You can’t ignore the technological shifts and transformations that alter industries. AI and big data are only a few visible parts that change how people work and what skills they need to perform.
What does it mean for employees and businesses? Continuous upskilling is a priority for many companies, as it can develop growth opportunities, retain employees, and ensure flexibility for long-term business success.
Read on to know more about upskilling training and ways to upskill your team so that your business is more agile and flexible.
What is Employee Upskilling?
Let’s start with the basics.
Upskilling contemplates that employees advance or train in new skills to effectively do their current jobs and be ready to answer future challenges.
It’s all about improving the set of existing knowledge and expertise, and that way becoming a greater specialist. But what does upskilling training often include?
It involves training courses, certification, conferences, and mentorships, literally any training program that can add to the existing role. For a company, the main goal is to develop the talent they already have. It will save them from hiring a new person for every new operation or the adoption of new technology.
Yet, if you want to make it effective, you’d better turn upskilling into continuous practice, where you regularly check gaps, provide training, and motivate people to take new challenges.
Upskilling vs reskilling: Does it matter?
At the same time, with the new technologies and training trends, upskilling can turn into reskilling. How? When a person starts a training program and changes their job or role.
Above all, upskilling and reskilling both involve training, but the main difference lies in purpose. Upskilling adds more skills to the set within the current role or job, while reskilling brings a new skillset for an employee to move into a different one.
Importantly, both types of training respond to the change, but reskilling takes place when the role changes or disappears.
Examples of upskilling programs
Now, let’s look at the upskilling examples that corporate actors can implement for their employees:
- A digital skills bootcamp for marketing teams.
- Leadership workshop for mid-level managers on negotiation or decisiveness.
- Training for the HR team on a new software tool.
- Shadowing a senior expert to learn soft skills.
In most cases, upskilling is rather a short program or an intensive one that involves different training methods, from interactive training to mentor sessions to self-paced courses and pre-recorded sessions.
Benefits of Upskilling for Businesses and Employees
Upskilling employees is so popular because it has distinctive benefits for the business. First of all, it allows companies to grow and spend less on new hires. But what are the benefits for employees as well? Let’s cover both.
What does upskilling bring to businesses?
- Improved productivity and innovation. Upskilling allows the adoption of new tools and ideas that can bring a competitive advantage to the company, affecting efficiency and performance. Moreover, it often allows automating routing work, so that employees can focus on higher-value tasks.
- Better retention and employee brand reputation. When a company invests in employee development, it is a signal for employees that there are career opportunities. It shows that the employees are cared about. It affects engagement and cuts the need for external hiring.
What about upskilling benefits for employees?
- Career advancement and satisfaction. For the workforce, upskilling opens doors to promotions, higher pay, and more challenging projects. It adds to their career advancement, boosts confidence, and keeps them engaged and interested.
- Personal growth and security. Besides, expanding one’s skill set makes employees more adaptable to change. This can provide a sense of job security, since skilled workers are valuable. Upskilling also keeps work fresh, which many find personally rewarding.
7 Steps on How to Upskill Employees
Upskilling employees often comes as a result of new technology, adoption of tools, or the need to introduce a new practice. It means that upskilling comes with a change or as a response to one.
However, it is not necessarily an unplanned practice. For intance, you may constantly update your content on the latest technologies. In that case, upskilling would take place regularly.
But what remains key to how you upskill your workforce is the link between skills and program results. Let’s find out how to navigate the upskilling waters and help employees learn new skills effectively.
Step #1: Take a skills inventory
First, you need to check what skills need improvement, right? And the gaps are not so evident as you may think.
Therefore, start by assessing the current skills and knowledge of your workforce. In this regard, a good option is to use a database of workers’ abilities and update it. For it, you would likely do surveys and interviews, as well as use HR or data management software to collect it.
Start by assessing your employees’ current skills and knowledge. Make a list or database of each worker’s abilities, and update it regularly. You might use surveys, interviews, or HR software to gather this information.
Tip. Ask managers to report on the tools and tasks within the operation of their team and use them to create a skills matrix for gap analysis. Make it a regular practice.
