Category: Skills

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Learning Technology Skills

The Best Employee Skills Measurement Technology For Work in 2024

Meme of David and Victoria Beckham talking about workplace skills technology

For many of you in the corporate world, I know you’re dealing with thousands of employees and archaic systems.

So, how can you maximise technology to support your skill-building initiatives?

→ We’ll explore this with best skills technology on the market today.

Whilst I can’t provide the perfect advice for your context completely. I’m going to do my best to cover tools and features which could be worthwhile to investigate.

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The players in skills technology for work

Microsoft has 345 million people currently using MS 365 across 150 countries.

It feels smart to explore what this big tech juggernaut offers as I’m sure many of you are sitting in a Microsoft tech stack. Fret not if you don’t, I’ll be covering other skills tech too (I got you Google Workspace friends).

The annual amount of Microsoft 365 corporate users
Source

Microsoft Viva Skills

Earlier this year, Microsoft introduced a new AI-powered Skills solution in Viva.

Their view is traditional job-based talent models often fail to capture individual and organisational capabilities comprehensively. I’m sure we can attest to that, right?

It seems the big aim of Viva is to push more organisations towards that sexy buzzword of a ‘skills-based organisation’.

Of course, it leverages AI.

I mean we have to say that about everything these days. Even my tea is AI-powered 😉.

If you’re company uses Microsoft services, this tool is attractive for a few reasons:

  1. It’s free if you already have the Microsoft Viva suite, which is their LMS baked into Teams
  2. It analyses data from Microsoft Graph to track, assess and recommend actions on org skills
  3. It connects data from the LinkedIn Skill Graph with the above to its mighty AI reasoning tools to bring you the best skills data

The holy grail here is to align all corners of the organisation under the banner of skills.

From what I’ve discovered in my investigative reporting trip (aka a s**t ton of googling and ChatGPT), MS is positioning this as the bridge to fill the gap between traditional structures and a skills-based future.

The focus is on three core scenarios:

1/ Strategic Workforce Planning

For HR and organisational leaders, it aids in aligning workforce capabilities with business goals. It includes a skills dashboard within Viva Insights to visualise skill strengths and gaps.

You can see an example of this ↓

I think it looks pretty neat.

A demo of microsoft viva skills technology for work

2/ Upskilling and Reskilling

Another holy grail of our industry.

We covered the 101 of this before. This is an example of the type of tech you can use to make this a reality. With both real-time data for leaders and employees to make better performance-based decisions.

One step closer to focusing on the right skills, not more skills. I hope, anyway.

This feature is targeted at HR leaders and employees, enabling proactive workforce development. Employees can select skills to learn, search for courses by skills, and receive AI-based skill recommendations.

How Microsoft creates a formidable skills technology platform for the workplace

3/ Skill Discovery in the Flow of Work

What is it with everything ‘in the flow of work’?

Perhaps in 2024, I will coin tea in the flow of work! Stranger things have happened, friend.

This integrates skill discovery into daily tasks. Skills are suggested based on Microsoft Graph signals, and employees can confirm, add, and manage their skills.

Although not perfect, this type of transparency can motivate and engage people in their skill journey.

How it all works

There’s a slick 2-minute video from Microsoft here.

This is my TL;DW (too long; didn’t watch)

The goal of Microsoft Viva Skills tool is to help you uncover and leverage the expertise across the workforce. Here’s my non-techy explanation of how this works:

→ Viva Skills integrates two major data layers:

  • Microsoft Graph: This provides access to data across Microsoft 365 services, including insights about employee activities.
  • LinkedIn Skills Graph: This leverages real-time signals to map how different skills relate to each other, to jobs, and to learning content.

→ Using the data from these two sources, Viva Skills employs AI reasoning to infer the expertise of employees.

Using this AI reasoning, Viva Skills intelligently crafts individual skill profiles. It provides an updated understanding of current workforce skills and a more nuanced and dynamic understanding of emerging workforce capabilities. That’s a big win.

