strong>: These include emotional intelligence, empathy, communication and the ability to influence.<\/p>\n Reimagination skills<\/strong>: Curiosity, creativity, critical thinking, problem solving and business acumen.<\/p>\n Pivoting skills<\/strong>. The willingness to change and ability learn new things quickly.<\/p>\n Future currency skills (digital and data acumen):<\/strong> Staying current and developing new technical skills will be a baseline requirement. See ability to pivot.<\/p>\n As for current skills and jobs that are being phased out, process-heavy areas such as quality assurance will become increasingly automated. People will still oversee these areas, but fewer people will actually being working in them.<\/p>\n Another key shift taking hold: a move away from specialization and towards a broader understanding of the business and how different functional groups fit together. \u201cWe need to be able to use data to be critical thinkers, problem solvers and to think bigger picture, not just in a way where we are really deep into one particular area but being able to synthesize a bunch of different areas,\u201d says Reynolds.<\/p>\n This means careers will also change. In the traditional mode of financial services, when change was slower, people were typically in similar roles for much of their career. The report makes the case that is no longer sustainable. People will have to re-skill regularly. And that means career trajectories will change, too. In the past, you got on the ladder and tried to climb up. \u201cNow, it\u2019s more of a career lattice, where you bring core skills to different areas and continue to build new skills in new areas,\u201d says Reynolds.<\/p>\n This is happening in lockstep with the emergence of the gig economy, where people (and “people” are largely defined as millennials) are no longer with just one, or two or three companies over the course of a career. \u201cIf you\u2019re always having to reskill and pivot, people want careers to be more dynamic, too,\u201d says Reynolds.<\/p>\n