Cognitive flexibility and adaptive capacity to face the labor changes before the Fourth Industrial Revolution Erasmus Project

Project Title

Cognitive flexibility and adaptive capacity to face the labor changes before the Fourth Industrial Revolution

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for adult education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Entrepreneurial learning – entrepreneurship education; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Overcoming skills mismatches (basic/transversal)

Project Summary

The change in the actual labor scenario, in the kind of work we do (and mainly, what future generations will do) and the skills we need to this shift are aligned with a permanent updating of knowledges and skills, but also to an obvious (and growing) tendency in the labour context: the change of job linked to a full change of activity and position. The idea of job for life is a thing of the past, a concept which was fed for generations in the last centuries but today it is over.

If this happens from an individual point of view, the tendency could be applied to the general perspective of companies which have been challenged to change and reinvent themselves to survive, particularly in the recession experimented in the last decade. Companies which have changed not only the production or the system, but even their own concept and the field of action, becoming a completely new one in a new sector. Here is where cognitive flexibility and adaptive capacity become a must and why BeFlex makes sense as a useful and necessary tool.

Because in this line, the WEF published in 2016 (and updated in 2018) the report ‘The Future of Jobs’, where predicted the 10 skills which will be demanded by the labour market in the next decade, a list with concepts such as critical thinking, creativity, EI and cognitive flexibility showing the importance of the adaptive capacity in this new context. Researchers have more specifically described cognitive flexibility as the capacity to shift or switch one’s thinking and attention between different tasks or operations typically in response to a change in rules or demands. And in this point is where cognitive flexibility, adaptive capacity, lifelong learning and, after all, reskilling will be a key for the actual and the next generations of European workers if our societies and our labour markets want to adapt themselves to the new scenario keeping and improving not only the productivity, but the levels of wellness and labour health.

BeFlex Project is a training plan for the purpose of developing cognitive flexibility in the frame of the companies, reaching both workers and leaders with the aim of improving the adaptive capacity to the new labour scenario, generating higher levels of productivity, mobility, increased income and, at the end, labour wellness and wellness in the workplace. The training system must be developed in these two lines in complementary way, but they must be faced paying attention to the different target groups and the specific way they have to develop this basic skill. Leaders and managers must be flexible to make strategic decisions and works to implement those plans in company or to be able to change and improve their position facing new and attractive challenges in their careers.

The project consortium is composed of six organisations from five different EU countries (UK, PO, ES, SK and RO) and shows cooperation between new and old European Member States. A comprehensive partnership has been established, consisting of a solid group of training companies with long experience in the implementation of in company programs, some of them with a solid career in European projects (such as our coordinator, The Rural Centre, GrowthCoop, CPIP or APSU) and the expertise of two training companies, TopCoach and INDEPCIE, focused on coaching and Emotional Intelligence which are in permanent contact with companies and organizations working in the topic of our project.

To achieve the objectives of the project three Intellectual Outputs will be developed, tested and multiplied: the ‘FLEXIBLE LEADERS’ (O1) is a training system for managers in cognitive flexibility, which will be supplemented by ‘CHANGE FOR SUCCESS’ (O2), a best practice case study. These will be the umbrella for ‘BEFLEX OR DIE’ (O3), a survival kit with training tools for employees, developing strategies to manage the uncertain labour scenario. The online system will also feature a platform for interactions between learners, trainers and trainees, and other stakeholders. All outputs produced will be freely accessible for the public within and beyond the project’s lifetime.
BeFlex is likely to have sustainable direct impacts within and beyond the project lifetime on three target groups: 1) entrepreneurs and managers, 2) employees 3) Companies and organizations active in the field of training and advisory services.

By creating training tools for improving skills and key competences of trainers, managers and employees, the consortium expects to achieve the overall objective of the project: (a) evaluate the effectiveness of possessing alternate scripts to respond to situations, and (b) assess the effectiveness of cognitive flexibility training on the ability to switch between scripts. The ultimate goal is to improve mental flexibility in the labour context, especially in situations where a specific approach should be revised and adjusted to conform to changes in context.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 293490 Eur

Project Coordinator

The Rural Centre & Country: UK

Project Partners

• APSU – ASSOCIACAO PORTUGUESA DE STARTUPS
• INDEPCIE SCA
• GROWTH COOP S.COOP.AND
• TOPCOACH SRO
• CENTRUL PENTRU PROMOVAREA INVATARII PERMANENTE TIMISOARA ASOCIATIA