Strategies of Team Upskilling

What is Team Upskilling?

Employees can gain new skills and advance their career through team upskilling initiatives. It's important for employees to gain the expertise and knowledge needed to progress in their current career. It's important for companies to build more resilient and future-oriented organizations, which are better equipped to meet tomorrow's challenges by leveraging internal talent.

In today's market, it is harder than ever to find specialists who can fill in skills gaps. Employers are rethinking their talent strategy in light of the 48 million Americans who quit their jobs last year and the unprecedented number job openings.

The desire to excel at work is a driving force for people who want more than what their employers currently offer. Good news, companies are responding to the call. Amazon has committed to investing $1.2 billion by 2025 in team upskilling. Microsoft has launched initiatives in 2020 to improve the skills of 25 million people worldwide. Salesforce offers free immersive team upskilling courses for potential employees. This initiative has committed to create 9.3 million jobs globally by 2026.

Learning and Development (L&D), as organisations have accepted that they cannot simply hire people to cover skills gaps, has seen a massive increase in investment. LinkedIn's Workplace Learning Report 2022 shows that demand for L&D professionals increased by 94% between July through September of 2020 and April through June of 2021.

John Baker, President and CEO of D2L says that having a plan for learning and a system to support it helps with retention and growth. In a world in which talent is the number one concern for CEOs, we must move quickly to implement a better learning environment--for onboarding and team upskilling, as well as leadership development. The key to retaining talent is to invest in the growth of each employee. Team Upskilling is important for retention, supporting transformation efforts and building a growth-oriented culture. It's also key for retaining talent as well as attracting those who view your company to be the best place in which to grow their career.

Team upskilling programs that are successful align L&D and long-term business strategy to close skills gaps. People ops are no longer seen as an administrative cost center, but rather strategic revenue-generating partners.

Cassie Naji was a strong believer in L&D. She founded a department of one person to create and execute an L&D plan. Upskilling has been and will continue to be a priority.

Naji says that "within the L&D Strategy, I would say over 50% of activities should be dedicated to team upskilling" (as opposed reskilling initiatives, redeploying, and personal development projects). This is due to the economic imperative for upskilling. It's often more cost-effective to help a team member improve their skills than hire a new specialist.

Team Upskilling can foster a culture for internal growth, and it can also improve retention through promotion from within. LinkedIn's Workplace Learning Report 2022 found that companies who excel at internal mobility keep employees on average for 5.4 year, nearly twice as long than companies that do not.

Team Upskilling can be a great way to retain employees, but it also helps companies find high-potential, well-qualified candidates. Amazon and Gallup found in their 2021 upskilling survey of 15,000 employees that 48% would take a job with training if they were offered. Skills gaps are also more prevalent in underrepresented groups. Team Upskilling is a crucial component of diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies.

There is no one-size-fits all upskilling program for companies, teams, or employees. Team Upskilling programs are often cited as examples from large organisations. However, small businesses can also benefit and should prioritize team upskilling.

Baker says that employers and employees need to work together to ensure the retention of skilled workers. Our research shows that small and medium-sized businesses in North America struggle to offer these valuable opportunities to their employees. It's a serious problem that will get worse if no one takes action to solve it.

There are many ways to upskill your employees, even if you have limited resources. You can promote bottom-up skill development by providing resources, training and a L&D stipend, with clear guidelines that align with your long-term strategies.

What is the Difference Between Reskilling and Team Upskilling?

Reskilling is a way to build new skills and help employees pursue a career that aligns with the changing needs of an organisation. Vertical talent mobility is enabled by the former. The latter facilitates horizontal talent mobility within and between teams.

Team Upskilling and Reskilling both require planning and implementation phases and can be done in conjunction. You can start by improving the digital literacy of a team that has limited digital skills. This may be the first stage in reskilling your team for high-impact roles, as you have a strategic goal of using artificial intelligence and machinelearning to reduce monotonous analog tasks.

Reskilling has become a crucial part of corporate responsibility in the age of automation. McKinsey & Company encourages companies to look beyond their bottom line business interests and use automation to create new, more skilled opportunities. Reskilling programs are run by companies such as Accenture, Intel and Verizon to help their employees move into new roles.

People who have left the workforce can also return to their old jobs with a new skill set. Nearly 2 million women have left the workforce since the pandemic. Women of color and women with disabilities were disproportionately affected. Reskilling can help support diverse, high-potential talent and prevent systematically disadvantaged groups from falling behind.