Management’s Top Priority: The ‘Skills’ Gap

A majority of CEOs report their companies are experiencing a skills gap and rank finding the right people with the right skills a top priority. The financial services, high-tech, and telecom industries are expected to experience the highest levels of disruption and is where the ‘skills’ gap will be the severe.

The greatest need for skilled employees exists in the data analytics, IT management, and executive management fields.

To correct the gap in skills a business needs to take several actions :         

• Skills building – through mentoring & reskill programs
• Redeploying employees in new roles
• Hiring new employees

The most effective way to correct is re-training existing employees.

In the future, re-skill programs must focus on building employees’ skills in critical thinking and decision making, leadership, managing others, and advanced data analysis. Management must key in on:

• Project Management
• Adaptability & continuous learning
• Complex information processing & interpretation
• Advanced IT skills & programming
• Tech design, engineering & maintenance
• Quantitative & statistical skills
• Basic digital skills
• Entrepreneurship & initiative taking

Most companies are very good at selecting which employees to mentor; however, they lack the capacity to design effective re-skill training programs. If properly developed and implemented re-skilling programs will enhance profits, improve performance, increase employee satisfaction, and positively impact the customer experience.

Re-skilling must have management engagement and be strategic. The building of training capabilities and the structure of the learning journey must be inclusive. Online platforms, technical trainers, in-house mentors, and business coaches must be used to foster a culture of lifelong learning.