This information is then integrated into Viva and Microsoft 365 experiences.

Microsoft and LinkedIn Skills Graph explained

A explanation of microsoft graph and Linkedin skills graph for the best workplace skills technology

MS Graph Deep Dive

Microsoft Graph is like a big connector for various Microsoft services.

It allows different applications to talk to each other and share information. Common sources of data it draws from include:

  • Email and Calendar from Outlook
  • Documents from OneDrive and SharePoint
  • Chat and Meeting information from Teams
  • User Information from Azure Active Directory

So, it’s a tool that helps bring together all the data from these different Microsoft apps to create more integrated and efficient experiences. A little big brother-ish but what isn’t these days?

LinkedIn skills graph

The LinkedIn Skills Graph is a system that LinkedIn uses to understand and show how different skills are related to each other and to various jobs.

It looks at what skills people list on their LinkedIn profiles, what skills are mentioned in job postings, and what is taught in learning courses on LinkedIn. This helps to get a clear picture of what skills are popular and important in different industries and jobs.

I don’t know how reliable it is, but it sounds good.

Will it work with your current tech?

The simple answer is Yes.

While specific details about all compatible systems are not provided publicly as I write this (smart move), key integrations include:

  1. Microsoft 365 Productivity Platforms
  2. Microsoft Graph
  3. LinkedIn Skills Graph
  4. Viva Learning
  5. Third-Party Apps

👀 The benefit for organisations

→ Transition to Skill-Based Organisation

Every company seems to be hot on this right now.

They should have been doing this all along in my opinion, but hey, I’m one guy with a keyboard. Reaching this goal is made easier when you have the right tech in your corner to support this push.

→ Clarity and transparency on real skills data

I hope this is a pretty clear one.

It’s hard for L&D and HR teams to get skills data, and it’s even harder to know how to convey this in the right way to an individual. The thing is we each want clarity on what skills we need to work on and how. Skills tech can facilitate this.

→ Awareness and engagement with skills and careers

Every L&D team chases the engagement dragon.

Like me, you’ve no doubt often been kept awake by the deep question of “How do we boost engagement with learning initiatives?”. Get people interested in skills and you’ll have more engagement than you know what to do with.

→ Connecting siloed systems and data

Don’t you just hate tools and data which can’t talk to each other?

It’s been a constant pain in my own career. The promise of tools like this from Microsoft is to centralise access in one place. Is it good? I’m not sure. Will it actually work? Not sure about that either.

Techwolf skills platform as a potential choice of the best workplace skills technology

Skills technology for non-Microsoft companies

I’m a man of my word, so here’s an alternative for you non-MS houses.

Check out TechWolf.

I have no affiliation with them or MS btw, these are my independent views on current tech, and I like TW at this moment. They made my top 5 emerging L&D tech solutions to check out too.

TechWolf’s technology is like an AI assistant that helps understand the skills within your company.

It digs into what everyone is good at, linking these skills to projects and learning paths.

It’s designed to work with the systems you already have, so there’s no hassle of adding a new platform (allegedly). It sounds like a useful tool for HR teams to make informed decisions about their workforce, based on real data.

📌 Things to know

  1. Integration with Existing Systems: TechWolf links up with the software you already use in your workplace.

    It does this through an API, which is like a bridge that connects different technologies. This means you don’t have to get used to a new HR system. It just becomes part of what you’re already using.
  2. AI Technology: It uses AI to understand and analyse all sorts of job-related data, like employee skills and job requirements. This AI figures out the context and meaning, not just looking at keywords.

Final thoughts

The bottom line is measuring skills is hard!

Recruiting tech to help you with this can make it a lot easier.

There are two industry-leading pros I’d recommend you follow in this space for more insightful thoughts on skills on the frontline today:

Before you go… 👋

If you like my writing and think “Hey, I’d like to hear more of what this guy has to say” then you’re in luck.

You can join me every Tuesday morning for more tools, templates and insights for the modern L&D pro in my weekly newsletter.

