Take an hour to empower Dyslexic Thinking at work

The future needs dyslexia. New research from LinkedIn has shown that job skills are estimated to change by at least 65% by 2030, accelerated by rapid developments in AI.

To help businesses become future-proof and to help dyslexic thinkers fulfil their potential, Made By Dyslexia has created a new LinkedIn Learning training course to help workforces embrace and empower dyslexic thinking. It’s open access and free to all.

Now is the time for companies to do this, or risk being left behind. As the Value of Dyslexia report highlighted, dyslexic skillsets will mirror the World Economic Forum’s future skills needs by 2025. Given the speed at which technology and AI have progressed, this cross-over has arrived two years earlier than predicted.

Since launching the Dyslexic Thinking campaign, over 22,000 dyslexics from all over the world have joined me in adding Dyslexic Thinking as skill to their LinkedIn profile. If you haven’t yet, you should! 52% of those not identifying as dyslexics say redefining dyslexia as a skill has helped them to understand their dyslexic colleagues more. While 49% of dyslexics who added the skill said it had helped them to start a conversation with their workplace, or network about the benefits of Dyslexic Thinking. However, new research from LinkedIn shows that 87% of dyslexics think their workplace should improve its understanding of dyslexia and only 28% of professionals have asked a dyslexic colleague how their dyslexia impacts them at work. This training provides the solution!

It’s incredible that more than 1,500 organisations have already committed to complete the training, and I’m proud to say that many of our Virgin companies are among them. Thank you to everyone at Virgin Money, Virgin Galactic, Virgin Hotels, Virgin Media Ireland, Virgin Australia, Virgin Active Singapore, Virgin Voyages, Virgin Plus Canada, Virgin Red, Virgin Management and Virgin Fibra for making this commitment. And this is just the beginning.

The training is free to access across 25 different languages, and it only takes an hour to complete. It’s split into four modules, which cover everything from re-defining Dyslexic Thinking (to recognise it as a valuable skillset), providing adjustments to help dyslexics thrive, tailoring recruitment processes, and building support pillars like employee resource groups. Fantastic.

The first point is so important. Dyslexic Thinking skills such as imagination and communication have helped me so much throughout my career. Without them, Virgin wouldn’t be the brand it is today. These soft skills (and others such as innovating, lateral thinking, and complex problem solving) are the kind of skills AI cannot replace.

Virgin Hotels New York City

As we highlighted in the DyslexAI campaign, AI can’t replace these soft skills that index high in dyslexics. I’m not alone in saying this too, with research conducted by Made By Dyslexia showing that nine out of 10 business leaders believe soft skills are more critical than ever in the age of AI. If dyslexics can harness the power of AI and make the most of their soft skills, they can change the world.

This is why it’s vital to create a culture where Dyslexic Thinkers can thrive if you want to move your business forward. This free training course will enable businesses to do exactly that.

You can access the training here and find more workplace resources on Made By Dyslexia’s website.