The results are in: Upskilling is one of the largest challenges and top priorities in Nordic organizations.
Building a learning organization with the right skilled workforce. That is one of the top 5 biggest challenges for organizations in the Nordics, according to Learningbank’s newest survey: Nordic Learning Trends 2020.
Why? In short: Times are changing, and upskilling plays a major role when transgressing into the future of work with learning and development.
On a global scale, only one in five employees mention they have the skills they need for their current roles and future careers. Furthermore, 70 percent say they have not even mastered the skills they need for their jobs today. On a macro level, 19 percent of skills will be irrelevant in 3 years.
Upskilling is the solution to the problem, and at the same time a challenge to tackle. So, how do we upskill the modern workforce?
Learning in the Flow of Work
Employees are busy. Period. That’s why learning in the flow of work is crucial to build a modern workforce with the right skills.
Digital learning content types as Just-in-time learning or Micro learning are helpful when you create learning for busy employees with a tight schedule.
Micro Learning
Micro learning is small learning bites, which would not last more than 3-5 minutes. It is super accessible in tight schedules of modern workers. However, it can be tricky to create the same kind of involvement for the learners, if you do not use gamification as well in the micro learning content.
An example of a typical micro learning module could be a quick brush-up quiz with a few questions and answers.
Just-in-time Learning
Just-in-time learning is learning content which is accessible when it fits the learner to complete it and get new knowledge.
An example of just-in-time learning could be a learning module, which is accessible on your smartphone, which you complete on your way home from work, instead of on your computer at a specific time of day.
Skills and Success
Another solution to the upskilling challenge is connecting learners to the skills they need to succeed in their role. The time is up for the traditional fumbling through the pages of a course catalog to find something that might seem interesting to learn – both for L&Ds and HR, but also for the learners themselves.
Take learning seriously and find the meaning behind the learning and modern employee development. If an employee learns something they cannot use in the organization, they might go somewhere else to do so. Upskill and create learning content for employees that relates to your organization’s mission and vision to tackle the challenges of tomorrow. This is meaningful for both the employee and the organization.
Strong Learning Culture
With no strong learning culture – upskilling can become an even bigger challenge.
People want to learn, but if not given the opportunities to do so, they might look for new opportunities – outside your organization. In fact, 94 percent of employees say they would stay at a company longer if it invested in their learning and development.
This is why creating a strong learning culture is important to attract and retain employees as well.
Learning and development is no longer a one way street, however. It takes twists, turns, and roundabouts for your employees to grow and become ready for the future of work.
One thing is sure: it never stays still.
Blended – and Social learning, knowledge sharing, and going from classroom training to digital learning are all tools and learning types you can dive into and get more inspiration to create a strong learning culture.
How to Tackle the Upskilling Challenge – In short:
- Look into digital types of learning content as Just-in-time learning and micro-learning to improve your learning program
- Connect learners to the skills they need to succeed in their role – for the benefit of the learner and the organization
- Create a strong learning culture with knowledge sharing and the use of blended – and social learning – in a digital setting as well