5 Things to Keep in Mind When Upskilling Your Team

Sometimes hiring new talent can be a good way to meet the skill gap, but many times the answer can be found in upskilling your current employees. Providing additional training and education to enhance current skills is a great way of creating a workforce that is dynamic, diverse, and qualified. According to PWC 46% of CEOs see upskilling as a way to close the potential skills gap.

If you have decided to upskill your team we share with you some pointers to create a successful upskilling strategy.

Determine the skills you have and the ones you need

Determine what are your company’s strengths and weaknesses. Once you have determined your skills shortcoming you can easily determine where you are going to focus your upskilling strategy and make sure your efforts align with what your workforce needs.

It is important to research your industry and your competitors too. This can help you determine what skills you are might be missing. Make sure you are focusing on core skills that are going to have long-term value. It is easy to focus on the newest tool in the market, and although there is value in staying up on trends, the goal is to find a balance between new technologies and core skills that will make your tech team strong.

Consider your team’s opinion

Upskilling is not only important to your organization but also important for your employees. A recent survey by Hays shows that 96% of employees consider upskilling to be important. That is why it is important to have frequent conversations with managers and employees to understand their needs and goals. As we mentioned earlier, there is no one size fits all solution for addressing skills gaps and your employees will provide you with helpful insight on what a successful upskilling strategy will look like for them according to their current skills and role within the organization.

Provide your team with incentives to encourage your team

The best way to ensure your upskilling efforts are successful is to keep your employees motivated and engaged to learn new skills, and there are many ways to do that. One of the main recommendations would be to provide them with the resources they need. This will look different for each organization. Some examples include providing training budgets, providing financial incentives, and giving them time during their workweek to complete their training. It is also important for the team to understand why your company is opting for upskilling and what benefits it will bring to them.

Set up upskilling goals

Your upskilling program should be more than an opportunity to develop new skills in your employees. And it is important for you to understand what your goals are so that you can measure the success of your upskill program down the road. Your goals should be specific and measurable, and you need to determine what metrics will be used to measure your success. The best practice is to set goals for: employees, team, and improvement of service.  Some examples of goals you can focus on are strengthening company culture, increase employee retention, accelerate digital transformation and boost innovation.

Determine what type of training works best for you

After setting up your goals, it’s time to determine the best way to achieve them. Flexibility will be key when choosing a training style since everyone has a different learning type. Some employees might learn best in a traditional setting with an instructor, others might prefer a fully online course. Your training method needs to be engaging and provide enough value to your employees. Not only do you want them motivated to learn new skills, but you also want to make sure they will be able to apply their knowledge as soon as they are finished.

If you’re ready to upskill your employees, we’re here to help. Upskilling and training in-house talent in emerging technologies is what we do. Whether you need corporate training for Pega, AWS, Salesforce, or any other technology, we are here to answer your questions and to assist you in developing your team. Shoot us an email at techcert@skillstorm.com.