Preparing for a conference presentation on a warm spring evening, I run through the slides and rehearse on how the workforce can improve skill development.
Take this out.
Add more here.
It’s the same old thing we all do, like a blacksmith perfecting their craft.
Looking at a slide, I pause for a moment.
Eureka.
It’s not the knowledge we learn, the resources we have available, but the skills we possess that extend our potential.
In a split second, the slide changes its original focus to something that we all should stop and reflect on every day.
Whether you work in the education or the business industry, the goal is the same – to harness people’s strengths and grow their talent exponentially.
To maximize the result must come from the common ground on both sides, where both groups create and commit themselves to make continuous and calculated adjustments.
Skill Development In Education
Understand that the workforce’s needs have changed significantly, and they must invest significantly in technology, practices, and, most notably, their mindset towards future learning.
Stop focusing on standardized testing and focus on developing tomorrow’s employees. (Hint: If it’s done right, the scores will be there).
Skill Development In Businesses
Refuse to learn with mundane lectures and awful PowerPoint/Zoom presentations.
To do this requires businesses to hire trainers that are experts in understanding how their employees learn and how their customers use their products.
Some may even argue that drilling down to individual training is impossible and that they should go in a classroom for a year and observe how teachers do it every day.
Although I’ve blogged about this topic before, I continue to emphasize that this is an underutilized area that must be addressed.
End Result
Synergizing staff produces motivated, engaged, self-directed, and reflective employees who strengthen the organization’s culture.
But it will only come from when they have reached their capacity and a committed shift to learning smarter and not harder.
It’s not the most expensive professional development that brings results. Instead, it’s the ability to connect and extend from what we have into a bright horizon.
So what’s it going to be?
Maintain status quo or move the needle?
Make it a great career for your employees or not; the choice is yours.
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