GUEST COLUMN
THE FOUR Cs OF 21st- CENTURY LEARNING Young people who wish to be part of this movement, but who also want a work/life balance, will need to develop certain competencies. These revolve around a model I love called the ‘Four Cs’ of 21st-century learning, namely: critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity. We live in an age where we are subjected to overwhelming amounts of information. Social networks and AI can give you the information you want to see, but not necessarily the information you need. In this context, it’s essential that students develop critical thinking skills to consider the veracity of the information they see and to search for further sources offering different perspectives. An ability to see the broader picture by considering other stakeholders’ viewpoints will be vital, regardless of students’ chosen industries. Communication, meanwhile, is not just about communicating ideas effectively; you also need to be able to listen. And both aspects are essential if you want to excel at the third C – collaboration. As I outlined earlier, the new world of work requires that we co-operate with a range of stakeholders to ensure solutions are the best outcome for multiple interconnected parties. Collaborating and communicating with other people means exchanging a whole range of perspectives that enable participants to co-create new knowledge. In the future, we will also need to be creative. For me, this means having the capacity to react to what surrounds us and to choose from the hundreds of thoughts and emotions that pass through us, so that we can extract the best of these external and internal influences to formulate something fresh. DEVELOPING SKILLS IN TODAY’S CONTEXT Universities and business schools have an important role in developing
the four Cs, especially in the context of what’s happening in society. In an age where young people often get a lot of their information from social media, it’s easy to be drawn into viewing content that amplifies your own perspective. As educators, one of our main responsibilities is therefore to teach young people how to develop independent thought through debate and research, giving them the frameworks they’ll need for the future. If we teach our young people to develop one specific set of skills that relates to a particular profession and certify it, the risk is that this skillset will become redundant as employment evolves and the type of employees and managers needed moves on. Right now, artificial intelligence is set to cause huge disruption, but other seismic shifts will follow in the future world of work. That’s why we must ensure that we teach students the four Cs effectively. This will allow students to open their minds to different perspectives and learn to try new things on a continuous basis. It will also allow them to co-create and collaborate with others, so that they can
become part of the process of creating change and future forms of employment. Organisations also have a role to play. A growth mindset means giving employees the chance to test new hypotheses, take ideas to market, make adjustments and repeat the process. It means shifting from having a ‘problem/solution’, risk-adverse mindset to an attitude of adventure. Together, we can co-create a future that works for people, the planet and the organisations themselves.
Vinciane Servantie is an adjunct professor and former associate dean for academic affairs at Universidad de los Andes School of Management, Colombia, a member of the CEMS alliance that unites a total of 33 institutions worldwide to deliver the CEMS master’s in international management degree
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Business Impact • ISSUE 3 • 2024
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