What Are Future Skill Building Activities: 100% Assured Ways

What are future skill-building activities? With a 7.84 billion population, our earth is one of the most competitive places. Over decades a lot has changed. Gone are the days when people did not care about how they lived, behaved, and did not have to work much to put food on their table. But as the population increased, the demand for goods increased as well.

This led to the evolution of technology, due to which human lives are becoming miserable. While technology makes our lives easier, automated systems, machines, and computerized technologies lower human potential and capability of doing something.

Now, it is an era where only multi-skilled people can survive the competition. Mastering such industry skills is not an overnight success. It requires dedication, interest, and above all, time. So, you must start learning or teaching skills at a tender age.

1. What is a Future Skill-Building Activity?

Future skill-building activities are the activities that help you master the job-worthy essential skills for the future. These activities are small and effective ways to help you put into practice and remember what you have learned through practical learning.

Whether a small skill like punctuality or a time-consuming skill like technical skills, these little activities open a path to multiple learning opportunities. Many business owners introduce these skill-building activities to their employers to increase work productivity.

These activities vary from person to person because the difference between the employee and the student is humongous.

2. Why is Skill Building Important?

Skill building helps a person in every aspect, from job searching to leading a fulfilled life. Although building skills is not the same for every person, here are the top 3 reasons why skill building is essential and why companies encourage employees to stack skills.

2.1. Stand Ahead of the Crowd:

Companies love people with multiple skills. Every year in each opening, they get hundreds and thousands of applications. Out of all those applications, the hiring department eyes the resume that is more weight than others. So, an applicant with multiple skills (either technical or non-technical) will have a higher chance of getting hired.

2.2. Future is Secured:

Multiple skills assure a bright future. As technology increases, the job market becomes saturated, and a person finds it hard to secure a job. But with multiple skills, you will have various opportunities to put food on your table. You can freelance, YouTube your knowledge, or become a content creator, influencer, or course creator.

2.3. Work Productivity:

Most organizations require employees to upskill in their domain regularly to increase work productivity. The more the employees get exposed to their discipline, the more productive they become at work.

In 2021, the tech giant Google advised its employees to take their signature course on Coursera in the python domain, and they firmly believe that you do not have to attend Sanford or Oxford to get a high-paying tech job.

According to the World Economic Forum, automation and robotic technology will create more jobs than replacing employees.

3. What are Future-Ready Skills?

The skills included here are ever-lasting. These skills will always influence the industry. Once you master them, you will have more opportunities. The future-ready specific skills or interpersonal skills are:

1. Emotional Intelligence
2. Leadership Skills
3. Project Management Skills
4. Critical Thinking or Critical Skills
5. Technology Skills
6. Problem-Solving Skills
7. Artificial Intelligence
8. Cultural Intelligence

4. HR Guide to Building Skills:

These skill-building tips are widely adopted in organizations. However, as an individual, you can take inspiration from these tips for your personal future-skill development growth.

4.1. Prepare Short and Long-term Skills Sheet:

So, you might have heard the goals sheet, but what is a skills sheet? Well, a skill sheet is a spreadsheet that tracks the importance of the skills based on the duration of their use, short term or long term. It measures how updated you are in the process of learning the talents.

So, short-term skills with little importance (short-term use) receive less attention. Long-term skills with high significance get extra attention. Similarly, short-term skills with heightened senses will get more attention because you need to learn them in a short span. In the same way, long-term skills with high or low implications will get the least attention.

4.2. Use a Mix of Various Learning Formats and Skills:

It is not always about a set of skills. If you are from a technical background, it does not mean that you should limit yourself to upskilling technical skills. You are free to spread across other areas as well, spread into as many other areas as possible. So, skill stacking includes various skills from different domains and niches.

Again, a resume with various domain skills will always weigh more than a resume with skills from the same domain.

