Those who evolve, excel. Those who do not, die out. It is a simple truth that we have always known.
From prehistory to today, the confines of our possible and necessary evolution have constantly changed.
Challenges and ambitions drive us to constantly and tenaciously improve ourselves.

Today, in the working world, evolving means acquiring skills, refining abilities, developing talents, setting new goals and overcoming one’s limits. In short, it means to become more efficient and capable. It also means to anticipate changes and transform every need into an opportunity. There are many factors, but in the end, evolution boils down to two reasons: to obtain more and to eliminate the risk becoming useless.

In a rapidly and continuously changing job market, this evolution is a constant issue that embraces many fields:

  • will machines and artificial intelligence take jobs away from people?
  • will people be able to perform technical or managerial duties in future?
  • will companies manage to enhance their staff in time, enabling them to grow and fully develop their potential?
  • Will we be able to keep up with the speed with which technologies and instruments are changing?

Above all, what is the recipe for success in an over-riding context of continuous, abrupt and often radical transformations? The business and university worlds have found that Lifelong Learning is the answer to the need to evolve to improve one’s professional abilities.
The European Commission has given a clear definition of Lifelong Learning: “All learning activities undertaken throughout life with the aim of improving knowledge, skills and competences”

-Read our article about education and innovation! Click here.–

There are rightly some efficacious actions that are part of a personal strategy of constant growth:

  • the acquisition of new competences, so-called skill acquisition
  • development of leadership habits, i.e. leadership development
  • careful management of a company’s talent resources, or talent management
  • refinement of abilities in terms of productive behaviour and performance, called performance boosting
  • innovation shift, meaning the capacity to anticipate progress and react positively to the change, whether related to technology, instruments, methods or organisational
  • awareness of the positive impact one’s role and one’s company can have on society, known as social impact

Companies and employees are, therefore, required to evolve constantly, through learning and constant efforts. Above all, Lifelong Learning is a form of ongoing evolution that employees view with interest. In fact, a study conducted by the Pew Research Center in the United States has shown that 87% of workers believe it is fundamental to obtain training and acquire new skills during their working life, to keep up with the changes required by their job.

In short, companies need determination, responsiveness and preparation to stay competitive, and their employees are willing and aware of the need to fully develop their potential in order to improve their performance, deliver better results and make a greater contribution.

To learn is to evolve. To improve is to evolve.
And evolution is advantageous to everyone, because it makes employees and their employers grow.

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