How To Upskill Future Leaders Faster

Upskilling is a commonly used corporate term to describe improving current employees' skill sets so they can advance in their jobs and find different roles and opportunities within the company. This trend has been exacerbated by labor shortages that are forecasted to continue with peaking Baby Boomer retirements and lower current birth rates. While artificial intelligence (AI) can close some of this gap by automating simple tasks, organizations will also need to upskill workers to be more productive more quickly than in the past.

According to the World Economic Forum , nine of the top 10 skill gaps are “soft skills.” These perceived “soft skills” are different from traditional “hard skills” like computer programming or technical expertise. Instead, they focus on human competencies (behaviors, skills and attributes) that can be developed over time:

1. Analytical thinking
2. Creative thinking
3. Resilience
4. Flexibility?
5. Agility
6. Motivation?
7. Self-awareness
8. Curiosity
9. Lifelong learning

These competencies are in high demand, and there is a lower supply of people with these existing skill sets. To close these gaps, organizations need to pivot their traditional focus to transferable skills, focusing on equity versus equality and on core leadership competencies.

Focus on Transferable Skills

In my interview with Jennifer Schwab Wangers, founder and CEO of ENTITY Academy , she shared her bold goal with this skill gap in mind—to support and empower diverse talent through education and mentorship.

According to Wangers, “The segment of society that needs upskilling the most has not completed a post-secondary degree. These are people in wage work types of roles from customer service representatives, frontline workers and retail workers. We need to develop these workers with new skill sets to grow the economy.”

We have to be more creative with how we upskill talent outside of the traditional four-year degree model. Given that 65% of today’s workforce does not have a bachelor’s degree, it is critical to shift the focus from traditional degree programs to transferable skills.?

Wangers explained, “Employers have implicit bias about college degrees as they have traditionally focused on them as the standard. Without college-degree requirements, there is hiring risk and collection risk associated with on-the-job training. Employers have to take a chance on unproven talent, and if the employees do not complete the training, they absorb the costs.”

Upskilling talent requires taking chances and looking at talent differently. Rather than expecting employees to come ready to perform the job on day one, think about the transferable skills they have from previous roles and how they can bridge these skills to the skills necessary for the job. This may mean shifting to on-the-job training over time where employees learn how to do the work while doing the job.

Focus on Equity vs. Equality?

Equity is different from equality . Equity is meeting people where they're at and providing them the tools and resources they need at the moment. Equality is about treating everybody the same. The challenge with treating everyone equally is that you get more of the same. People in need of skill development often come from historically marginalized groups and lack the financial resources and support that those in dominant groups have access to. To level the playing field, women, people of color, those with disabilities and those in the LGBTQ+ community may need additional training, tools and support to upskill.

“Recognize it’s about equity, not equality — equity is the solution, equality is not realistic at this time. Equity is defined as the quality of being fair and impartial despite preconceived notions and traditions. Equality is defined as the state of being equal, especially in status, rights, and opportunities. Equality is not possible right now because not everyone is starting from the same place. The industry has represented one type of cyclist for so long, that it’s got some catching up to do,” Ayesha McGowan, a DEI activist .

Wangers lamented, “I would like to see more meritocracy based on employee performance. Factors like financial need, attendance records, career-placement activities and academic performance need to be evaluated. We have to look at things objectively, with data mapped to goals. If people don't meet their goals, they do not get additional investment.”

Accountability is critical for upskilling to happen. This includes measuring skill development over time and ensuring that diverse talent has equitable access while measuring the return on investment through impact like higher retention rates, increased productivity and/or lower turnover.

Focus on Core Leadership Competencies

While the data suggests that analytical thinking, creative thinking, resilience, flexibility, agility, motivation, self-awareness, curiosity and lifelong learning are key to upskilling programs, it can be difficult to focus on all nine skills at one time. Instead, prioritize the critical competencies necessary to do important roles.?

Leaders can build a competency matrix with key roles in rows and competencies in columns, denoting importance with numbers or other markings. By clearly defining the competencies and proficiency measures, training can be mapped to skill gaps and offered across the organization.

It is clear that the skills necessary for the future do not mirror the skill availability of today’s workers. To upskill the workforce, leaders need to focus on transferable skills, equity over equality and core leadership competencies for success.

Learn more at NextPivotPoint.com.