Do we need to reimagine skilling in this challenging business landscape? Top Infosys exec answers

In little over two years since the pandemic, we have experienced many shifts in the talent landscape: In the first few months of the pandemic, we saw a series of job cuts due to the global lockdown and a sharp drop in business. About six months later, we began seeing the first signs of The Great Resignation and the rise of a new employee mindset. And now we’re likely staring at recession-like conditions and a challenging period ahead for talent. 

Combined with shifts in individual behaviours and consumer demands, and a fast-changing business and technology environment, this makes the reskilling function more challenging than it has ever been. So, reimagining skilling for a new era requires a few tweaks in how we understand and deliver it. 

Mapping skills in three dimensions 

Taking inventory of current skills and calibrating talent is arguably the most important step towards planning reskilling programmes. However, it is trickier than it sounds because of the number of variables at play. One way to visualise this is to map skills on three dimensions – the individual and their skillsets; the organisation, its goals and skills needs; both projected on a timeline. 

Skills of yesterday: These are skills from the past that may still in use today but will eventually give way to automation or newer skills 
Skills of today:  These are the most relevant skills that will power today’s business needs and demands over the next three to four years 
Skills of future: These skills are essential to tap as areas of high growth and high demand, skills that could be the organisation’s future growth engines 

The concept of lifelong learning is central to reskilling 

Like an individual or business lifecycle, there are periods of variable activity each of which require different interventions. So, having inventoried and identified the skills, the next part is about timing those reskilling interventions for maximum effectiveness. 

Focused reskilling: The biggest challenge to reskilling is when it requires organisations to move people from one set of skills that they know to a completely new set of skills. This has a huge element of individual unlearning and relearning and is often required to be done across the organisation. So, given the kind of change involved, such skilling interventions are often large scale and intensive, involve traditional instructor-led Cohort Model training (either online or physical) and self-paced learning delivered through digital learning platforms. 

Opportunistic reskilling: These are periodic micro-interventions involving skills that are adjacent to current skills, either upgrades or emerging skills that segue into the next skill horizon. Such skilling programmes are relatively shorter and more self- service and can be delivered in a variety of formats – Short focussed programmes (self-paced or instructor-led), short bites and videos based on social or community learning, or bridge programmes that can be a combination of adjacent and incremental learning. 

A dynamic market demands a new approach to learning 

We are living through a time when remote working and education became the norm almost overnight. While these existed in pockets before the pandemic, no one could have predicted the pace and the way it happened. This has rewired how we work, learn, and interact with colleagues. And on the other side, we have witnessed an explosion digital tools and democratisation of technology.  

So, from an organisation’s perspective, reskilling in a dynamic market needs a new approach to learning which should: 

Be an amalgamation of concepts and focus on the ability of the learner to apply those ideas for real-world applications 
Enable access to training material and SMEs for the learners to help them keep pace with industry developments 
Include a personalised and integrated assessment component which takes into consideration individual career paths and the enterprise learning goals 
Provide technical playgrounds to help the learners practice their newly acquired knowledge on simulated conditions or even early stages of product design, modelling, or prototyping 

The need for curated and effective learning pathways for reskilling 

Learning is a unique and personal concept, and the context also changes as per each sector and from person to person. So, there can’t be a one-size-fits-all approach. Thus, a learning pathway tethered to organisational goals at one level and yet which can offer flexibility to carve out customised roles at a micro level works well for both, employees, and the company. The businesses that survive today and thrive tomorrow will be the ones focused on knowledge building and those who invest in amplifying the human potential of their organisation through reskilling. 

Views are personal. The author is Senior Vice President and Head - Education, Training and Assessment at Infosys 

(DISCLAIMER: Any views, thoughts, and opinions expressed by the author or authors are solely their own and do not reflect the views, opinions, policies, or position of Business Today)