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Thanks to HR talking about the skills gap for over a decade, companies are now working harder to address it. Yet despite these efforts, skills gaps continue to have a significant impact on the business world. A recent global survey conducted by Cornerstone People Research Lab (CPRL) found that investments in L&D, though helpful, are insufficient.¹ Although employers and employees worldwide recognize the importance of skills development, a confidence gap exists: employers feel optimistic about their ability to keep up with the rapidly changing skills economy, but employees are uncertain. Mike Bollinger, the vice president of strategic initiatives at Cornerstone and current manager of CPRL, discusses how companies can overcome this confidence gap and build more dynamic, more resilient workforces.

Heidi Spirgi (HS): Although 90 percent of business leaders feel confident they have the resources and ability to develop employees’ skills for the future, only 60 percent of employees share that confidence. What’s more, nearly 40 percent of employees feel they are not enabled by the learning resources provided at their companies. Can you explain this disconnect?

Mike Bollinger (MB): Over the last five years, there has been a continuously increasing investment in L&D. Presence has gone up from an employer perspective and as a result leaders feel more confident in how they are enabling skill development. But employees often feel that they don’t have the right recourses or the time to take advantage of them.” Both parties are feeling the pressure of these changes, but employees are particularly uneasy. Not only are they worried about whether they will be able to update their skills fast enough to keep up with the world around them, but they aren’t really sure what new skills they have to learn.

(HS) A recent HCI report on skilling found that employers’ L&D initiatives aren’t enough to prepare employees with new skills. What are companies missing?

(MB) That report found that when L&D leaders are determining which new skills their workforce needs for the future, they often look inward.² They examine their company’s business strategy, or talk to their employees and leaders to find skills gaps. However, in addition to examining internal needs, companies need to pay attention to external forces. CPRL research found that employers don’t look closely enough at what their competitors are doing, or at how their industry or technology is changing. A successful new skilling approach requires that L&D leaders look beyond their walls to ensure that their internal efforts align with larger, external changes.

Another challenge is considering skill adjacencies. We understand skill progress along a line junior analyst, analyst, senior analyst, etc. but how do we help the business and individuals understand where an employee’s current skill sets strongly overlap with those needed by other roles? HR departments often build tracks into or out of specific roles, but rarely is this happening at scale. To address the skills gap, we must consider where skills transfer into other areas, then offer employees a wider array of options to help them feel confident in their trajectories.

(HS) The COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on employers and employees alike notably in accelerating digitization efforts. Has COVID-19 had a positive or negative effect on companies’ new-skilling efforts?

(MB) The effects of COVID-19 on the workplace aren’t necessarily good or bad, they’re just disruptive. We’ve entered a new, virtual world of work that requires different types of skills, and this is an opportunity for employees to adopt them. Some people are using low-code technologies (such as collaboration platforms, digital toolsets, and video conferencing tools) for the first time and have developed new technical skills as a result. Soft skills have had to change as well. We’re learning how to communicate with others effectively in virtual environments, because in-person interactions aren’t an option.

In order for employees to be able to take full advantage of this opportunity, they must be able to set aside time to identify and explore new skills. This will encourage them to adopt self-directed approaches to learning and also give them chances to benefit from their employers’ investments in them.

During this rapid digital transformation, many employers looked internally to see who they had to contribute to or lead these initiatives. Some found that their “inventory” of skills required some work, so they didn’t execute as quickly as they could have. The organizations that learned this lesson and invested in better visibility into their workforces will have stronger capability to respond to future disruption.

(HS) Encouraging managers to foster a learning environment is only part of closing this confidence gap in the workplace. The CPRL report outlines a three-step plan for employers looking to improve their approach to skills development: create a vision, develop a plan, and then implement technology. How do the different steps of the process better position companies to develop their employees?

(MB) Creating a vision is about outcome, and any kind of strategic planning (whether it be skills planning or workforce planning) requires some degree of looking outside the organization.

Developing a plan is your measurement. True learning occurs only with behavior change. So first figure out how to measure employees’ behavior changes. Track employees’ sentiments toward L&D efforts as well this will help companies determine whether or not they are actually closing the gap.

Implementing technology is a process. Right now L&D programs are going virtual, but this new mode of learning doesn’t work for everyone, so companies can’t get stuck in one way of teaching. Of course, with most companies still currently operating via remote teams, virtual methods are the only real option now, but after COVID-19 employers will need to invest in technologies that support different kinds of learning.

(HS) ) If done well, these three steps can help companies align their L&D initiatives with their employees' needs and get better at predicting skills they will need in the future. What else can a company do to become a truly future-focused skills organization?

(MB) Look for adjacencies between skills. Identifying adjacencies makes new skilling efforts more effective and reduces the learning curve.

Many employees feel that they don’t have enough time to learn. But lack of time can be a red herring for other things, such uncertainty, fear, or a lack of guidance. So find ways to help them along on their learning journeys. Start by investing in management teams and their learning, then encourage managers to talk to their employees about their career goals and motivations (and adjust their learning accordingly). A deeper understanding of employees’ individual skills makes it easier to locate adjacencies and develop new skills with speed. That’s what it means to be agile and that’s what a future-focused skills organization looks like.