‘Learning is continuous earning of the right skills set for performing existing and new roles and jobs effectively’

Circa 2020; most management concepts and strategies were turned upside down by the advent of the pandemic. Several organizations struggled to achieve their goals. Self-proclaimed CEOs faced a reality check as they were caught off-guard. There was widespread mayhem. Pink slips and retrenchment abounded. After almost three years, the ripple effect and tremors from the pandemic are still palpable.

CEOs & C-suite executives may need to come up with innovative, agile and resilient approaches to build sustainable immunity of the enterprise against environmental changes and disruptions. While we focus on this, we need to be cognizant of yet another challenge facing us; that of redundancy and unemployability.

Recent surveys suggest that an increasing number of people need to acquire new skills to remain relevant and employable. Thousands of students with academic and professional degrees continue being unemployed. In most cases, the degrees have very little relevance  to the needs of the industry.

It may appear that things are gloomy Having said that, there is scope to learn from past mistakes and to take a fresh look at skills development as a more strategic activity than something which is measured merely in terms of man-hours achieved. 

Upskilling and Reskilling will play a vital role in reinforcing the Culture of Learning within organizations. Upskilling is all about providing specific inputs and application-oriented skills to do the current roles and jobs efficiently and effectively whereas reskilling is to facilitate acquisition of new skill sets to perform new jobs and roles by the incumbent.

The key to success is to revive the strategy of upskilling and reskilling to build a sustainable learning culture within the organization as that is the only way to survive, thrive and excel.

Upskilling and reskilling goes hand in hand as it continues to build a present and future ready workforce. CEOs & CXOs should role model upskilling and reskilling in their respective leadership roles to cultivate a work environment where learning is imbibed as an integral part of the way of working of the enterprise.

With senior management modeling values of agility and resilience, organizations will move towards success by consistently overcoming challenges, constraints, limitations and bottlenecks. Upskilling and reskilling will also help in de-risking the enterprise and business from potential disruptions and ensure sustainable profitable growth.

Upskilling and reskilling can be supported through the practice of intrapreneurship, entrepreneurship and apprenticeship as it reinforces the behavior of employees taking calculated risks, based on new learning to create and build value for the enterprise.