Categories
Learning Strategy Skills

How To Close The Skills Gap For Work

Ok, we’ve spent the previous edition in this series getting super nerdy about skills.

Find those here:

Now it’s time to get really tactical.

That means taking action people. We’re going to shift gears to unpack how you can close the skills gap not only in your company but in your skillset too. What a fabulous 2-for-1 offer!

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We know from our exploration so far that skills are the biggest barrier to business transformation for many companies. The same goes for each of us with our career opportunities.

If we don’t have the right skills, we don’t have access to the best opportunities.

Data from the World Economic Forum, Future of Jobs report in 2023 tells us that companies are focusing on the below practices to bridge skills gaps.

Let’s unpack the top 3:

  • Improve progression and promotion processes
  • Offer more money
  • Provide effective reskilling and upskilling

Only one of these is an L&D thing. I’ll let you guess which one.

3 key insights to help close the skills gap

Progression and promotion processes

This can be a very fickle conversation.

If you want a quick way to scare any line manager and HR partner at one time, ask about progression and promotion processes.

They’re almost like a secret central intelligence file that no one can view.

They exist, but how one navigates these is a mystery in most businesses. However, the pressure these days to be more transparent on just how the hell does one move from here to here has never been bigger.

In reality, we have a really easy fix here.

Just make it very clear and transparent on how all this works. As much as you can of course (calm down HR managers, I’m still looking out for you).

You’ll most likely solve 70% of issues here.

It’s never going to be straightforward but a bit of clear structure will go far.

Money, money, money

Let me be straight with you – I don’t have the answer to this.

I’ve been in the HR and L&D space for over 16 years. There’s never an easy answer to this.

It’s contextual to each person, company and moment.

I’ll leave it at that because this isn’t my zone of expertise.

Effective upskilling and reskilling

Finally, something we can get our teeth into.

We know how important this is for every human on this spinning blue rock to survive. So, forgive me for not covering this like many of the fluff pieces do.

Instead, we’re getting right into the components of a killer upskilling or reskilling programme.

7 practical steps to close the skills gap

I see too much junk on this topic online.

Too much focus on the how, aka the delivery of using ‘x’ tool to do this, and not enough on the what and why behind this.

You can’t have the former without the latter.

Here’s the basic principles to consider:

1/ Identify real business performance enhancers

Get clear on specific skills gaps within your organisations.

It doesn’t matter how you do it, just do it. This data is the bedrock from which you ensure your efforts are focused on the right things. Ignore the assumptions and biased opinions behind closed doors.

→ Engage with department heads and conduct surveys or focus groups with employees to gain insights.

2/ Understand employee aspirations

You don’t want to build stuff no one wants.

People often don’t know what they should focus on. Yet, you should still have your finger on the pulse of what the voice of the business is saying about the skills they value.

Employee surveys are useful data mines for this.

If you don’t have this, get out into your company to run mini-focus groups and surveys. You’ll be surprised what comes back.

Your goal is to align business and employees as much as possible.

3/ Establish clear objectives and outcomes

This should be obvious.

Yet, it seems to get lost in the excitement of the ‘how’.

Always know your measure of success. Without this, nothing else is worth much. You’re essentially throwing stuff on the wall to see what sticks.

→ Work with key stakeholders to define and review these. It’s a team effort after all.

4/ Practical application

Every learning experience should have this.

It’s the measure of value with any experience. We all need a safe environment and an opportunity to put what we’ve absorbed into practice.

This could take many forms including:

  • Stretch projects
  • Digital and real-life simulations
  • One-time scenarios and events

Whatever it is, you want to work with teams across your organisation to create something that best fits the culture and context of the work people need to do.

5/ Create a supportive environment

This is where leveraging line managers works well.

Often, I find, managers don’t take enough accountability for the development of their team. Too many are confused about their job. It’s not about the doing, it’s all focused on the people.

We can only be successful based on the environment we create and that others do too.

It doesn’t matter how much ‘learning’ or training’ a company provides. Without this practical application, it’s money down the drain.

