Do you have the right skills to succeed? Create a future-proof skills strategy right now

As the COVID pandemic is only one of many challenges and disruptions CEOs and organisations face, it is not surprising that 94% of executives say their business models need to change within the next three years. And 57% of CEOs fear their organisation isn’t adapting fast enough according to a 2021 AlixPartners survey of 3,000 CEOs.

Together with the need to pivot and adapt, we also know that 74% of CEOs are concerned about the availability of key skills within their organisation, according to PwC’s 24th Annual Global CEO 2021 Survey of 5,050 responses.

The world needs more skilled workers

According to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2020, it has been estimated that, by 2024, around 40% of workers will require reskilling of up to six months. 94% of business leaders say they expect their employees to regularly pick up new skills on the job.

Having the right skills help organisations to innovate, grow and increase market value while optimising profiles and achieving operational efficiencies; to demonstrate nimbleness and flexibility in response to unexpected events and change, to withstand a crisis and change and to rebound and thrive after a setback.

As things change constantly, the skills we need, and the ones we have, will also change constantly. The shelf life of every business model is getting shorter, and this will impact the skills organisations have now and in the future. Learning is key to keeping up with the latest products and customer demands.

Skills must be owned and nurtured by everyone

There will be four stakeholder groups that must come together to create a skilled organisation – executives, managers, HR, and workers.

Firstly, the alignment between corporate and people strategies must start with organisational leaders, who must first set the strategic direction for the business. Knowing where the organisation is now and where it needs to go will drive the right conversations around what skills it has and what skills it needs to bring the organisation to where it needs to go.

Unfortunately, 65% of executives think their organisation lacks a winning strategy, according to a Strategy& 2018 survey. Without a winning corporate strategy, it will be difficult to create a skilled workforce that can drive organisational success.

Secondly, managers should create the conditions for the development of individuals and workforce skills. They must provide guidance and support for upskilling and reskilling.

Unfortunately, 63% said their organisations have not equipped their managers with upskilling resources, according to a 2019 survey by West Monroe. Without managers being upskilled themselves, it is going to be hard for the workforce to be developed and upskilled for future challenges.

Thirdly, a healthy collaboration between business leaders and human resources is critical for business success. This is where people strategies should enable the achievement of corporate strategies. The HR team should ensure that the right people are doing the right jobs at the right moments and at the right cost achieving the right corporate goals.

Unfortunately, there is a disconnect between the leaders creating their organisation’s goals and strategies and HR’s ability to enable the organisation’s workforce to achieve organisational success. Only 40% of HR leaders reported their workforce planning activities were effective at aligning talent needs with business objectives, according to a 2019 Gartner survey. And only 41% said they’re good at analysing internal labour markets.

And finally, employees need to be accountable for their skills growth.

Unfortunately, the employee skills gap is increasing – 70% said they haven’t mastered the skills they need for their jobs today, and 80% said they lack both the skills they need both for their current role and their future career, according to Gartner’s 2018 Shifting Skills Survey of over 7,000 employees.

Develop your organisational skills strategy

The steps for creating your organisational skills strategy:

1. Always start with your corporate strategy.
2. Identify key activities and skills needed to execute your strategy.
3. Conduct an organisational-wide workforce skills gap analysis.
4. Create a skills inventory.
5. Have a change management plan in place

Always start with your corporate strategy

Goals cannot be met without the right team in place that can operate at their highest efficiency.

The development of a corporate skills strategy must always start with the understanding of your business strategy and its associated performance success. Your business strategy and measurable outcomes will inform and shape your corporate skills strategy, which will identify what skills you require to execute your strategy and deliver the planned outcomes.

Your skills strategy can accelerate the successful execution of your business strategy and extract greater value from your talent pool if it is closely aligned to corporate strategy. It should enhance employee experience, engagement, productivity, and retention while producing an inclusive and continuous learning culture that is high performing.

Identify key activities and skills needed to execute your strategy

After you have determined or identified your corporate strategy, identify those critical activities, processes, or actions that your organisation must do to execute your corporate strategy and achieve its goals.

When you have identified those critical actions needed to execute your corporate strategy, determine those key skills that your people must have to deliver on those critical actions. These are key skills needed to execute your corporate strategy.

Conduct an organisational-wide workforce skills gap analysis

The next step is to conduct an organisational-wide workforce skills gap analysis of what skills your people currently have and what key skills are critically needed by them to effectively execute your corporate strategy.

A skill gap analysis will help you identify the skill gaps an individual or group of individuals have.

Analyse your current business capabilities and find out where changes you need to make. Look at what departments are strong or overstaffed, where you may be weaker, and what areas in which you need to improve.

You may find that you have all the right team members, but that some of them are in the wrong departments or performing jobs that don’t capitalise on their skills. You may also find you have staffing redundancies or that the same workers are consistently underperforming. This will form part of your workforce planning.

Create a skills inventory

By building a skills inventory for your entire workforce based on their proficiency levels, you can determine the skills demand driven by the need to execute the corporate strategy and the supply of those critical skills by your existing workforce.

A skills inventory is a compilation of the skills, education, and experiences of your current employees. Organisations use these inventories to assess whether their current staff can meet organisational goals. Understanding the organisation’s pool of current skills and future skill requirements aids in the organisation’s strategic planning efforts.

Have a change management plan in place

If there is one thing that is constant in the business world, it is changing. A good plan that allows for change is all about being proactive.

Your workforce can anticipate change with hope and enthusiasm instead of fearing what it might mean for their future with a change management plan in place. Involve your employees in co-creating a change strategy.

Implement the plan that incorporates a healthy attitude toward change, a dynamic and inclusive culture, and tools that can help bring it all together.

Bridging your skills gaps strategically

Your skills strategy will highlight some skills gaps and mismatches based on your current and future business needs. These gaps and mismatches can be bridged through redeploying skills, upskilling, reskilling or even out-skilling of your existing workforce or buying these skills through recruiting the right people.

You could also identify skills that are adjacent to the skills needed or “stepping-stone” skills to bridge skills gaps across the organisation.

Align your skills strategy with your learning, training, development, and recruitment strategies. Additionally, map your skills requirement against what future jobs might look like. An integrated management approach will be key to your organisational success.

Organisations will need to take market-driven that can motivate and enable their employees to develop the skills that are in demand by the organisation and the market. At the same time, acquiring these skills will also enable employees to further their career success.