Digital Skills – What is behind it all?

Digitization is constantly progressing. Work has also changed fundamentally and is now increasingly taking place online. But this new way of working under the buzzword New Work, with all its advantages, also entails challenges.

Not all employees can organize themselves equally well at home, for example, and do not have the necessary skills to find their way in the digital world of work. Therefore, it has become all the more important to deal intensively with the necessary skills to work healthily and effectively in the virtual environment. But what are digital skills?

At first glance, most people only think of digital skills as using new technology or new media. However, this is only partially true. Of course, this view is not wrong per se, but it is not complete. In this article, we would like to give you an understanding of what exactly is behind the term digital competence and what challenges this entails for employees and employers when working in the digital space.

At CONET, we don’t just see that Dealing with new technologies or media as an important change process, but we also face the challenges that arise from digitization in the field of Autonomythe Communication and in the social-emotional aspects result.

Digital skills for the new world of work

Companies around the world recognize that, for example, autonomy, which is essential in digital work, also has its downsides. Not all employees see themselves in a position to cope with the high degree of flexibility and to organize themselves in this new world of work. Therefore, employees can be overwhelmed by their superiors or employees can overwhelm themselves. Even when using new communication channels and types of communication, it is important to always consider and assess the personal skills of the employees. Whether everyone has the necessary skills to use the new technology effectively, to exploit the full potential and to avoid being overwhelmed, must always be carefully checked in each individual case.

self-management skills

An important competence for dealing effectively with the challenges of digital work is therefore the self-management skills This can help to find your way around better in the newly gained autonomy and thus avoid being overwhelmed. Managers can provide support here by not overwhelming employees with the full flexibility of new working models all at once, but instead gradually introducing them to the new way of working.

Technological competence

Furthermore, the technological competence is an important factor. Only those who know how to use the new technology effectively can prevent an emerging overload and use the technical advantage to increase work efficiency. In the future, it will become increasingly important to deal with new collaboration and communication technologies in order to also satisfy social and emotional aspects. Because people have a need for exchange, experiences and social contacts. When used correctly, new technologies can help to reduce the effect of social isolation, create a moment of experience and enable location-independent social exchange.

Personal Competences

Nevertheless, despite a high level of self-management skills and technological competence, overwork, excessive demands or social isolation can occur. In order to be able to deal adequately with these situations, the personal skills existential. At CONET, we understand this to mean both resilience, which represents mental resilience and improves the handling of defeats and stressful situations, as well as the ability to reduce stress and deal with it better.

Digital skills are essential

The three key competencies described are essential both for professional life today and tomorrow and for social participation in general in order to act effectively and healthily in the digital context.

At CONET, we have made it our task to accompany and support companies on their way to sustainable, successful digitization. We have developed training concepts for this, for example to learn how to use different technologies and get to know methods for self-management in digital work. In addition, we increase the resilience of your employees in workshops and show you strategies for dealing with, coping with and avoiding stress.