Re-skilling can soften the economic blow of COVID-19

 


COVID-19 has raised enormous challenges. 2020 was a year when millions of people lost their jobs and hundreds of businesses had to be shut down. It was a year when many industries suffered a setback, but if we look around, there are many industries that did not suffer a contraction, such as the healthcare sector and online retail sector. There were also those, who saw an opportunity during this crisis to supply to new demands and capitalized on the same.

In the early months of 2020, organizations realized the opportunity for upskilling and cross-skilling their employees. Organizations across industries started with their new virtual training programs to upgrade their employees. Now, while this approach is not a magic bullet but it will help and correct the imbalance during critical times, which can soften the economic blow of COVID-19. So, how do we do that?

Here are few steps that we can adopt which will help us remain relevant and rebalance during critical times:

Skill Gap Identification – The first step to correct imbalance is to identify and assess the missing skillsets in ourselves or our teams. Determine if your team members have the skills to work on a particular project or do you need support from some other vertical. Ensure to hold meetings to not only explain the process but also the scope, ownership and segregate duties and responsibilities to your team members to identify the skill gaps.

Upgradation/Reskilling – Once we identify the missing skills in our team, our next step should be reskilling and upgrading. Encouragement to attend various training programs, helping individuals learn on the job, encouraging folks to read and know more about the industry we work for will add value.

Driving Innovation – While challenges are unprecedented, we must remember that challenges do open up new opportunities. To dive into new opportunities, we will need to invest in innovation and technology. So as an individual or as a manager, we will need to evaluate how we can add value to the business and do things differently if required. Understanding business processes is key to identifying opportunities for improvement.

Automation - In this fast-paced work culture, we need to eliminate redundancy, automate manual activities, especially repetitive ones, and have a keen eye for designing processes with the least manual intervention. It is automation that will give us this room for creativity and technology. Therefore, to evolve with the industry that’s already racing ahead by leaps and bounds, we must take the opportunity to learn something that can help us move faster.

The untapped potential of rapid re-skilling - Typically, re-skilling is thought of as a lengthy process, requiring extensive selection, training, and certification. But as a leader, I would say that re-skilling is not difficult. Anyone keen and willing to learn can be re-skilled. Always remember that re-skilling involves the following requirements such as:

  •      Identifying the needs.
  •      Determine which specific skills are essential.
  •      Allocate re-skilled members for the new client requirement.
  •      Ensure that quality and standards are met.

 As the world around us is changing, it is equally important to accelerate ourselves through re-skilling programs. It will not only help us to stay relevant and resilient but also will make us future-ready.

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