Ideas for this include:

  • Line manager coaching and mentoring
  • External mentoring
  • Group Slack and/or Teams communities, or go rogue and do a real-life group session

6/ Evaluate and improve

Setting goals that you don’t track is dumb.

Sorry. It’s true.

I see this all the time. The common situation is to track none of the agreed metrics through an experience, only to wait until it’s complete and realise none of them was achieved 🤦.

Feedback and/or retro loops in every meeting are useful to combat this.

This doesn’t need to be heavy.

Spare 5 minutes at the end of every update meeting to evaluate where you are today, and how everything is performing and review if anything needs to be adapted.

Those 5 minutes could save you months of work and lots of money!

7/ Building Partnerships to cement success

This is all about social proof.

Nothing sells and cements the reputation of an experience more than endorsements.

Here, I suggest leveraging your senior leaders and well-respected team members to become part of your endorsement campaign. Imagine it like a political race without all the crazy backstabbing.

Case studies and personal stories work well here.

Speaking of case studies. Keep scrolling for inspiration from some of the world’s largest retailers.

Two case studies on closing the skills gap

🛒 IKEA: Upskilling 8,500 employees to boost sales by $1.4 billion

This is the most popular case study on the blog.

You can read the full piece here. Get the TL;DR below:

  • 8,500 call centre workers were transformed into interior design advisors.

  • Billie, the AI bot, effectively managed 47% of customer inquiries.

  • Sales through remote interior design consultations amounted to 1.3 billion euros(~$1.4 billion).

🥐 Carrefour: Upskilling 320,00 employees for the Digital World

This French Grocery retailer is on a mission to future-proof its employees for the evolving digital world.

Get the full case study here. TL;DR below:

  • Carrefour aims for a digital-first retail model by 2026.

  • The ‘Tous digital!’ initiative equips all employees, notably frontline staff, with essential digital skills.

  • In 3 weeks they upskilled 60,000 employees, aligning with EU’s 2023 Year of Skills.

  • Future plans include an exploration of emerging tech like Generative AI.
A 3-step framework to close the skills gap

Steal this framework for easy skill-building conversations

I’ve shared this before and I’m doing it again because the drum beat needs to keep going.

I find we never do enough skill health checks.

They’re the objects that grant us the power to improve our earnings and freedom, yet we don’t tend to them like you would a garden. Your skills need constant attention in the form of watering and pruning ya know.

Every quarter I recommend you do this:

  • Open a doc or grab a notebook
  • Create a 3-column table
  • Place these 3 headers – ‘expiring’, ‘evolving’ and ‘emerging’ in one of the column headers
  • Now, the good stuff. Reflect on your current skills and place each of them in the best column.

The power of this exercise enables you to:

  1. Chuck out the skills which no longer serve you and the world
  2. Double down on the skills that can give you a performance advantage
  3. Identify advantageous skills to add to separate you from the crowd

Be human skills-focused

As I say nearly every week, I’m all in for a human-powered future. Digital technology is a beautiful enabler, but it is nothing without humanness.

Your biggest advantage in this world is your human skills.

Technical skills are incredibly important, but your human capabilities are what makes the difference. I’m hoping this has come through in all the data and insights we’ve explored across November.

→ Unlock human capabilities at the heart of everything you build.

The Skills Trilogy: Today, Tomorrow and Always

Ok, we’ve reached the end of the first trilogy in the series.

Fret not, we have much more to come on the future of skills for 2024 before the year is out.

For now, feed your brain with the previous instalments.

  1. Today’s Skills: The 5 skills that matter most
  2. Tomorrow’s Skills: The skills we need to build to succeed for the next 5 years
  3. Always: How to build effective skill strategies (you’re reading it)

Bonus:

Before you go… 👋

If you like my writing and think “Hey, I’d like to hear more of what this guy has to say” then you’re in luck.

You can join me every Tuesday morning for more tools, templates and insights for the modern L&D pro in my weekly newsletter.

