The time for upskilling and reskilling is now

6 steps to upskilling and reskilling

6 Steps to a stronger organization through upskilling & reskilling

Almost 2 years ago we took our first look at an article from McKinsey, “Reskilling in the age of COVID: There’s no better time than the present”. It offers leaders 6 steps to ensure employees are equipped with the right skills to come out of the pandemic stronger, but we find these tips to still be as true as ever post-pandemic.

  1. Rapidly identify the new skills required. Because work has changed with the pandemic, the tasks in competency models should change. By documenting them in competency based models, you make it easy to communicate what good and great looks like. And you re-calibrate expectations.

  2. Build these new skills. Include what McKinsey calls “a no-regrets skill set” or what we call “Skills of the Future”. These are skills that will be useful no matter how a role evolves (e.g., analysis, collaboration, strategic thinking). McKinsey emphasizes that the skill building should be predominantly digital and self-paced. Skill practices fit the bill nicely, enabling people to learn in a self-directed manner while working.

  3. Focus on closing key skill gaps. This is personalized learning, and you can only get it as the result of a competency assessment on the new skill requirements.

  4. Start now, test rapidly, and iterate. Build capacity for reskilling your talent and keep at it – it will serve you well during continuous change and future disruptions.

  5. Be agile – act like a small company. Don’t wait until you get the company to agree to move forward together. Break through approval layers, quickly identify skill deficiencies so you can prioritize gaps and select the right people for reskilling.

  6. Use your training budget to make skill building a strategic lever for adapting to the next normal. In other words, don’t wait 2-3 years.

Finally, they summarize with some important wisdom:

“Companies can’t be resilient if their workforces aren’t. Building your reskilling muscle now is the first step to ensuring that your organization’s recovery business model is a success.”

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