Training Industry Magazine - May/June 2021 - 24

RIGHT PEOPLE,
WRONG SKILLS:
Turn Talent You Have
Into Talent You Need
By Bianca Baumann

Market and technology trends, along with
business processes, change the way
organizations work, as well as the skills
employees need to get work done. Never
has the inability to react to those changes
been so obvious as during the pandemic.
Employees are asked to work in a more
agile fashion, leverage new technologies
and innovate while remaining focused on
getting the job done. But even before the
pandemic, there was a need to fill existing
and expected skill gaps in organizations'
workforces to stay competitive. A
McKinsey survey found that roughly nine
in 10 executives and managers say their
organizations already face skill gaps or
expect gaps to develop within the next five
years. According to Deloitte's Human
Capital Trend Report, an estimated
90% of organizations will redesign jobs,
and 54% of the workforce will require
reskilling. These numbers suggest that
organizations don't have the talent they'll
need in the near future.

| 24

MIND THE GAP
According to the McKinsey survey, the
most common tactic to address skills
gaps is still hiring new talent. This means,
while already facing massive disruption,
organizations are bringing new talent
in to fill skills gaps. This approach is far
from practical. Instead, organizations
should focus their investments on
workforce transformation infrastructure
and identify ways to upskill and reskill
existing talent.
Reskilling existing talent means retaining
years of company culture, institutional
knowledge and existing relationships
within and outside of the business. If
skills gaps are constantly filled with
new hires, the power of a connected
organization is lost in the shuffle.
Investing in reskilling is also more costefficient and results in greater business

impact. The McKinsey study shows that
reskilling is used as a tactic by 56% of
respondents of a global survey. The
seven out of 10 organizations that focus
on reskilling report that the business
impact has been greater than or equal
to their investments. They also report
increased employee satisfaction and
customer experience.
Therefore, it is time to rethink how
organizations handle disruption. Instead
of hiring new people, they should focus
on transforming the talent they have
into talent they need. But, how can
organizations transform their workforce
and reskill their talent?

WORKFORCE
TRANSFORMATION
Let's first define what workforce
transformation means. Transformation

https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/beyond-hiring-how-companies-are-reskilling-to-address-talent-gaps https://www2.deloitte.com/ro/en/pages/human-capital/articles/2019-deloitte-global-human-capital-trends.html https://www2.deloitte.com/ro/en/pages/human-capital/articles/2019-deloitte-global-human-capital-trends.html

Training Industry Magazine - May/June 2021

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