Categories
Learning Strategy Skills

The Skills To Thrive For The Next 5 Years

Survival is the game of the human race.

At the end of the day, we’re all just trying to figure out how to survive. Skills are the currency of that game. They’re how we position ourselves in the marketplace of employability.

That was a rather philosophical line.

Last time, we focused on the 5 skills that matter most, and why too many companies are ignoring the most important skill of this year in AI delegation.

Today we’ll unpack how these skills co-exist with each other and the next 5 year outlook for our skills.

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The Skills Brain

This viz is from the Microsoft Work Trend report. I’ve adapted it for purposes of clarity.

Newsflash: Learning isn’t keeping up with the pace of work.

You probably knew that already.

It’s not just AI skills that leaders are looking for employees to develop. They want those that will enhance an AI-powered future too. As we covered last time, the future is human-powered.

Human + AI skills are the winning combo.

You’ve probably seen that line in some form on social media. I believe it’s the future we’re currently building. Look at generative AI as a tool. Like any tool, it has a time and place for use, and its real power is in the hands of a skilled operator.

If these are the baseline skills, what else can we expect to craft in the next 5 years of both reskilling and upskilling programmes?

Let’s dive deeper down the rabbit hole, friend.

Back to the future…or 2027

Like many other reports, WSE drops their 10 skills for the reskilling and upskilling scene:

  1. Analytical thinking
  2. Creative thinking
  3. AI and big data
  4. Leadership and social influence
  5. Resilience, flexibility and agility
  6. Curiosity and lifelong learning
  7. Technological literacy
  8. Design and user experience
  9. Motivation and self-awareness
  10. Empathy and active listening

The takeaway: Skills are always being disrupted. It is the nature of life.

Are you seeing the pattern here?

Human + digital technology together. These are the perfect combo to navigate the career game.

In the year of AI, is it any surprise companies rank analytical thinking as the #1 core skill for work?

Human thinking on any level is something generative AI can’t do.

In an evolving workplace where we’ll likely partner with AI tools, the ability to think like a human will be a prized asset. That’s why it’s no surprise, critical thinking came in at #2 on this list.

The social skills pandemic

Digital technology is beautiful.

I’m a huge fan of what it’s contributed to and enabled in society. Yet, I’m also aware of what we’ve lost.

I feel like we struggle to talk with and engage with each other more as the years pass by. I heard from organisations recently how their next generation of talent struggles to do simple things outside of a screen.

More data on this is now coming to light.

That’s why it’s no surprise this report’s top 10 skills for the future are stuffed with social skills like:

  • Leading: As workplaces become more collaborative and less hierarchical, the ability to lead and influence others is no longer restricted to the C-suite.

  • Empathy and Active Listening: With remote work and digital communication becoming the norm, the need for empathy and active listening skyrockets. These skills are vital for effective communication and teamwork, particularly when face-to-face interactions are limited.

  • Emotional Intelligence: High EQ, represented by these social skills, is increasingly seen as a predictor of success, sometimes even over IQ. It’s not just about being smart. It’s about being smart with people.

Evolving & emerging skills

I find we never do enough skill health checks.

Which is weird, IMO.

They’re the objects that grant us the power to improve our earnings and freedom, yet we don’t tend to them like you would a garden. Your skills need constant attention in the form of watering and pruning ya know.

  • Every quarter I recommend you do this:
  • Open a doc or grab a notebook
  • Create a 3-column table
  • Place these 3 headers – ‘expiring’, ‘evolving’ and ‘emerging’ in one of the column headers
  • Now, the good stuff. Reflect on your current skills and place each of them in the best column.

The power of this exercise enables you to:

  1. Chuck out the skills which no longer serve you and the world
  2. Double down on the skills that can give you a performance advantage
  3. Identify advantageous skills to add to separate you from the crowd

To help you with the last two columns, here’s what the World Economic Forums identified as the most pressing evolving and emerging skills across industries:

Skills are the biggest barrier to success

This is true for both you personally, and organisations.

We cannot understate the importance of skills in life and work. We each partake in the career marketplace. The currency in this market is skills.

