Workforce Development Moves Digital Transformation

Prioritize building digital competencies to adapt, innovate and grow the legacy of your brand.

Nov. 28, 2023 | By Lee Ackerman

We’ve all heard that digital transformation is crucial for our success to thrive and to define our legacy. Keeping pace in a quickly evolving technology landscape of artificial intelligence (AI), cloud, internet of things (IoT), data, devices, extended reality (XR), metaverse and digital assets can feel like a daunting challenge. Yet technology is just part of the challenge—the tip of the iceberg! Competitors and their strategies are rapidly emerging and evolving, how and where we work is changing, and this is all amplified by an economy that confounds.

All this background sets the stage for the big question: How do you get ahead of the curve? And for many, there’s an even bigger question: How do you catch up?

One part of the answer must be a top-line focus and investment in the people side of transformation. Developing our workforce, building our teams and helping our people grow is how we move our digital transformation! The digital competencies and capabilities that we build enable us to continuously adapt, evolve, mature and thrive—regardless of whatever the world (or technology) throws at us.

Build a Legacy of Learning

How do leaders drive change and build a legacy of learning? By taking a holistic, community-centered approach to their workforce development strategy. This proactive approach asks leaders to seek to understand before forming conclusions. An open-minded approach can inspire learning opportunities that are flexible to changing technology, the needs of our people and the needs of our organization.

The learning process looks different to each person—it’s not linear, time-bound or cookie-cutter. It leverages the guidance and expertise of others, and it incorporates rapid learning and adaptation through experimentation as we seek to contextualize and mold it to our needs and direction. This process also recognizes the need not just for learning but also for unlearning and relearning. Sometimes, the old ways need to be left in the past, and sometimes, we just need to figure out how the old ways map into our new landscape.

When building a legacy of learning, consider how you do the following:

• Create and utilize social contracts in your work culture that promote learning, equality, inclusion and opportunities for all. Ask yourself: How might we make it easier for everyone to understand expectations on how we engage, connect and support one another in learning?
• Engage and build a foundation of awareness and change management that allows you to assess your business and where change is needed, align your efforts and resources and manage the change.
• Adjust and personalize for the individuals on your teams. Offer a variety of ways to support learning and growth. Mix traditional, in-person training with digital training such as virtual reality experiences. Don’t forget to include hands-on experiences, apprenticeships and rotations!
• Constructively challenge your leaders, mentors and coaches. Engagement and growth plans include the objectives, methods, frequency and responsibilities of everyone involved. Frame your communications with active listening, empathy, feedback and negotiation skills to build rapport, trust and mutual understanding.
• Embrace openness and community. Engage beyond the traditional boundaries of your own organization to learn, grow, find talent and help others learn. These are excellent ways to advance your own competencies, find new innovations and uncover new talent sources for your team.

 

Workforce Development Techniques: Learning Versus Training

In the past, we might have expected people to come out of their annual training class and immediately know how to apply the new knowledge and skills. Luckily, such thinking is disappearing, and we see much more focus on learning as an ongoing process rather than just periodic training events. In this shift, we encounter ideas and approaches such as continual learning, lifelong learning, the 60-year curriculum and open-loop learning.

Training is just a small piece of the puzzle—mastery requires immersion and practice outside the classroom.

Successful leaders know that learning doesn’t stop when training does. Learning requires ongoing, constructive conversations that support employees while keeping their professional goals in mind. Leaders can establish a solid foundation for continual learning by auditing their current processes and challenges.

Mastery requires immersion and practice outside the classroom.

Tech Should Complement, Not Complicate

Tools designed to help make jobs easier, like AI and VR, are still being refined, so organizations should implement them carefully and learn as they go. How should leaders implement technology to enable constructive learning? Ensure that the tool matches the context. For example, VR can help some individuals feel more comfortable and less anxious when they give presentations versus when they are in a room full of people. Technology is a powerful tool to help advance learning—make digital transformation part of your learning strategy.

New Mindsets Elevate Business and Drive Digital Transformation

Shift mindsets and approaches away from training events to support ongoing learning processes. Leadership can lead through example and share their learning journey with their people. They should allow themselves and their employees to be bold in their learning to unlock new skills and expand their capacity for innovation. Model the behavior, be vulnerable and expose gaps in knowledge. No one has all the answers, but we can all be flexible and proactive to address gaps, to find answers and to learn.

The result?

A digital transformation that moves a more productive, adaptive and future-forward workforce.