Upskilling as the key to successful digital transformation
Upskilling as a measure for further training as well as reskilling, i.e. the retraining of employees, is more necessary today than ever before. This is because the demand for project, program or process managers is developing rapidly in all companies - whether classic or agile. The digital transformation is advancing. This is also changing the way upskilling takes place. Because professionals in a modern IT world need to be trained and certified even more efficiently. In today's article, I reveal why this is the case and what a modern upskilling concept can look like.
Becoming more agile in the digital transformation: Upskilling helps
Upskilling has also become more important because the world at large wants to be more agile. Many organizations have moved to create more agile environments. And not just in projects or operating environments, but with the expectation that entire organizations will be more agile. Digital transformation is driving the need for more agile approaches to delivering and operating digital products.
This fuels the need for upskilling: methods such as PRINCE2® Agile is needed for projects where an agile implementation team operates in a project context. Or companies need targeted upskilling for ITIL® 4 that can be used to manage operating environments in increasingly volatile environments in a reliable, agile and flexible way. Reskilling can achieve similar results - but it must be done wisely. If you fail to provide the right training for your employees in the midst of digital transformation, you have already lost.
How upskilling moves companies forward
We are increasingly finding that there is a lack of people with the right methodological skills. Only they make it possible for the various best-practice approaches to change and operations to be adapted and used appropriately in the organizations. Through appropriate upskilling, we can equip people with these skills.
Professionals with knowledge of project, program and service management help to achieve the necessary alignment between change initiatives and continuously increase the maturity of organizations. As a result, the digital transformation is driven forward in a results-oriented and perfectly dovetailed manner. The goal is to continuously improve processes, eliminate waste, reduce variability, and increase profitability. The end result: the company is organizationally capable of reducing costs and making continuous improvement an integral part of the lived organizational culture. We lay the foundation for this with upskilling and reskilling.
The human being in the center of his further education
In all current versions of established best practices such as ITIL®, Scrum or PRINCE2® and PRINCE2® Agile, it becomes clear that holistic corporate change is not just about technical areas like IT. Even in digital transformation, people with their competencies and skills are still at the center! Flexible thinking and acting, as well as the willingness to react to changes, move companies forward. Such a mindset can be promoted through targeted upskilling.
The years of the COVID 19 pandemic have shown even multi-million dollar companies that they are not too big to fail. Even the big players have had to see the comparative advantage that smaller organizations have when they have to adapt to external factors. As a result, larger companies are beginning to acquire the knowledge, skills and capabilities to be more agile and adaptable when needed. But how are companies developing their employees to do this? What do upskilling and reskilling look like in the age of digitalization?
Is modern upskilling always digital?
The increased demand for flexible, digital and hybrid upskilling concepts is emerging as a trend. But modern upskilling is not necessarily digital! There is no dogmatic black-or-white answer to the question of face-to-face or virtual training.
While virtual training was initially met with criticism, it is now a highly effective and accepted way of giving people access to new professional skills wherever they are. This offers companies many advantages: Training budgets, which don't necessarily have to include travel or hotel costs, can be spent more on advanced training instead of these ancillary expenses. This opens up the possibility of equipping employees with the wide range of skills they need in the modern world. In other words, T-shaped training is not only more in demand than ever, but also easier to implement. But upskilling in the form of face-to-face meetings is also experiencing an upswing.
Up- and reskilling in person - the mix makes the difference!
The truth is: people still work with people. Purely digital concepts for upskilling and reskilling provide the necessary level of knowledge. However, the necessary level of awareness, acceptance and willingness to change is often lacking, which is indispensable for successful transfer to practice. Soft skills, which must be closely linked to the knowledge itself, are indispensable for the necessary adaptation in the daily working environment.
Today's companies therefore need intelligent upskilling concepts for their employees in order to remain competitive in the future. These concepts do not dogmatically favor digital or presence-based forms of training. Instead, they create emotional and efficient training experiences in which all available upskilling forms are used in an integrated manner as needed.
To support this approach, we at SERVIEW have different, highly coordinated upskilling concepts in our portfolio. These allow our customers to choose from pure e-learning, virtual or hybrid classrooms, and on-site events the combination that 100% fits people's upskilling goals and needs.
Conclusion: Upskilling as a successful concept for digital transformation
I'm seeing a shift in attitudes toward training in general - and that's a good thing. The key to successful digital transformation is the people in the organizations. If they are empowered by knowledge and new skills, there is no reason why they should not be more effective. Conversely, without this upskilling, it is very unlikely that a shift in thinking toward more flexible concepts will occur. "The definition of insanity is: repeating the same action over and over again and expecting different results," states a quote often attributed to Albert Einstein. In other words: If we allow our employees to remain stuck in old thinking, we shouldn't be surprised if we end up with the same results over and over again.
But I am convinced that the ways of acting that made us successful in the past are no longer sufficient today. Upskilling is more necessary than ever before. People need broader knowledge than in the past. After all, in an agile world with self-organized and cross-functional teams, the pure technical expert who only knows his own subject area is more of an obstacle than a beneficial factor.
In order to meet the high demand for continuing education, smart upskilling concepts are needed that are simultaneously economically feasible and generate the right level of knowledge and willingness to change among people. A dogmatic digital or presence-based upskilling approach will not meet this requirement. That's why I recommend you familiarize yourself with our closely interlocked training formats. The different variants provide exactly the degree of freedom, flexibility and efficiency you need for upskilling your employees. Take a look!
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