Upskilling 2.0: The impending - and necessary - revolution in workforce training

Today's issue was guest-authored by MBO Vice President of Account Services Holly Kehrer, CCWP , leader of MBO's professional services vertical.

Every new generation to enter the workforce brings a distinct personality and, as a result, a new set of challenges and considerations for employers. How organizations think about hiring, managing, supporting, and training their workers must shift in step with these changes. The organizations that succeed in reorienting around their talent base poise themselves for years of success. Those that keep still risk falling behind.

With the introduction of Gen Z to the workforce, we face such a change again. The first internet-native generation, members of Gen Z, can harness tools and technologies with speed and fluency out of reach to many more experienced professionals. I’ve seen firsthand how easily younger employees learn systems, adapt to changes and updates, and seek out new tools - including being among the first to jump headfirst into the world of AI, along, of course, with cool lingo from my college-aged children.

There is, however, a flip side.?

For all their technical ability, I have noticed that many younger and less experienced team members do not bring the same level of self-sufficiency and problem-solving skills that was once expected of even entry-level employees. Ironically, for people who grew up with the ability to Google the answer to almost any question, the youngest members of our workforce are often the first to seek instruction and guidance where I would expect them to figure it out themselves.

I’d note here that I do refer specifically to “workers” and not employees. Today, more than 72 million Americans work independently , and increasingly, these workers are blended into joined teams with full-time employees and even offshore labor. It is critical that today’s leaders think holistically about their workforce and not divide issues such as this one into “worker type” specifically, even if some specific tactics may differ in execution.

Organizations that plan to thrive on a workforce that consists increasingly of the youngest generations will need to find ways to rectify this deficiency. As a result, I believe upskilling will continue to play a pivotal role in workforce management, even more so than in the past. And I predict three key trends in this area of the next several years:

1. Upskilling will shift from “how” to “what”

Gone are the days when new workers need to be trained up on using email, navigating corporate intranets or even harnessing the latest apps and AI tools. Gen Z can do this in their sleep. Instead, upskilling will need to focus on proactiveness, problem-solving, and decision-making ability. Younger workers need to be trained in how to analyze a situation, develop potential solutions, and select the best way forward. Training programs will need to shift to focus on this.?

2. Improvement will become mandatory?

We’re all familiar with the archetype of the senior executive who never bothered to learn some core business technology. Excellent strategic thinking, decision-making, and problem-solving abilities can easily push a leadership team or board to overlook a lack of specific tools or technological skills.?

The inverse does not hold true. Workers without self-sufficient problem-solving abilities will need to gain these skills, or they will fall behind. One cannot progress into a leadership position without them. Organizations that facilitate this kind of training will thrive.

3. A new breed of professional service offering will grow to fill the gap

For most organizations, we’re in uncharted territory. Flipping a workforce training program on its head to cater to a generation that defies our historical expectations of employees is no trivial feat. I expect that a small number of professional services firms will come to understand the need early and develop ways to help organizations service it. In doing so, they will create and corner a new and increasingly vital market.?

Every generation upends the workforce in some new way. With Gen Z, organizations will need to completely rethink their training programs to focus on proactiveness and problem-solving. Those who succeed in this will be poised to foster and retain employees, thriving in an increasingly challenging labor market.

Trending Topics:

●????? A new report from MyPerfectResume found out that 45% of workers are expecting the number of job openings to drop in 2024. This comes as big companies like, Amazon, Apple, and Disney, have issued return-to-office mandates.

●????? Even though the wider macroeconomic environment is still good and job numbers have exceeded expectations, layoffs still continue to haunt the tech industry, leading some professionals to question the viability of building a career in the field.

●????? Lots of companies have attributed the recent rounds of layoffs to AI. However, a Fortune contributor argued that “even when AI is part of the equation, the jobs are generally not being lost because AI is actually replacing the need for human workers.”

●????? Despite job cuts in tech and media, other industries have no plans of trimming their headcount as labor market indicators show that workers who were laid off aren’t likely to stay unemployed.

●????? According to a Forbes contributor, mass layoffs can disenfranchise those who weren’t laid off, undermine trust, and erode corporate culture, and more importantly, lead companies to struggle with talent acquisition.

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