→ The better skills you have, the better opportunities you can unlock.

You will see the reverse of this on the company side. For any company to succeed, they need the people with the best skills. And, those with the best skills can command the best opportunities.

Are you following me? Good.

We see this backed up in more data from the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs report. The single biggest barrier to businesses evolving is skills.

We have two big opportunities as L&D operators and leaders here:

1/ Focus deeply on your skills

As those often responsible for helping others improve, we tend to forget ourselves.

Don’t make this mistake.

You play in the career marketplace with the rest of the world. Spend time investing in the skills explored above with the how-to frameworks shared last time. These will be your route to being a high-performing operator with opportunities knocking at your door and a strategic L&D leader, should that be the path you want.

Pair these human skills with the 7 skills L&D pros need today and you will be unstoppable.

2/ Crafting the right skills strategies

Let’s be real, most companies have no clue what skills they have or need.

I see a lot of posturing online but very few have a real grasp on this. In next week’s chat, I’m going to share ideas and examples to help you close your company’s skills gap. For now, I’ll say this.

Lean on your internal and external market data to focus on the right skills, not more skills.

Too many of these fancy skill-based organisation strategies are focused on opinions rather than concrete evidence.

Questions to consider right now are:

  • Do I have a view of the key skills my organisation needs to succeed today
  • If not, how can I get this? (talent management data, HR and L&D systems etc)
  • Are these skills aligned with my organisation’s goals?
  • What are the skills we need to be successful in the next 3 years? Future-proof your workforce
  • How do I get the answers to these in the simplest and most minimal way? This is very important ←

You can learn more about skill-based organisations in this piece from Degreed.

Final thoughts

In sum:

  • Don’t forget to invest in your own skills
  • Focus on the right skills, not more skills
  • Skill strategies are worthless without the right data

Also read: The 5 skills that matter for work and how to build them

Before you go… 👋

If you like my writing and think “Hey, I’d like to hear more of what this guy has to say” then you’re in luck.

You can join me every Tuesday morning for more tools, templates and insights for the modern L&D pro in my weekly newsletter.

Categories
Skills

The 5 Skills That Matter For The Future of Work And How To Build Them

Everyone is scrambling to stay relevant.

We’re often led down the road of ‘quick hacks’ from social gurus in pursuit of being ‘future-proof’. It’s so hard to know what future-proof looks like in this era.

I could be a full-time gardener next year if AI does what all the ‘experts’ say it will.

I digress.

To shape the future, I look for the skills we need to both thrive and survive the road ahead. Over the past few years, I’ve analysed nearly 20 reports on the future of skills.

Yes, riveting, I’m aware.

Let’s unpack what I discovered in this mountain of research.

Contents

The 5 skills that matter for the Future of Work

I hate presentations where you wait an hour or two for the answer.

That’s not how I work, so here’s the headline data you need to know.

These 5 skills appeared in the top 10 of every report. It’s a consistency that’s hard to ignore.

I think of these as the essentials for navigating the next few years of work. Which we all know are going to be transformative (cough *AI*…cough). I’ll take you through what each skill actually entails, why it matters, and how to cultivate it for real world impact.

If you take only one thing away from today’s conversation, let it be this:

The future may be uncertain, but these skills will ground you no matter where the market goes.

And… maybe an even more important takeaway, the future is human-powered, not AI-first.

Trust but verify: The data behind this

I have a Sherlock Holmes case load worth of investigative material.

I won’t list every report. It’s my job to make it easier for you after all. I doubt you’ll explore them. Unless you have several months to digest 200 (ish) + pages, of course.

Here are the sources that formed the backbone of this analysis:

The great disruptor: Generative AI

2023 – 2024 will go down as the year/s of AI.

Each report analysed takes in the rise of Gen AI and how it influences our modern skills. I don’t believe we can talk about skills this year without those two little letters in AI.

The way we live and work is obviously affected by this.

It’s happening whether we like it or not.

