What are the upskilling imperatives for business in 2021?
The State of Workplace Learning in 2021
Employee upskilling emerged as the top priority for L&D leaders across the globe as the way we work changed overnight. The COVID-19 pandemic coupled with increasing economic uncertainties has transformed the skills landscape for organizations.
While upskilling and reskilling were a priority for many organizations even before the pandemic, it is evident that it has become a business imperative now. This is evidenced in Udemy’s 2021 Workplace Learning ReportOpens a new window which revealed that 38% of employees were provided upskilling opportunities in 2020, compared to 14% in 2019.
Also read: Lack of Leadership Commitment in Upskilling: IBM Institute for Business Value Report
Despite the significant uptick in workforce upskilling, there is still plenty of room for improvement in 2021. According to the research, nearly half the workforce is either dissatisfied or indifferent to their organization’s L&D program.
Surprisingly, however, most organizations surveyed, are ranked as mature when it comes to mapping their L&D initiatives to Bersin’s Learning Organization Maturity Model. 58% of the organizations surveyed reported that their L&D programs are at level 3 or 4 – the highest levels of maturity. The data indicates that most organizations empower their employees to drive their own development and have successfully integrated learning into the flow of work.
This begs the question – why are organizations still struggling with upskilling in 2021, then?
Traditional approaches to learning and the lack of time keep organizations from achieving their goals.
3 Upskilling Imperatives for Organizations in 2021
Rapid and ongoing changes in the nature of work are transforming the relationship between learning and work – both are more interdependent on each other than ever before. To build a robust learning programs that also enable employees to succeed at their jobs, organizations will need to embrace a new model that integrates elements of agile models into L&D activities. In its 2019 Human Capital Trends report, Deloitte suggested “devwork,†a play on the word DevOps, as the future of agile, in-the-moment learning.
Also read: Reskilling at Scale: Amazon Promises Free Upskilling for 29M People Globally
Devwork proposed that organizations integrate real-time learning into workflows, while making the learning experience more personal and collaborative. In 2021, while learning has certainly made it to the boardroom, joint ownership and accountability of learning outcomes are yet to find widespread acceptance.
To help organizations and L&D teams realize better learning outcomes in 2021, we recommend the following learning imperatives:
#1 Data Literacy
As far back in 2012, McKinsey published an article advocating data literacy as the next big opportunity for organizations. Eight years since, ‘big data’ has become a household term and organizations are increasingly generating and consuming vast amounts of proprietary data. However, few have unlocked its true potential.
As data consumption increases, the need for data science skills will only increase. Employees who can interpret data, draw insights from it and also communicate those to stakeholders will be the most sought-after talent.
Udemy’s own data indicates that people are increasingly consuming learning content around data visualization and business intelligence on its platform. In fact, the company witnessed a 1411% increase in the consumption of business intelligence courses in 2020.
Clearly, a deep understanding of dashboards, visualization, and analysis will become basic skill required of any knowledge worker. The trend can be compared to the rise of computer literacy as a skill in the late 80s and early 90s.
Organizations and particularly, L&D leaders must focus on integrating data literacy into the flow of work by empowering employees to set and pursue their learning goals by offering dedicated time and resources.
#2 Moving From Literacy To Creating Value With Data Science
As data literacy becomes a default skill, data scientists will be expected to spend their time solving complex business problems and creating value. Automation, machine learning, and artificial intelligence are beginning to play a crucial role in enabling data scientists to provide insights and predictions far beyond the remit of typical analytics.
The advancement of AI and ML techniques has led to the creation of new data science solutions that automate a variety of repetitive tasks. By deploying these solutions across the organization, data scientists will be able to focus more of their time developing solutions that improve the business instead of cleaning or sorting data.
With remote work prompting organizations to sever their reliance on legacy solutions and tools, data maintenance and governance will become critical business issues. Organizations must develop specialized data science learning paths to help their data scientists adapt their skills to the requirements of the new data landscape.
#3 Create Hybrid Tech Roles To Foster Multi-Domain Expertise
 It is amusing how agile project management offers multiple applications in the realm of learning and development. As job roles continue to evolve, we expect organizations to create more hybrid roles that allow employees to develop their expertise across a wide range of domains directly related to their job function.
The DevOps approach to project execution will become much more widely accepted as tech professionals work closely together to expedite their tasks.
While specialization will still be relevant for a few roles, 2021 is the year of generalists. The more skills a tech employee has, the better positioned they are to meet future business requirements of technology. With multidomain expertise, employees are also more likely to develop better decision-making prowess.
So, What’s Next?
Traditional training programs were designed for a world that is kind of alien to us now. Remote work, increasing data consumption, and new business challenges mean that organizations need to approach upskilling in a way that integrates learning into the flow of work. Organizations today not only have an opportunity, but a responsibility to provide employees with skills that will make them more employable in the future.
Also read: Combining Upskilling and Internal Mobility Seamlessly: Edcast Launches New Solutions
The reinvention of learning is already underway – economic pressures and changing cultural practices will only serve as catalysts for this transformation. Organizations that are quick to adapt will be the ones that come out on top.