The power of skills: Talent transformation in the time of disruption

The outbreak of the pandemic  last year disrupted work at organizations like never before.. It also brought about significant changes in the hiring market, and the sector faced various challenges. While there was a job crunch on the one hand,  the skills gap widened exponentially on the other. Amidst the pandemic-induced turbulence, the need for digitally-literate and -agile talent also witnessed a surge. 

However, this was also the time when businesses realized the value of a magic weapon to navigate through a crisis successfully: The digital transformation of  talent. 

Transforming talent during disruptive times

When the industry is evolving digitally and businesses are embracing technology so as to survive and gain  a competitive edge, they don't wish to fall behind due to the skills gap. Hence, they look at ways to polish and upskill their resources and retain them for long so as to sail through the crisis together as a team. 

However, retaining the talent and further upskilling and reskilling them continue to be a challenge for a  majority of the businesses. This trend was highlighted by the Brandon Hall Group in its recent research. The study states that most companies fail to do so because they do  not prioritize investing in skills and talent. Either they are unaware of the skills needed, or the employees are not aware of the skills that they should pursue which would be relevant for the future, or many times, the wrong talent is hired. 

In such a scenario, the feasible solution for companies is to tread on the path of resilience. They are bridging this talent-skill gap by reinventing their approach and focusing on honing the workforce as per the skills needed. The pandemic played a major role in transitioning businesses from designing for efficiency to designing for resilience. Resilient organizations have a greater chance of being able to effectively resolve crises and changes. This trend was highlighted by a 2019 Gartner report wherein the survey stated that 55% of organizational redesigns were focused on streamlining roles and workflows to increase efficiency. 

Skills-orientation approach helps in talent transformation

Offering a path of skills orientation gives employees opportunities to stay motivated and keep going even during unstable times. While earlier, skills meant capabilities required to meet organizational roles, post-pandemic, critical roles are now referred to as the requisite skills for the success of essential workflows. Gartner, in its recent report, states that the need of the hour is to encourage employees to develop critical skills that would potentially open up multiple career avenues rather than preparing them for a specific role. 

There are various skills-driven strategies that can be improvised upon and implemented by organizations to leverage the power of skills of their talent. The one topping this list is about understanding and analyzing your current workforce’s capability. The next important step is to gauge who possesses the potential to fulfill critical responsibilities inclusive of the roles that are evolving due to the turbulent economy. 

The dire need of the hour, however, is to help your team gather skills and shape themselves up that would inspire the creation of a collaborative workplace that would also reward employees for their pace and agility to acquire high-demand skills. 

Summing up

One of the most important steps while harnessing the power of skills of talent is to adopt a personalized new-age methodology and upskill your employees. Upskilling can play a pivotal role in improving employee engagement and retention, attracting new talent, developing a cohesive environment and expediting the adoption of innovations. The ed-tech firms have been rendering a helping hand in offering high-end educational experiences to the learners and are enabling them to upskill themselves as per industry standards. According to LinkedIn’s Learning workplace report, upskilling and reskilling is the topmost priority for 59% leaders in 2021 at the global level. It also states that the majority of the leaders globally consider resilience and digital fluency as the most important skills amongst employees. Hence, it would be apt to say that the future of the workplace is based on industry-relevant skills. Owing to the present turbulent times, talent transformation is the key for organizations to survive and thrive.