The impact of AI, data analytics, machine learning, automation, and cloud computing is accelerating the pace of digital transformation in just about every industry. While digital transformation looks different for each business, the fact remains that it changes businesses — how they operate, how value is delivered, and how responsive employees are to continuous change and improvement.
An important question to ask is whether leaders understand that it’s not so much about implementing new digital technologies as it is about cultivating the right mindset needed to tackle these new technologies and how they change how work gets done.
Research from the Genpact Research Institute shows that various human factors prevent businesses from optimising their ROI from digital investments. These relate to change management processes, shifts in company culture, awareness and understanding of the challenges employees face, and the level of digital resilience.
Yet, change comes with challenges; it makes people uncomfortable and creates uncertainty. One solution is to give employees control over their work environment and careers and rebuild their confidence by providing relevant and ongoing training and upskilling opportunities. Training that will give them the hard and soft skills needed to thrive in the 4IR.
Why businesses should upskill and train employees
Training is not only about staying abreast of new technologies; it’s a strategy to retain top talent and create an innovative and adaptable workforce. Here are the top benefits:
It boosts adaptability and future-proofs careers
World Economic Forum (WEF) research shows that 23% of all jobs will be changed by automation and technology by 2027. They also expect some 69 million new job roles to be created and 83 million job roles to be displaced. To smooth the pathway to successful employment in the digital economy, the WEF outlined four key pillars, of which reskilling and upskilling for emerging opportunities is number one.
According to the WEF, when companies actively create a cultural shift towards adaptability and continuous learning, they build the backbone that supports all other drivers of job transitions. Workers need to recognise that career paths are no longer linear, and ongoing upskilling and reskilling are integral to maintaining employability.
Employees are more productive and engaged
Upskilling the workforce creates employees that are more confident in using new technologies and advanced solutions. Not only are they more productive, they become more engaged in their work. When their motivation to get a job done goes beyond personal factors, it makes them more focused and driven than their disengaged colleagues.
This heightened dedication to their work directly translates to increased project success and employee productivity. Research by Gallup showed that companies with higher employee engagement experienced a 21% boost in productivity compared to those with lower engagement levels. And this, of course, drives organisational success.
You’ll retain your employees
In a job market where skilled talent is scarce, retaining knowledgeable employees is essential to maintaining a strategic advantage. WEF research shows that 81% of organisations believe investing in on-the-job training is critical for businesses to achieve their goals. It addresses turnover and retention issues better than other strategies, such as hiring temporary workers, promoting employees, or offering them a higher salary — all short-term solutions that have no long-term benefits.
Also consider that modern workforces prioritise personal growth, and if your company doesn’t provide upskilling opportunities, employees are unlikely to stick around.
It enhances business competitiveness
MIT Sloan Management Review report shows that 81% of companies view innovation as a key strength. Why is this important? Because digital transformation is all about innovation, and innovation requires a knowledgeable and forward-thinking workforce.
Companies that invest in upskilling directly improve internal expertise, enabling employees to drive innovation and solve complex problems. This puts your business in an excellent position to outperform competitors who still struggle with outdated skill sets.
How to approach training for better business outcomes
Training and upskilling a workforce is a multifaceted process. Here are three ways to make that process easier.
Enable internal mobility
Businesses must recognise and develop diverse skills accreditations beyond traditional academic degrees to help employees transition to the digital economy. This can be achieved by offering ready-made courses, from career development to digital literacy, through their learning management system (LMS).
When employees gain these portable credentials and competencies, they become internally mobile. It means they can more easily transition between roles, regions, and industries.
An internal mobility program facilitated through in-company training is important for several reasons. It empowers employees to pursue new opportunities and significantly improves retention rates. Employers gain access to a broader, more skilled talent pool, and the cost of talent management is reduced.
Create a data-driven learning strategy
To optimise learning initiatives, measure their effectiveness and directly connect learning outcomes to organisational goals, Learning and Development (L&D) managers need to embark on a data-driven learning strategy.
While most modern LMSs provide superficial training data and reporting, New Leaf Technologies’ Training Intelligence System (TIS) takes this to the next level with advanced, real-time data analytics. Drawing data from a variety of sources and displaying it in real-time, it unlocks complete insight into your training data through customisable visual reporting dashboards.
This data-driven learning and training approach has proven highly effective in building a strong learning culture. It allows L&D professionals to tailor training to meet individual skill gaps, needs, and preferences. By leveraging a multitude of data points, L&D teams can directly connect learning outcomes to organisational goals.
The TIS plugs straight into an AI-powered LMS, such as aNewSpring, ensuring employees remain engaged by learning through gamification, multimedia, and adaptive technologies and receiving rewards such as digital badges and social recognition. All this data is immediately available to drive business-aligned L&D decisions.
Create learning on an HCM system
To capture and track your organisation’s skills matrix, HR should conduct ongoing audits using a Human Capital Management (HCM) system that connects talent profiles to the LMS, lists of job qualifications, and other relevant employee and business data.
The combined power of LMS and HCM software helps L&D teams identify employees’ skills in multiple ways and understand them more holistically. This is important when upskilling employees to take on a different role in the business. It enables you to promote or move talent around internally, positively impacting the company’s output and hiring.
One of the biggest trends in HCM is continuous performance management. It’s an HR approach that regularly monitors and improves employee performance through ongoing feedback and one-on-one discussions during scheduled check-ins. Unlike traditional annual appraisals, this method is more frequent, flexible, and informal. As an integral part of your HCM system, it allows L&D managers to get a better view of the business’s and workforce’s training needs.
We’re here to help you upskill your employees
Digital transformation is not only about technology and what it enables businesses to achieve. It cuts across the spectrum of human capital, strategic thinking, culture and technologies. It needs to be embraced holistically to meet growing business, employee and customer demands.
Contact us if you want to learn more about how our TIS and LMS software can supercharge your L&D programs and ready your employees for digital transformation.
