Using Technology for Skills & Competency Development

Upskilling and reskilling employees should be a primary concern for employers today. In LinkedIn’s 2023 Workforce Learning Report, 89% of learning and development pros agreed that proactively building employee skills will help navigate the evolving future of work. Developing the skills of existing employees can benefit your organization in more ways than one, and technology will help you do it.

It’s in your best interest to invest in software and adapt to tech advancements when training your employees. If you don’t offer growth opportunities, your organization risks seeing a decrease in engagement and losing top talent. Read on to learn how to use technology for your skills and competency management.

Today’s Skills Gaps Issue

Technology is rapidly advancing and changing the way we work. Skills are also evolving and employees need to constantly be learning. Unfortunately, more and more workers don’t have the required skills for the jobs available in the workforce today. This is called a skills gap.

The aforementioned LinkedIn report found that the most desired skills today include management, communication, customer service, leadership, sales, project management, research, analytic skills, marketing, and teamwork. The issue goes beyond roles going unfilled. When there’s a lack of competent managers to train the next batch of talent, the problem will only snowball.

The solution? Develop the skills and competencies of your employees.

The Benefits of Developing Employee Skills and Competencies

There is an array of benefits to developing the skills and competencies of your employees. Let’s take a look at five benefits that you should consider:

1. Attracts Top Talent – High-performing, committed workers want to learn. To continue to attract top talent, companies must offer career development opportunities. If not, this talent will go to competitors in your industry who do.

2. Aligned Staff Development – Most employees will be happy to develop a range of skills. Developing employee skills and competencies means you can align their growth with your company goals. You can create the talent you require.

3. Increases Engagement – One of the best ways to motivate workers is with career growth. Employee focus will increase when they have a clear development plan and goals to work towards. With increased engagement comes improved performance.

4. Future-Proofing – Necessary skills are shifting and evolving rapidly in today’s workforce. When you develop employee skills and competencies tailored to your organization’s goals, you stay one step ahead of talent requirements.

5. Improves Retention Rates – Stagnant careers are what drive people away. When you’re constantly developing your employee’s skills and competencies, you give them a reason to stick around. An increase in retention saves time and money on recruiting.

Deciding What Skills & Competencies Need Developing

Every company has skills gaps or weaknesses. You need to have a strategy for developing the skills required to achieve company success. But first, you need to know what skills and competencies are lacking or will soon emerge as critical.

You’ll need to consider your industry. Monitor industry trends, note any emerging technology mentioned in the media, and what your competition is listing in their job vacancy requirements. Digital skills are vital regardless of your industry. Developing your employee’s digital knowledge should be a constant goal. Soft skills are also highly sought after. With the advancements of AI, having strong soft skills is crucial for leadership roles and companies aiming to improve inclusivity and diversity.

Read our article Identifying Critical Emerging Skills for Future Success for a deeper look into finding the critical emerging skills and competencies that are most relevant to your organization.

How Technology Can Support Skills & Competency Management

Gallup found that 87% of millennials rate “professional or career growth and development opportunities” as important to them in a job. They also note that only half of millennials strongly agree that they have had opportunities to learn and grow in the past year. These statistics demonstrate that employers need to act now.

Almost everything is digitalizing. Technology is making life easier in a lot of ways. It must have a place in your skills and competencies management. From e-learning and virtual coaching to learning management systems (LMS) and software, technology will support your talent practices.

• Learning Management Systems – Managing different components of talent progression is much easier with an LMS. You can show employees how to develop skills and competencies, host and monitor training content, and track data throughout their employment. The system can offer valuable data to measure the success of your training programs.
• E-Learning – It’s now imperative that learning platforms are flexible. With online courses and modules, your employees can self-monitor their learning and do so from anywhere at any time. Documentation of these studies can be saved, shared, and updated easily.
• Virtual Coaching/Mentoring – Whether it’s AI, real-time chats, or conference call-style learning with a human mentor, coaching and mentoring can cater to your employee’s availability and individual progress. Regular feedback loops will help employees monitor their personal progress.
• Remote Training – When training can be conducted remotely, it can happen more often. The pandemic showed us how useful apps like Zoom and Microsoft Teams can be for quick, remote training with small or large teams.

Start Developing Those Skills!

Upskilling and reskilling are becoming increasingly important. Employers understand that to retain and attract top talent, they need to be offering career development opportunities. Thanks to digital advancements, technology is here to help. Utilize online training opportunities and learning management systems to optimize how you develop the skills and competencies of your employees today.