How can training boost US competitiveness? GE CEO Jeff Immelt advocates for tech and manufacturing training
We talk a lot about the skills gap for companies. But the skills gap is also (and probably more worryingly) a very real nation-level challenge. According to Jeff Immelt, CEO of GE, the US is not investing enough in training and education – and this is driving down US competitiveness.
As chair of the Obama administration's President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, Immelt participated in making key recommendations to increase competitiveness: "Invest more in infrastructure, invest more in training and education, simplify regulations, and focus on small business.” He admits that “We’ve done none of those—zero.” according to a Fastcompany interview. Specifically, Immelt called for more investments in high-tech job training and advanced manufacturing skills. This is something he is implementing at GE itself, with company-wide programming training.
Boosting competitiveness is likely to be even more crucial under the new administration. How do we teach all these critical tech and manufacturing skills? What type of training should we put forward? We’re not talking about compliance or basic skills training, much of which can easily be done online. While programming might allow a more dematerialized training, advanced technical and manufacturing skills require face-to-face, hands-on training if it is to be really effective. Many companies, such as GE itself, are establishing corporate universities to train their workforce on specific skills. We might be looking at a new wave of instructor-led technical training.
If you want to find out more about the different channels to optimize Instructor-Led Training, watch our video here.
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