The skills of the future begin with curiosity: why ‘learning agility’ is becoming one of the most important skills in the workplace.

Never before has access to knowledge been so easy, and yet never before has knowledge become outdated so quickly. In many sectors, the life cycle of skills is shrinking to a few years, and sometimes even a few months. This means that even experts with many years’ experience must constantly update their knowledge and approach.

This is precisely why the concept of ‘learning agility’ – the ability to learn quickly, adapt to new circumstances and effectively apply acquired experience in everyday situations as well as those we have not previously encountered – is appearing more and more frequently in HR and L&D strategies. For many organisations, the ability to demonstrate ‘learning agility’ is now becoming just as important as specialist expertise.

In a VUCA world, it is not those who know the most who gain the upper hand, but those who can learn the fastest.

This is particularly evident in the context of the development of artificial intelligence. In the space of just two years, generative AI has transformed the way specialists in marketing, HR, sales, finance and project management work. Skills that until recently were on the fringes of organisations’ interests are now finding their way into development strategies and reskilling plans. Not long ago, few companies were talking about prompt engineering, effective collaboration with AI or algorithm-supported data analysis. Today, these are skills that are increasingly in demand in the market.

In a few years’ time, the list of key competencies is likely to look completely different.

- “The way we think about team building and employee potential is changing. More and more organisations are looking not only at experience and qualifications during recruitment, but also at the ability to develop and a willingness to engage in continuous learning,” notes Kamila Izdebska, Head of BPP Professional Education in Poland.

A candidate who can quickly adapt to new situations, acquire the relevant knowledge and apply it to their day-to-day work often proves to be more valuable than someone with more extensive experience but who operates solely on the basis of rigid, pre-established patterns.

- Kamila Izdebska emphasises: “In the organisations of the future, the competitive edge will be built not by those with the greatest store of knowledge, but by those who can learn most effectively. ‘Learning agility’ is becoming a key competence because it enables the development of all other competences in response to the changing needs of the organisation and the market.”

The foundation of ‘learning agility’ is not intelligence or level of education.

Intellectual curiosity is far more important. It is what drives people to ask questions, seek out new perspectives and opportunities, experiment with solutions, and not be afraid to make mistakes.

In practice, people with high ‘learning agility’ are relatively easy to spot. They are keen to get involved in projects that go beyond the scope of their current role. They seek inspiration beyond their own specialism or even their job. They treat mistakes as a source of feedback, rather than merely a failure. They are also more open to change, as they see it as an opportunity to gain new experiences, rather than a threat to their position.

For HR and L&D, this means a shift in approach to employee development. The primary aim should still be to identify skills gaps and provide the knowledge needed to fill them, but at the same time, an environment must be created that fosters the ability to learn as a skill in its own right.

The most mature organisations, in addition to investing in training, create opportunities for gaining a variety of experiences: cross-functional projects, mentoring programmes, job rotations, expert communities and a culture of regular feedback. The aim is not so much the transfer of knowledge as fostering a habit of continuous development.

The performance indicators for development initiatives are also changing. The pace of adaptation to change, the ability to put acquired knowledge into practice, and the readiness to take on new business challenges are becoming key factors.

In a world where the only constant is change, learning agility is becoming a prerequisite for long-term professional success.

Competitive advantage is increasingly determined not by what we know today, but by how quickly we are able to learn what we will need tomorrow.