The real question is how does it impact the skills we need to succeed?

From my analysis so far, my bet is firmly on doubling down on your human skills. Each new report I sink my brain into only solidifies the need to build a strong foundation of human capabilities.

Deconstructing the 5 skills

I’m not going to leave you high and dry with no actionable takeaways.

I’ll unpack each skill and how you can nurture these in your career. Note: don’t forget the role of context in this exploration. You don’t need every skill and micro-skill on this list.

It’s up to you to find the right mix for your context.

Life is always moving in uncontrollable ways. So, look at what I share as a compass that adapts to it’s environment rather than the map (I hope that makes sense).

A map of the 5 key skills for the future of work.

1/ Analytical Judgement: The art and science of making smart choices

Often exchanged with critical thinking.

It’s about evaluating information with a blend of logic, creativity, and judgement that can make or break strategic decisions (no pressure).

It’s composed of:

  • Critical Thinking: A skill often mentioned yet rarely unpacked to its full potential.

    It’s about examining issues from multiple angles, challenging assumptions, and identifying biases in the information at hand.

  • Problem-Solving: This is a combination of creative thinking to generate solutions and analytical thinking to evaluate them.

  • Logical Reasoning: The ability to structure information in a way that allows for confident outcomes. It often involves the use of frameworks or models to make sense of a complex situation.

    Basically, it makes the complex sound simple.

  • Decision-Making: Ultimately, analytical judgement is aimed at making informed decisions.

    You synthesise all the information you’ve gathered and weigh against the potential risks and benefits, to choose the best course of action.

→ How to Improve

  1. Engage in critical thinking exercises: Seek out different points of view. Be intentional in how you assimilate information to make your conclusions. Never outsource your thinking!

  2. Get comfy with data: Not every role demands deep data expertise, but knowing how to interpret trends and outcomes sharpens your decision making.

  3. Explore frameworks: Frameworks like SWOT analysis and Eisenhower’s Decision Matrix add structure to complex decisions.

2/ Creative Thinking: Fresh ideas…

I get this one can always sound a bit ambiguous.

It’s easy to dismiss creativity as a bonus skill, something only a few naturally excel in.

It allows you to break free from conventional thought patterns and explore new ways of solving problems. And…it can be learned.

Here’s what it covers:

  • Divergent Thinking: Open the floor for multiple solutions to a single problem, rather than forcing everything into one “right” answer.
  • Innovation: Creativity is closely tied to innovation.

    It’s not just solving problems but doing so in new and unique ways that add value. An emphasis on ‘value’.
  • Imagination: Imagination allows you to explore ‘what could be‘. We had a lot as children, we lose it somewhere along the way. Find a way to rediscover it.
  • Flexibility: The art of switching between different types of thought processes and perspectives. Aka, not being afraid to change your mind when given new data.
  • Risk-Taking: Life is risk. This is not easy, but can be rewarding. I’m not endorsing a reckless approach, rather, a calculated one to trying something new.

→ How to Improve

  1. Collaborate with Others: Different perspectives can spark new ideas, so don’t pass up the chance to connect with your fellow humans.

  2. Set aside time for unstructured thinking: An hour a week for “free thinking” can spark breakthroughs you won’t find in the structured grind.

  3. Learn from experiments, even failures: Document what works and what doesn’t. Creativity often thrives on these insights.

3/ Digital Intelligence: Get smart with tech

I hope this is a straightforward one.

We live in a world dominated, connected and integrated with digital technology. The best way to survive and thrive in it is by understanding how to leverage its tools.

You can’t stick your head in the sand anymore. That sand is now a digitally connected landscape.

Your digital intelligence is a blend of tech proficiency, digital citizenship, and cognitive skills.

Here’s a more nuanced look at its various components:

  • Technical proficiency: Understand how the platforms your most used apps are built on work, from basic software to more specialised tools. I’m talking the basics here.

  • Digital literacy: Beyond just knowing how to use tools, digital literacy involves understanding the “language” of these tools.

    You can call this the ‘why’ behind using tools.

