Develop an Upskill Training Program That Delivers Value

Build an agile workforce

Developing skills that ensure your workers and teams are prepared to pivot at a moment’s notice means your business can succeed in the face of whatever comes next – be it a challenge or an opportunity.

Agility is often discussed in terms of being prepared to meet difficult times. This is a valid concern, considering nearly everyone working today has faced economic recession and disruptive world events within their lifetime.

However, there is even greater value to be realized in being prepared to meet opportunities. As an L&D leader, cultivating a growth mindset in your learners can inspire the innovation that helps your business evolve.  

“In challenging economic times, there is a strong argument to invest in building critical skills.”

Increase employee retention

Creating a culture of learning within an organization has proven to be a key factor in increasing employee engagement and retention.

The latest LinkedIn Workplace Learning Report found that 93% of organizations are concerned about employee retention and view learning opportunities as the No. 1 way to improve retention.

Support career pathing

Your next leaders may already be at your organization – they simply need the ongoing upskilling support to usher them from where they are now to those seats at the C-suite table.

These goals work together to create value. Internal mobility and employee retention go hand-in-hand and ultimately result in an agile and motivated workforce.

Improved performance reviews

A successful upskill training program is reflected in individual performance. Once your workers and teams have adopted new skills, their utilization of these skills will positively impact their daily work, and supervisors and managers will notice. 

Learn more: 5 Ways to Put Learning at the Center of Performance Reviews

Team and organization business metrics

When your upskilling program is aligned with business goals, the results will show in other metrics you’re tracking. These include team performance such as efficiency numbers or employee hours per task, as well as larger organizational metrics such as sales revenue, churn rate, and cost of customer acquisition.

Improved employee productivity

There are endless upskilling opportunities around gaining efficiencies in both personal performance and as teams. Whether it is learning how to better manage time or adopting a new software solution that eliminates repetitive tasks, these wins will be reflected in improved employee productivity numbers.

Learn more: Developing Employees and Improving Performance

Progress toward closing workforce skills gaps

As hiring trends have shifted focus from traditional career-track experience to specific skills competency, there may be people within your workforce who have top-notch soft skills but lack specific hard skills to excel in their role. Closing these skills gaps is both an important metric to monitor and a significant factor in increased employee retention.

Individualized career pathing

Creating career pathing plans for your workforce will ensure you are getting the best of what your employees have to offer. Investing in upskill training that aligns with the goals of both your worker and the organization will help your workforce optimize their existing skills and develop their greater potential.

Leveraging technology for flexibility

With more remote and hybrid employees in the workforce, using online learning platforms can provide your employees with a variety of learning opportunities that meet their individual needs while still hitting organizational targets.

We have a full library of resources to aid you in developing your upskill training program. Here are a few to get you started: