I’ve been thinking about this comment from a World Economic Forum report (https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/10/top-10-work-skills-of-tomorrow-how-long-it-takes-to-learn-them/):
“The vast majority of business leaders (94%) now expect employees to pick up new skills on the job – a sharp rise from 65% in 2018.”
Depending on how you read the statement, “on the job” could imply in the negative sense:
- Businesses will no longer provide formal training and development away from the job.
- Employees will still be expected to achieve mastery in the new skills.
- “Someone” will have to provide the on-the-job training and development, and that’s probably not factored into plans and expectations, making it low or no priority for “someone.”
Likely result: little OJT with any meaningful results.
The economic climate has caused many to cut back training and development “expenses.” The core problem is “expenses” … spending on traditional training and development that has no tangible return on investment (ROI). Most businesses must focus on the tangible now. No room for anything else.
There is an answer. There is a way to achieve both positive ROI today and develop skills that keep the business running tomorrow.
More on that in a future post …
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