Training Industry Magazine - May/June 2020 - 9

JULIE KIRSCH, CPTM, LDSS

GUEST EDITOR

TALENT DEVELOPMENT'S ANSWER
TO UPSKILLING AND RESKILLING
FOR THE FUTURE
The World Economic Forum's 2018
Future of Jobs Report states, "Business
leaders across all industries and regions
will increasingly be called upon to
formulate a comprehensive workforce
ready to meet the challenges of this
new era of accelerating change and
innovation." This means that up to 75
million jobs could be shifted by 2022,
meaning nearly half of our workforce
will need reskilling to fill approximately
20,000 vacant U.S. job roles.

Development strategies for an employee
must be considered on an individual
level; each employee has different goals,
as well as unique skill sets that benefit
the company. Before our workforce
approaches us to develop new skills,
it's important for us to think about how
they fit into the organization and - more
importantly - to understand what their
current capabilities are. Here are four
actionable tips for developing your
organization's new upskilling initiative:

However, only 30% have received
training in the last year to get closer to
that target. Business leaders are going
to have to meet employees at their
point of need and implement strategies
that create opportunities for them to
build on the skills for the future.

MANY FUTURE SKILLS
ARE NOT FINITE; WE'RE
LEARNING TOGETHER
AS WE GO.

Amazon recently announced it will
spend $700 million to retrain and develop
its employees over the next six years,
as workers with capabilities such as
adaptability, technological literacy and
people-management are in high demand.
What is your business going to do about
this talent shortage, and how will your talent
development strategy meet the demands
of the modern business landscape? How
do we adequately prepare tomorrow's
workforce while retraining the hundreds
of millions of employees whose roles are
quickly evolving?
The skills gap may be closed by looking
internally and exploring ways to make
upskilling a priority for future success
in your organization. Afterall, upskilling
and reskilling significantly increase
retention and engagement.

* Meet with organizational leadership
regarding strategy, retention and
succession plans. Discuss how talent
development and leadership can
play a significant role in employee
retention and organizational growth.
Discuss the skills your leaders
believe to be the most critical, and
then do research on capabilities
needed for success in the future
of work. Do an assessment of the
current roles with your human
resources
partners;
who
has
these capabilities today? Who can
grow them?
* Evaluate your current curriculum. Is it
flexible enough to withstand change?
Are there growth-related activities,
events and opportunities? Conduct
an inventory on the resources you

have. Will they support the context
and content needed to upskill and
reskill? What other tools do you
need in your toolkit? Where easily
deliver and make them available to
your people?
* Propose solutions to address the
talent shortage issue in the future
of our workforce. Discuss shortterm solutions to address these
immediately through your current
programming. Recommend a longterm strategy that incorporates
personal development plans, jobspecific upskilling programs, and
other talent and retention efforts.
* Upskilling and reskilling focuses
less on teaching currently needed
skills and more on developing
mindsets and behaviors that enable
employees to perform well in tasks
not yet defined.
Many future skills are not finite; we're
learning together as we go. We know
future skills can and will change as
the market changes and technology
continues to expand. Our responsibility
as talent professionals is to match
these ever-changing skills with our
organizational strategy.
At Calibre CPA, PLLC., Julie Kirsch
leads the creation of core talent
development processes and provides
thought leadership in identifying,
designing, implementing and facilitating
developmental learning solutions to
provide support for organizational
transformation. Email Julie.

T R A I N I N G I N DUSTR Y MAGAZ INE - THE APPLICATION OF LE ARNI NG 2 02 0 I WWW. T RAI NINGINDU S T RY . C OM/ MAGAZ I NE

https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-future-of-jobs-report-2018 https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-future-of-jobs-report-2018 https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/11/20690124/amazon-retraining-upskilling-workers-automation-cost-2025 https://www.trainingindustry.com/magazine

Training Industry Magazine - May/June 2020

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