Workplace learning that bridges the gap between employee skills and company needs is critical to every firm. Knowing what talents workers bring to the table currently and predicting which skills a company will need to succeed in the future is tricky. Experts say focus on reducing the impact of automation. How? Help workers develop soft skills such as communication, adaptability and critical thinking.
Key to closing the skills gap is creating a culture of workplace learning, says Kelly Palmer, co-author with David Blake of "The Expertise Economy: How the Smartest Companies Use Learning to Engage, Compete, and Succeed."
"The skills gap is a very real thing, and if (leaders) are not encouraging employees to learn, it might not happen," Palmer told IBD. "Simply sending employees to class alone is not working."
Creating a workplace learning culture. Apple's (AAPL) senior vice president of retail Angela Ahrendts wants to move 10% of the company's retail employees to other stores around the world to provide more learning and development opportunities, according to Palmer's book.
Starbucks (SBUX) offers to pay full tuition to employees seeking a bachelor's degree at Arizona State University, if they work at least 20 hours a week. The goal: reduce high turnover.
Offering programs is not enough. A recent LinkedIn survey found that the No. 1 challenge facing talent development in 2018 is getting workers to make time for learning.
"Yet, 94% of employees say that they would stay at a company longer if it invested in their career development," the study stated. "The modern organization needs to meet learners where they already are — aligning development opportunities with employee aspirations, and engaging them through the platforms where they are already spending their time."
Understand power of peers. Your co-workers are often the best workplace learning resources, Palmer says.
"This idea that there is a central group that has all the knowledge is outdated," she said. "We have a wealth of knowledge from people who are learning these new skills within our company."
Palmer says an engineer at a client company told her he was routinely asked about how he had learned the JavaScript programming language.
As a result, he came up with a list of articles, videos, classes and book chapters he found most helpful.
"Your employees become part of the curator group," Palmer said.
Combat content overload. There are thousands of online learning sources. You can easily become overwhelmed. Company leaders must guide employees. Curate the myriad resources. Help employees decide what they need to learn. Managing content overload also makes workplace learning efficient and cost-effective.
In their book, Palmer and Blake describe Mastercard's approach. As a client of Degreed.com, a learning portal of which Blake is a founder, Mastercard (MA) lets employees search, curate, share and track learning resources on thousands of topics in various formats. The results: More employees signed up to learn new skills, less time was spent developing content and costs decreased.
Drill down. While a focus on learning soft skills can minimize the impact of automation, employers should also zero in on hard skills that will be in demand.
Key to addressing the hard skills gap is getting an accurate read of workers' current skills vs. what a company knows it will need. Palmer and Blake's clients measure with a Skills Quotient (SQ). SQ measures the skills required against the skills needed for individuals, teams and the entire company. It reflects the skill level and gap any person, team or organization has.
LinkedIn's survey says talent developers are working hardest on creating a robust workforce in cloud computing, data mining, integration software, web architecture and user interface designing. Not surprisingly, they're looking to boost hard skills in engineering, computer programming and data analysis.
For workers, the fast-changing needs of employers means one thing: Develop an ability to learn quickly.
"Learning agility is key," Palmer said. "If you can adapt and learn on the job, you will succeed."
MORE SECRETS TO SUCCESS:
Elevating The Workplace Atmosphere
Workplace Communication That's Engaging And Empathetic
Former Google People Leader Strived To Create The Most Productive Workplace
The post Workplace Learning Is Central To Closing Skills Gap appeared first on Investor's Business Daily.
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