As we approach the fourth International Day of Education, the need to educate and upskill ourselves to navigate the continuing uncertainty of our global environment cannot be clearer. Much has been written on the virtual, hybrid and face-to-face education continuum. What is very important in this regard is the need to better combine formal and informal learning opportunities for professionals – especially if we consider learning to be “a continuous process of growth and change that is grounded in experience” (Bernice McCarthy). Indeed, according to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2020, 94% of employees are expected to “pick up new skills on the job” (a notable increase from 65% in 2018), 40% are expected to require reskilling within six months, and newly emerging skillsets such as “active learning and learning strategies”¹ are among the top of the list predicted for 2025. Life-long learning used to be seen as being proactive and exceptional; now it is the norm.

As Alvin Toffler has pointed out, “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn”.

At the GCSP we have learned so much in the past two years about learning in the context of virtual and hybrid education. Our take-aways are relevant well beyond the classroom – since all of our future working lives will involve continual and “active” learning. Just think of the time we have all spent since 2020 on learning completely new digital skills, unlearning old habits, and relearning different approaches to how we work – sometimes even unconsciously! To illustrate this, it is useful to consider the example of communication – arguably one of the biggest changes and challenges for many of us in the sudden move to virtual work.

Learning: Digital skills are seen as key to COVID-19 recovery plans. But it is important to acknowledge that not everyone is at the same starting line, has the same resources, or learns at the same speed. Digital tools for collaboration and communication – whether in a classroom or work environment – need to be selectively chosen, while time and training need to be provided for learning. The relevance and purpose of these tools need to be very clear, otherwise the risk is that they will act as a barrier to rather than a facilitator of communication and interaction. Given the role that virtual work will continue to play in most of our professions, we all need to be the leader of our own learning in order to be equally effective in virtual, hybrid and face-to-face environments. The best way to begin this process is to start asking questions about your communication needs and preferences, as well as those of your colleagues.

Merely learning new information is insufficient, however, because old information, habits and processes will continue to affect how we work. This is why unlearning and relearning are just as important.

Unlearning: This means being adaptable, able to let go of old habits, and open to change. The need to unlearn is something we have all seen very concretely in how we communicate. It is often stated that 93% of communication is non-verbal. Whatever the actual percentage, we all became very aware of our reliance on non-verbal cues in communicating when we suddenly found ourselves looking into a webcam instead of faces! Our virtual environment has completely changed the signals we use to be effective communicators. For some, presenting from a distance and away from a crowd can be less stressful, while for others it is both destabilising and uncomfortable. Unlearning habits we did not even realise we had is challenging, but is also an opportunity to renew our skills. The first step is recognising the need to unlearn, which is a mindset challenge. We must also see unlearning as a continual process – our environments continually evolve, and so must we. A very useful starting point for communication is to reflect on what precisely has changed for you in the process of presenting or working online – what sounds, visuals, cues and tools did you appreciate and rely on in face-to-face environments, and what has changed?

Relearning: In the early days of the pandemic, an article was published in Forbes entitled “Learn, Unlearn & Relearn: What Got You Here Won’t Get You There”. Work today is not just about unlearning face-to-face habits in the virtual domain, but about relearning the basis of how we interact and communicate.  Consider, for example, that voice is more important than body language in the virtual world. It seems obvious, but how many of us have reflected on how to adapt the tone, speed and “musicality” in our voice to better convey meaning online? How many of us have taken the time to reflect on the concrete differences between constructing messages effectively in written, verbal or online environments? Relearning provides us with alternative paths to “how” we work, and this is an essential asset for professionals, regardless of whether we are working in hybrid, virtual or face-to-face environments.

If we come back to the Future of Jobs Report 2020, one of the key conclusions was that employers will expect employees to draw on both “informal and formal methods of skill acquisition”. Our new educational environment has advantages for anyone engaging in formal learning, because in addition to the accessibility of virtual courses, all courses, regardless of their format, will utilise technologies and should provide participants with time to learn about both the tools that are used and the topics that are discussed. This means more skills for learners that are readily applicable back in their work environments. But before taking advantage of these new opportunities, the first challenge is to ask yourself: what do you need to learn, unlearn, and relearn to increase your capacity and skillset in this ever-changing world?

Dr Siobhán Martin is currently the Director of the eight-month Leadership in International Security Course (LISC) and Co-Director of the Master of Advanced Studies in International and European Security (MAS). She is also responsible for the development of the GCSP’s Advanced Course series, including the LISC, the European Security Course (ESC) and the New Issues in Security Course (NISC). Find out more about our course offerings here.

¹Active learning = “Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.” Learning strategies = “Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.” WEF, Future of Jobs Report 2020, October 2020, p.153, <https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Future_of_Jobs_2020.pdf>.

Disclaimer: The views, information and opinions expressed in the written publications are the authors’ own and do not necessarily reflect those shared by the Geneva Centre for Security Policy or its employees. The GCSP is not responsible for and may not always verify the accuracy of the information contained in the written publications submitted by a writer.