Learning the skills employers need

Stuart Bernau, Group Retail Director at the Nationwide Building Society

Employers need their employees to learn the right skills for their business. How do they know what these skills are? How do they assess which skills their potential employees have before they join? How do they develop these skills? How do they get their employees to want to learn and develop their skills?

Clear direction

How do employers know the skills they need for their business? The Leitch Review of Skills needs to be translated by employers into a clear direction for their organisation. This can be done in a number of ways. First, employers can use their industry bodies, including the Sector Skills Councils, to help them understand the national skills and qualifications frameworks. Then they can use their own learning and development team or external expertise to define the framework of skills they need.

Framework

A crucial aspect of this work is to define what the organisation really wants from its employees. This should cover key areas such as business achievement; customer satisfaction; products, services, processes and systems; and learning and values. It is vitally important to define clearly what is needed here. The framework for learning from the first day the employee starts must include the knowledge and skills they need to learn. Knowledge can be acquired in a number of ways, such as one-to-one training and the use of written or electronic materials, because it is about learning factual information and applying it at work. This usually applies to areas such as products, services, processes and systems, and needs to be learned and applied in the workplace.

Skills learning

Skills can also be learned in a number of ways, such as training courses and skills practice sessions, as they are more behavioural and interpersonal. This will apply to many areas of learning such as Customer Satisfaction and Company Values.

How do employers assess the skills of people wanting to join them?

Their framework for learning should be used in recruitment and selection processes to ensure they are bringing in people who will fit well with their skills and values. Clarity of purpose and valuing of skills are increasingly important factors in people seeking the right employment with the right employer.

Skills transfer

Learning and development professionals often talk about the issue of ‘skills transfer’, meaning how well employees convert their learning into application in their job. All employers need to ensure this happens effectively, so the right skills and knowledge are being applied to help their business achieve its goals.

Recording attainment

How do employers develop the right skills once employees have joined them?

The knowledge and skills needed by the organisation should be produced in a clear framework for all to see. This will ensure both individuals and their managers know what is expected. It should also show how to develop in the key areas, with some priority given to the most essential ones to complete first and the standard to be reached. In many industries some, if not all, of these standards will be included in legal or regulatory requirements. In many other cases, the employer should define the standards it demands. It should also have a means of recording the attainment of skills and knowledge to show overall organisation capability and track the progress of individuals and groups.

More demanding

How do you get people to want to learn and develop their skills?

Many people entering the world of work for the first time are more demanding than in the past. Prospective employees will often assess the capability of the organisation they are joining as much as it is assessing them. One of the major differentiators here is the quantity and quality of learning and development offered. Awards such as Investors in People plus stated and proven values of corporate social responsibility and sustainability will all influence the choice of employer.

Hungry to learn

When people start a new job they are usually hungry to learn as much as they can as soon as they can. Remember when you last started in a new role. You wanted to get up to speed as quickly as you could, so you could add value and feel you were making a contribution. Most people love to learn how to do things so they feel more competent and confident. Employers need to tap into this initial motivation and maintain it through a varied and relevant programme of learning. This should continue from day one in the business until the day they leave. We are all learning every day. This learning takes many forms, from the formal end of the scale through courses and qualifications to the more informal examples like different work responsibilities and even conversations with colleagues where learning from experiences is shared.

There are many aspects that make up a ‘learning organisation’ some of these are mentioned above. This culture needs to be developed with all individual employees as well as through corporate statements of values and intent. Have a think about your organisation. How much does it feel like a place where people enjoy learning and applying their learning to do their job better, however they do this? For you personally and whoever you are responsible for through line management or learning and development – what have you learned today? How does this help you to perform better and contribute more to your organisation’s success?

Employers and employees both need to take responsibility for their learning and skills. They can help each other by creating and valuing a culture of performance and contribution, underpinned by learning how to improve their skills every day.

Learning and development professionals often talk about the issue of ‘skills transfer’, meaning how well employees convert their learning into application in their job.