Taking the higher view – comment by CEO Craig Robertson

I regretted when I booked a seat in the top tier of the Ponsford Stand at the MCG to watch Collingwood play Hawthorn[1]. Specks and spots. Player and ball. I was pleasantly surprised, however, that the elevated view gave me a new appreciation for the quintessential Australian Rules Football.

Noting this was in Hawthorn’s heyday, three things were apparent. Skills mattered. Systems created flows. Fortitude powered the game. I’m no AFL coach but let me explain.

In any contested possession of the football the Hawthorn player was always more precise in passing it on – by hand or foot. Under pressure, a Collingwood pass or kick was just off target which put the receiving player under more pressure and more often than not the ball spilled to the opposition. Skill with the ball – overhead, on the hand or the foot – made the difference.

Most apparent from the aerial review are the systems in play. A ground or TV view hides the constant positioning of players to be free to receive the ball and the response of the defensive players. I’m amazed by the analysis of some of the commentators comparing the systems each team puts in place.

Success overall, though depends on the fortitude and attitude of each player. The key ingredient for success these days is off the back of player intent – each working their part in the system and backing each other up.

I hope even football novices see the corollary to the nature of work.

In a recent speech I gave to a Minerals Council function I reflected on the impact of automation and digitalization on the nature and expectations of work. While it may not be apparent in our working situation, it is clear in mining as large scale automation allows for remote operations, for example. Work hierarchies and long held roles are changing – the flattening of work structures. Reliance on hierarchy for quality and process control is no longer a luxury.

Unfortunately, VET’s focus on teaching processes and assessing behaviours risks process workers without the capacity to adapt (unless they attend further training for the new process) and behaviours without the thinking. Assumptions in qualifications that worker quality is covered by close supervision doesn’t stack up with modern workplaces.

At this point I turn to the Australian Skills Classification (ASC) that has been released by the National Skills Commission as a beta product built from analysis of job openings data and descriptions of elements of occupations from the United States and other sources. It’s power, apart from Big Data, is it drills down to the skills in operation across the labour market. It’s not captured by the sometimes-imprecise definition of an occupation, but describes and codifies the skills at play across jobs no matter what occupation it is being used in. Call it a Skills First approach.

Regardless of the acknowledged shortfalls in the data, the ASC points to a new approach to defining skills, and it matters for individuals and the economy.

An individual armed with skills – which can be transported across various jobs occupations – is forearmed for success. Workers able to be deployed to new roles with new expectations bring productivity to businesses.

Workers with the transferable skills and understanding of their use in different contexts (such as systems in football) are a key feature in an advanced and sophisticated economy.

Football systems were put under pressure some years back by flooding – crowding opposition players into the forward line to stifle ball movement. The systems adapted but the same, and better, skills were required.

There’s concern that the ASC is missing elements but that will be resolved over time as can the nature of transferability. Many did not want the mobile phone when it was a brick and look where we are now.

The ASC is exciting as it allows for the VET sector to start a person on a proficiency journey aimed at improvement and excellence, rather than the offer of competent for an occupation.

Simplifying and codifying the skills and capabilities that matter may be the easy part. Developing the education intervention is exciting and more promising than relying upon elaborate and outmoded occupation breakdown structures as the basis of skilling. How satisfying for teacher and student to start someone on a journey of proficiency with a wider array of opportunity before them.

There are broader implications at stake. Just this past week the Productivity Commission released its insights on productivity and wages growth. The last decade has been the slowest since the 1960s and that workers are about $11,500 worse off than they would be if pre-2012 growth had persisted.

A new approach to skilling, offered by the ASC, reflective of skills required across the economy and not captured by occupation or special interests is true transformation that can bring deeper skills to employers more efficiently. This may be the source of productivity and innovation which has a higher chance of wages growth than our current strategies.

I will gladly return to the lofty levels of Ponsford Stand to view a game. I dare say, skills reform would benefit if analysed from a similar higher perspective.