With the tightening of the labour market, growth of technology, and increasing market competition, employers are being challenged to build new capability and grow and attract talent capable of navigating a changing and unpredictable future.
In fact over the past year, employers have experienced a 58% increase in employee turnover. 77% of employers have had to increase their salary offer to stay competitive and attractive in the market. Recent salary surveys estimate 77% of employers will experience talent shortages at the senior/team leader level over the next year — an employee group where skills required to navigate change are often in short supply.
Regardless of your industry, soft skill capability is the centre of your organisation’s success. Soft skills are required for almost every industry; they span roles, teams, organisations and industries. They are the skills that machines are unable to match in terms of human performance, and they provide a competitive advantage as they cannot be copied by your competitors.
Not convinced yet?
Check out this micro-learning module to complete a quick analysis of your organisation's challenges.
By 2030 two-thirds of jobs will be soft-skill intensive — we’re talking things like leadership skills, communication skills and resilience skills. This is because these are the capabilities needed to succeed in the face of constant change.
But pressure for time, and the busyness of the workday makes it seem impossible to even think about soft skill training. So how do we tackle this?
Let’s take a look at four simple actions that you can take to grow the soft skill capability of your organisation.
In the modern workplace no one has half a day or longer to go through irrelevant ‘box ticking’ sessions. The training you offer needs to be relevant to those doing the training and fit with their workflow.
People are used to ‘Googling’ answers to their problems. The learning tools you provide need to be just as topical and easily accessed so that your people get the right (organisationally appropriate) answers to their issues where, when and how they need it.
Micro-learning is the key to providing topical and easily accessed training anywhere, any time, on any device.
Bite sized micro-learning modules are learning tools that provide the answers your people need in short easily digested bites. Micro-learning fits around workflows, providing accessible and relevant learning in the workplace as and when it is needed.
Even better, micro-learning modules can be assembled like Lego into individualised learning journeys that fit the job and career learning needs of your people while building the capabilities of your business.
More than 50% of people will do a course recommended by their leader that could further their career, so managers are key to building capabilities within their teams.
Unfortunately in a lot of organisations, leaders are as busy or more so than the teams they lead. As a result, training and development in the workplace often take a back seat to the day-to-day pressure of the role, often relegated to annual performance review conversations.
But in teams where leaders engage in supporting and building people, teams markedly outperform unsupported teams. So it’s in the leaders and organisations interests to support people development as a key leadership role. Ask your leaders to consider how learning in the workplace can be factored into existing team routines and conversations.
Your people want to know they have a future in your organisation. Capability frameworks can outline future opportunities for them for other roles to which they can progress.
Capability frameworks show your people the skills they need to progress to future roles as well as the training and development in the workplace you offer.
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Building capability and offering learning in the workplace is one of the most cost effective ways of investing in your people, and when done well it’s a win-win for them and your business.
A study published in Harvard Business Review points to capability building in your teams leading to impressive business gains.
We are all facing challenges that we haven't seen for over a century, and going forward those challenges are going to continue to grow.
Assess where you are at and understand your challenges with the simple self reflection tool.