The pandemic and the associated acceleration of digital transformation have significantly affected all industries, and communication is no exception.
Until recently, when we heard the word “communication”, we more or less understood – “public relations”, today we all imagine something else: integrated communication, digital communication, crisis communication, interpersonal communication, cross-cultural communication, algorithms, avatars, social networks, reputation, branding, the Internet, corporate social responsibility, etc. Figuratively speaking – when you drop a bag of water on the ground, the water spreads in all directions, but it is still the same water. The same is true with communication – it combines all these different directions and aspects, which are constantly supplemented with new ones. The good news is that communication is increasingly becoming a strategic management tool, which means that it is easier to achieve communication and business goals, which some time ago communicators could only dream of, but at the same time it is also becoming a pronounced interdisciplinary dimension.
To be good specialists in the future, not “yesterday”
To be able to successfully plan and manage communication in their company or institution, professional skills alone are no longer enough for a young specialist. The 2020 World Economic Forum report on the skills needed for the future of work emphasizes that it is precisely interdisciplinary skills that will be required by the employer. The ability of a young professional to solve complex problems, plan their work and set goals, be creative, and learn to work in a team will play a decisive role. So, to become a successful communication specialist of the future, you will have to learn a number of new tools and methods, as well as work on developing your interdisciplinary skills.
How to offer such knowledge to future specialists is a real challenge. They want to be good specialists in the future, not “yesterday”, and we, as creators of educational programs, must be able to offer this, or at least strive for it. A digital communication instructor changes his presentation every three months, and now this no longer surprises anyone. Whether we like it or not, we are forced to “speed up” the education system at the speed at which the world is changing. We are constantly improving existing programs, and as a professional university (which consists of 70% practical studies and 30% theory), the legislation allows us to change individual study courses within the program every year. We either change the course or adapt it to the existing environment. There are even courses that we were happy about a year or two ago as unique and innovative, but today they unfortunately no longer “work”. There are, of course, basic things that will not change in education regardless of whether it is the stone age or the digital age, but the meaning of education cannot be based on this argument. Students today already want to receive what will be in 2070, not what is in 2021.
Education competes with real life
Young people and students are becoming increasingly self-sufficient. Therefore, it seems that employees, not the employer, will soon determine how they will work – in person or remotely. This threatens to completely lose the meaning of education. What is the point of me learning what was two years ago? Education now more than ever has to compete with real life, real experience in practice, because what is the point of learning if the university offers what was already experienced in reality several years ago? It must be understood that the world will never be the same again, the question is how each profession, each business or individual can more successfully adapt to this situation. If earlier we would have arrived at the current situation in 10 years, then now, thanks to the pandemic, it has already happened. Currently, the world has entered the “new normal”, and new questions are constantly arising – what will the communication of the future be like? What will the new communication specialist be like? What and how should the new professional be taught so that he or she acquires all the necessary skills?
How to organize digital governance
It is common to talk about good governance in every industry. Communication people (and not only) want to apply this to digital communication and the digital industry as a whole. Currently, social networks are being blamed for the global “mess” that has developed in the field of digital communication. And rightly so. The many violations that have regularly “happened” to digital giants “Google”, “Facebook”, etc. cannot be ignored. Violations regarding the regulation of “fake news”, regarding data leakage, negative impact on young people, children, censorship, restriction of opinions.
At the same time, it is also a story about the responsibility of each of us. There is a total feeling of permissiveness, and the saddest thing is that no evidence is needed to express our opinion. Media literacy must be improved and we must understand that each of us is responsible for creating this environment, what we publish and share. It is like a parallel world that exists alongside our everyday lives. It’s no longer an environment where we go to look at cat photos, it’s an environment where we create
