Right-skilling—the process of tailoring corporate training to the specific needs of an organization—is a name that is relatively new for a concept that has been around forever. Essentially ensuring that your employees have the “right skills” to do their jobs effectively, it’s a focus that many in the learning, training and development spaces are now exploring in a different way, as more data and technology become available.
With a focus on right-skilling, as well as the tools that enable skills enablement, companies can provide effective paths to training and development, and help employees stay up to date with the latest technologies and industry trends. Here are four easy ways to make sure you’re providing your employees with the training and skills they need to do the job right.
Find the Gaps
When it comes to right-skilling and training your team members, the first step is to identify any knowledge gaps that exist. Whether from a lack of knowledge about a specific product or service to not understanding industry standards, there are a number of places where your employees may not have the full picture. The best way to identify these gaps is by assessment—considering everything from job performance to customer feedback, and team-wide surveys. By having an idea of what skills or knowledge your team needs to learn, you can create targeted training plans that will help close those gaps.
Like skills assessment, learning and coaching play an important role in right-skilling, and technology can be a considerable factor in your training program’s success. For that reason, look for software platforms that can provide scalable training for your employee base and assess individual skills along the way as a solid investment in your employee’s knowledge base.
Adapt to the Individual
When it comes to training, one size does not fit all, so if you want to create an effective and successful learning and development program for your team members, you must take into account the individual needs of each employee. This means tailoring training materials and programs to fit the needs, skills, and abilities of each team member.
Once you’ve evaluated the current skills of each employee and identified any gaps in their knowledge and capabilities, you can then determine the best training methods and resources for them. Consider their specific roles within the company, as well as the unique qualities and interests of each individual, to create a personalized plan for employee training.
You might also encourage team members to share their ideas and experiences with one another and ask them to discuss how they think their roles could be improved or changed to make them more effective, or suggest new ways to approach existing tasks. Through open communication, you can better understand how to make meaningful changes to the learning and development program for each individual.
In order for any training program to be successful, it needs to be adaptable and adjustable. Make sure you have a system in place that allows you to adjust your plans as needed to ensure employees are getting the best possible training that meets their individual and specific needs. By adapting to the individual, you can create a productive learning environment where employees can grow and develop their skills.
Train for the Day-to-Day
When it comes to training, best practices and theoretical situations are great, but it’s more important to focus on the day-to-day experience that employees will encounter, so ensure that your learning and development program is tailored to the job itself.
Training should include activities that provide hands-on, real-life experience, like role-playing exercises and simulations that can help employees understand how their job affects the organization’s overall goals. In addition, team exercises or activities can help employees learn from each other and increase engagement. Some platforms, like Bongo, offer multiple ways for groups and individuals to practice and train—allowing you to shape their training experience to be one that is as close to real life as possible.
From there, coaching can be a great way to ensure employees are being trained and honing the right skills, allowing managers to observe and evaluate employees in their actual job environment and provide immediate feedback.
Overall, the goal of training for the day-to-day should be to give employees the skills and knowledge they need to perform their job effectively and efficiently. The right learning and development program can have a major impact on an employee’s success, so it’s important to create one that is tailored to the role and the organization.
Build a Culture of Learning
Finally (and possibly most importantly), creating an effective right-skilling strategy requires a company to have a culture that values learning and development. In such a culture, learning should be seen as a continuous process, where employees constantly develop new skills and right-skill as their job pivots or shifts along the way.
To create such a culture, companies should make sure that employee training is seen as a priority. Not only should training programs be tailored to the needs of individual employees and the goals of the organization, but employees should be encouraged to take on challenging tasks and develop new skills, and have resources for them to do so.
Ensuring that your employees are equipped and empowered to do their jobs well should be a focus for every organization, and we at Bongo are here to make right-skilling easy and effective through a robust video-based assessment and training platform. For a demo of Bongo’s full range of capabilities, reach out to schedule a demo.