4.3. Do a Skill-Gap Analysis:

The skill-gap analysis is the process of identifying the specific area in which you lag. By performing this, you will be able to identify the skills you need to work on and find the best skill-building activities to develop. MNC companies use this method of working on skills for their employees. 

4.4. Work on Building Soft and Marketing Skills:

It has become a norm for many brands to look for technical skills but did you know that the frequent changes in the market are leading companies to also look for soft and marketing skills? Because technical skills help you finish the work, while soft skills show how you do it. And, of course, every company needs to bag profits at the end of the day.

5. What are Future Skill Building Activities?

5.1. Skill-Building Activities for Kids:

Building skills at a young age is crucial because gaining skills makes them independent thinkers and gives them leadership skills that help them build expertise in the profession they choose in the upcoming years. Skill-building activities for kids include:

5.1.1. Over the Electric Fence:

Over the electric fence is one of the best games to help kids develop teamwork. To play the game, group a bunch of kids (around 6-10) and form a bar that looks like a fence. Ask kids to join their hands the entire time they play the game. The game rules are that none of their hands should touch the wall as electricity passes through it. All of them die if handled.

The challenge is that they all need to jump over the fence without letting their hands go. Since all six kids cannot jump at once, they need to think twice and understand each other before taking further steps.

5.1.2. Emotion Charades

Emotion Charades is the best-known game to teach kids emotions. All this game require is a bundle of different colored papers and twigs. Using color papers and twigs, prepare flashcards and draw different emojis showing multiple emotions.

Ask your kids to pick a card when you tell the emotion. Soon, as they get familiar with different emotions, ask them to make the emotion face when you pronounce the feeling. Activities like these will grow the emotional intelligence in your kids at a tender age.

5.1.3. Match the Words

This simple game will help your kids develop critical thinking. To perform this activity, you should cut the thick sheets into small squares and divide them into two halves such that you can match one card from one group with the other cards in the other group.

On the first group of cards, write the alphabet. On the cards from the second group, write the names according to your preference. For instance, if your kid chose animals, on one card, write A, and on the other card, write Ape.

Likewise, also ask your kid to match the animal names with the other alphabets. You can always change the game’s theme, not just the animals. So, as they are kids and do not understand everything completely, they should think critically to match the alphabet with the initial letter of the word.

5.1.4. Grouping Games

These games help in decision-making. The grouping games should include two kids so that they get enough time and chances to come to one decision. To spice up things, pose a question with two or three options for them to select the answer.

Give them time and tell them the game rules that they should discuss the answer before choosing an option. This way, they not only develop the ability of decision-making but also learn the importance of group work or teamwork.

5.1.5. Blind Mouse

Skills like listening, problem-solving, and teamwork can be learned through this activity. To play this, kids should break into two teams. One team should clear the obstacle while the other team guides them verbally.

The second team working with an obstacle will develop listening and teamwork skills, while team one will develop problem-solving skills as they guide the other team members clear the problem.

5.2. Skill Building Efforts for Teenagers or Youth:

Teenage is a crucial point where kids soon become adults and responsibility-ready people. And it is a point where they should develop new skills to become a responsible citizen. Some of the skill-building activities for teenagers or youth include:

5.2.1. Zombie Escape:

Zombie Escape is one of the best activities for teenagers to learn the importance of collaboration and problem-solving skills. You will need a rope, a key, a few puzzle sets, and a group of people to perform the task. Now, gather everybody in an empty room and lock the door. Ask someone to volunteer as a zombie, and tie him with one end of the rope while the other end to the wall.

The zombie is left loose, a step forward every few minutes. Meanwhile, the other members have to solve puzzles to find the hidden key to open the door and escape from the room or the zombie.

5.2.2. Back-to-Back Drawings:

This activity comes in handy to develop communication skills. You will need a bundle of papers, sketches and pencils, a few printouts of shapes or other drawings, and a bunch of people. Divide the participants into pairs and allow them to sit back to back.

