As the labor market continues to tighten, companies are struggling to find ways to close skill gaps in their teams. When a gap needs to be closed, it may be particularly challenging to find a suitable job seeker, especially if you are looking for an in-demand skill in a high-competition city or region.
Luckily, there is an alternative for filling essential gaps that doesn’t involve recruitment and hiring: strategic training. By upskilling your existing workforce, you can bridge gaps efficiently, allowing you to cultivate your ideal team based on your exact needs.
If you are wondering how you can create a strategic training plan that can fill critical skill gaps, here’s what you need to know.
First and foremost, you can’t train strategically if you aren’t fully aware of the gaps in your team’s capabilities. As a result, you need to assess the skillsets of your employees, allowing you to get a complete picture of what they already know and what is actually missing.
This is especially important for two reasons. First, it’s possible that you believe a gap exists when it actually doesn’t. At times, an employee may have a skill that you weren’t aware of, either because it never came up, or they recently acquired it outside of the workplace.
Second, some skills have prerequisites. If you want to upskill your team and fill a gap quickly, identifying which workers have the foundational capabilities allows you to choose who receives training strategically.
With strategic upskilling, you want to make sure that you are choosing the right workers to take part in the training. As mentioned above, assessing their skillsets to determine who has the prerequisite skills is an important step. However, you also need to go further.
Often, you’ll want to focus your investment on top performers. Usually, these employees are engaged and productive, and they may be better equipped to learn a new skill quickly. Additionally, they often crave challenges and the ability to learn and grow, allowing the training to be a highly desired benefit that can boost retention among your best and brightest.
However, you also need to make sure that those you choose have the ability to complete the training in a timely fashion. You may need to adjust their workload to give them the required space, ensuring they can commit enough attention to the program. Additionally, make sure that their willingness to learn is high, as not all professionals may be as interested in a particular skill as another.
Training can be offered in a variety of ways. In many cases, online, self-directed learning can be an ideal option. It provides workers with a significant amount of flexibility, as they can participate at any time from nearly anywhere. Additionally, if the course also embraces microlearning – the process of breaking down complex topics into small, digestible chunks – information is usually easier to retain, making the training more effective.
However, not all skills are best learned online. In some cases, hands-on training is necessary. In others, classroom learning (or, at least, access to an instructor) is a must.
As you develop your strategy, consider which mechanisms are best for each skill. That way, you can choose an approach that facilitates learning, increasing the quality of the results.
If you would like to learn more about upskilling, the team at TRC Staffing Services can help. Contact us with your questions today and see how our employee development expertise can benefit you.