How Wide is Your Skills Gap?
The American Society of Training and Development has recently published a special report that highlights the increasing skills gap in the workforce and begins to define roles for learning and human resource professionals, business leaders, and policy makers. According to their research, 96% of the companies surveyed said they had a skills gap or expected one within the next year.
In order to determine whether or not you are impacted by a skills gap, ask yourself whether your team, department, or company would warrant a “yes” to one or more of these signs: 1) a mismatch between current and future skill needs and current capabilities, 2) the company is trying to make up for a lack of training during hard times, 3) an increasing number of specialized jobs are required to run the business, and/or 4) a high percentage of baby boomers that are or will be leaving soon.
Specific gaps may appear in one of four key areas:
- Basic Skills – reading, writing, arithmetic, customer service, basic business acumen, communication
- Technical and Professional Skills – computer, technology, specialized industrial skills
- Management and Leadership – supervision, team-building, goal setting, planning, motivation, decision making, ethical judgment
- Emotional Intelligence – self-awareness, self-discipline, persistence, empathy
A skills gap impacts a variety of organizational issues which, in turn, effects a company’s ability to grow and sustain it’s place in the marketplace including retention, knowledge transfer, succession planning, selection, promotions, recruiting, and, of course, training. The problem is further complicated by the multiple generations with varied styles and expectations that abound in the workforce. The trick to finding solutions to this dilemma will be to take all of these many factors into account and determine how to focus your resources on the elements that will produce the best return on investment for you.
If you are interested in learning more about dealing with skills gaps in your organization, please contact Kammy Haynes.
Because We've Always Done it This Way
What’s the hardest part about change? Probably unlearning. Not just unlearning how you do something but also why you do it. This isn’t to suggest that the reasons for why things have always been done are wrong. However, the assumptions, or at least the conditions that led to the assumptions, can change over time. Sometimes, it just doesn’t make sense to keep doing things the same way.
When managing change, talk about why the old way was implemented and why it’s not the best way anymore. That way when someone asks why an outdated process is being used, you won’t have to answer, “Because we’ve always done it this way.”
For more information on managing change, please contact Warren Bobrow.
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