One person gets blank paper and pencils, while the other member receives the printout. The task is that the person with the printout should help his pair draw what is printed on the paper pair without telling him what it is. After the time is up, they all compare their sketches and recognize the duo with the best replica.

5.2.3. Modify your Logo:

This activity is best for kids aged ten and above. This activity focuses on bringing interest in coding among kids and teenagers. You will need a good internet connection and the ability to think creatively to let your kids become good programmers.

In this activity, your child will use a programming language built for coding beginners called Scratch, developed by MIT. Since it is a block-based interface, it is beginner-friendly for your kid to understand its work. So, they make the logo of Google in their unique way. They can make letters dance, add graphics, make them animated, or create a simple creative design.

5.2.4. Good Things:

The best activity to improve emotional intelligence among teenagers is good things. Good things activity is about sharing the good things in the current life or expecting them to happen shortly with peers to start a day with positivity.

Since this is quick and effective, you can do it during the morning prayer. Although this activity is small, it will carry a positive impact on you for the rest of the day.

5.2.5. Campfire:

Campfire is a great way to connect with people and has numerous benefits. It unites people, helps develop the skills like critical thinking and emotional intelligence, and boosts mental health. Campfire is where true happiness comes out, and people open up about their happy moments from their past life, and sometimes there might be people who also want to share the sad moments.

So, if there is any place where all the motions open, it is the campfire. So, when somebody shares an incident from their life, you will think about it twice, hoping the same thing should or should not happen to you. Ensure that the campfire lasts at least one or one and a half an hour.

6. Building Skills with Real-World Experiences

All skills can be mastered over time if you have a firm intention to learn. Although some skills are for intermediate people or teenagers, these skills can be taught anytime, irrespective of age and place. In fact, the sooner you learn these skills, the better you feel in the future.

Here are some of the ways to learn the desired future-ready skills:

6.1. School Community:

School communities are small groups of students and the best ways to excel at something. Whether in secondary school or the university, you should always search for the best community to join because communities like these will only have students with the same mindset as yours.

So, you can easily let your big idea or ideas blossom among the great minds. If you are stuck somewhere, you will get endless support from the community’s peers. Not just that, these communities engage students in student learning and project-based learning activities according to their ages. Hence, ensure that you are a part of a productive community.

6.2. Internet

The Internet is like an ocean in the personal development field. You can access hundreds and thousands of resource files and guides for free. Free courses offering platforms such as YouTube, Udemy, Coursera, HubSpot, and other learning management systems have everything you need to learn skills without spending a dime.

6.3. Connect with Industry Experts:

You do not have to connect with great CEOs or managers. The people a step above you can do it. And it is because you want to develop the industry knowledge rather than the theory. All the courses and the lectures you take will only help you with the visual information, while connecting with industry experts will teach you industry knowledge.

Industry knowledge is just as essential as having 10 years of experience on your resume. Industry knowledge helps you stay aware of the current market trends, while practical knowledge puts you above the crowd. Together will make the process much easier and healthier.

6.4. Practice:

The only way to build experience or have practical knowledge is to practice what you have learned. Just like the school has homework, even online or offline courses will have assignments to work on, do them, and look for opportunities to work on real-world projects.

7. The Learning Strategy You Need:

1. Find the booming or evolving skills in the industry.
2. Look for ways to learn the course. (select the best platform)
3. Join both online and offline communities – to stay motivated as well as to learn unknown points.
4. Do the assignments given on time.
5. Connect with peers outside the community in the same industry.
6. Work with startups or entrepreneurs to gain practical knowledge.
7. Do extra work in your free time.
8. Stand ahead of the crowd.

Summing Up:

According to the World Economic Forum, automation and robotic technology will create more jobs than replacing employees. Hence, instead of sticking to the same domain skills, diversify your learnings into other genres because they make your resume stand out and allow you to move from job to job during inflation.

Last Updated on January 22, 2024 by Himani Rawat