Step #2: Map current and future needs
Next, once you understand the scope of tasks and skill gaps, your goal is to link the current situation with the future needs. How to do so?
First of all, collaborate with leaders and experts to know what skills and expertise the business would now and will need in the future. Another good idea is to look for industry trends, evaluate technology development, and link them with company goals. To some extent, it can help you forecast the demand within the organization.
For instance, if your company plans to switch to a data-driven approach in marketing and sales, then you may want to provide courses on data analysis and management to upskill employees. Yet, in the beginning, it will require a basic course, while the subsequent development may need a deeper understanding.
Note. For a clearer upskilling map, you need to approach each department and ask them for role requirements that are in demand today and will be in 6-12 months.
Step 3: Set clear goals and benchmarks
Next, since you have a plan and vision, you would want to create specific, clear goals and milestones for the upskilling. In this regard, look towards SMART, PACT, or WOOP approaches for setting goals.
There, it is important to establish specific, relevant, and time-bound goals. A good example of a clear goal for upskilling training is:
- “All marketing team members complete an advanced analytics course within 3 months”.
- “Product managers and leads complete AI management course in the next 6 months.”
When establishing goals, link them to performance reviews and team metrics. For intance, the particular examples refer to marketing and product teams and will directly affect the roles and their work in the future.
Read more: How to Use SMART Approach When Creating a Curriculum?
Step #4: Design specific training programs
Upon defining goals, think of different training methods to meet the needs of employees. The popular formats refer to:
- Formal online courses
- Certification programs
- Technical training on software or tools
- Soft-skills workshops
- Intensive courses or bootcamps
- Mobile learning or microlearning
Notably, you can combine formal options with informal ones. For instance, you can set sessions during lunch or events, where you offer interactive formats for peer learning. It may suit soft skills development.
Other than that, you can add on-the-job projects, case studies, or even rotations between departments. Yet, remember that they should come in line with the goal and help learn new skills.
Step #5: Use technology and integrate an LMS
It is much easier to handle upskilling when you have a centralized system backed by the software. A learning management system or employee training software offers a suite to create, track, and deliver training programs. So, it is a huge help not only to the medium-sized companies or enterprises, but small businesses.
When picking an employee training tool, think about how it can optimize your operation and allow you to focus on the quality of programs. The automation options, AI features, and management tools can free you from repetitive actions and scale more easily.
Note. Here’s how the EducateMe platform looks, offering structure, intuitive and solid features for delivery and tracking.
Among other things are the learning paths, portals, assessment, and peer learning options. They are important tools to manage learners and affect the knowledge retention.
Read more: How to Choose an LMS?
Step #6: Encourage a learning culture
Next, after you launch the first training programs, you may think of building a culture of continuous education. What for? To make upskilling a part of everyday work.
Having a learning culture helps you to develop internal experts and promote training. Moreover, it has a significant impact on the employee brand.
To establish a decent learning culture:
- Foster open communication
- Focus on feedback and peer reviews
- Encourage peers to become trainers or instructors
- Build community and leverage gamification.
Read more: Gamification LMS Examples
Step #7: Track progress and get feedback
Another important thing when upskilling employees refers to tracking and managing the progress. You should measure how well the upskilling is working and listen to employee feedback.
You can leverage such metrics as completion rates, quiz scores, and performance indicators to see if learning goals are met. Other than that, ask participants for feedback on the training content. The key question to ask: Was it relevant and engaging?
In terms of feedback from managers, inquire whether their team is applying new skills on the job. For example, if they have just earned a new software feature, check if they use it in real projects.
Lastly, regular surveys and check-ins help identify what’s working and what needs improvement. Use this data to tweak the program, add more support where needed, or delete training pieces that didn’t help.
Tip: After each training cycle, review outcomes and update your strategy; continuous improvement is crucial.
Wrap Up
All in all, upskilling isn’t a trend; it’s a long-term solution to keep your workforce agile and future-ready. With the right strategy, businesses can close skill gaps, boost retention, and grow talent from within. The sooner you invest in employee growth, the better prepared your team will be for tomorrow’s challenges.
Want to make training easier to manage and scale? Read our guide on choosing the best employee training software to support your upskilling efforts.