  • Protect your data: This is just common sense, imo. It terrifies me how little the average human knows about protecting their personal data.

    Most are just bleeding data without knowing it.

  • Be thoughtful: While digital tech is amazing, it comes at a price. Understanding the ethical implications of your digital actions is wise.

    Think about copyright laws and understand the societal impact of algorithms. Never forget, “With great power, comes great responsibility”.

  • Move fast (but don’t break things): New tools and platforms emerge daily. Don’t be afraid to experiment and be an early adopter.

→ How to Improve

  1. Experiment: Try new tools and don’t be afraid to fail. You gotta find what works for you and enhances your life and work. Ignore the market.

  2. Engage in digital conversations: Blogs, social media and newsletters (like this one) can keep you in the loop of the latest, greatest and most useful stuff you need to know.

  3. Prioritise data safety: Get serious about data protection. I know I sound like everyone’s Dad, but read up on best practices, manage passwords securely, and understand basic cybersecurity. Thank me later.

4/ Adaptability: Change with the times

I know this is a overused word.

Yet, we can’t deny its importance. Essentially, it’s being a chameleon and moving with change rather than resisting it. A real mind-f**k for our biology.

Although it sounds simple, it’s a complex interplay of several attributes and attitudes:

  • Emotional resilience: This is the bedrock of adaptability. The ability to stay steady under pressure, even as challenges mount.

    Let’s be real, this is super hard and to be quite honest, I don’t have all the answers to it. We each have our own methods.

  • Learning agility: Be willing to quickly learn new information and skills, especially in the face of new challenges.

  • Open-mindedness 
    Listen to others’ perspectives.

    Being willing to change your own views and approaches when presented with new information is hard, yet, it can be a great unlock.

→ How to Improve

  1. Embrace Change: Mix up small habits in your daily routine to become more comfortable with change. Take different paths when you go for a walk or go to the gym at a different time. Make the mind build new experiences.

  2. Broaden your experiences: The more diverse your experiences, the more adaptable you’ll become. Say ‘yes’ to that next project.

  3. Listen closely: Spend more time actually listening to people rather than considering your response. You’ll be amazed at what you can pick up.

5/ Social Influence: Be more human

Don’t get confused.

This has nothing to do with having a large online following or being popular. This is a nuanced skill about building trust, showing credibility, and moving people toward positive outcomes.

Here’s a more in-depth look:

  • Communication: The cornerstone of social influence, and our existence. It’s more than talking to fellow humans. It’s about actively listening and being able to read between the lines (a skill in itself).

  • Emotional Intelligence: Essential for navigating interpersonal relationships, emotional intelligence involves both self-awareness and the ability to read and respond to others’ emotions.

  • Leadership Skills
    This isn’t about authority but inspiring and motivating people to achieve a common goal.

  • Credibility
    To influence others, you need to be seen as credible and trustworthy. This means shaving a track history of actually doing the things you talk about.

→ How to Improve

  1. Get comfortable talking: Whether it’s through public speaking, talking to a friend or watching others. Confidence here will increase your social influence.

  2. Build Emotional Intelligence: Practice empathy and active listening to understand others better. Easier said than done, of course.

  3. Be consistent: Do what you say you will do and live by your actions not just words.

Final thoughts

Looking ahead, one thing’s clear.

While technology will keep evolving, it’s our uniquely human skills that’ll make us indispensable.

The skills we’ve dug into here aren’t trends. They’re the backbone of a resilient, future-ready career.

Here’s how you can put these into action right now:

  1. Start small: Pick one skill (you need) to work on. Tackle it in bite-sized ways. Apply critical thinking to a work decision, spend 15 minutes daily on a new digital tool, or run a creative brainstorming session with your team.

  2. Reflect, adjust, repeat: At month’s end, check in with yourself. What progress have you made? What didn’t work? Reflection is a powerful exercise.

  3. Ask for input: Get feedback from colleagues or mentors.

  4. Stay curious: A curious mind is your best ally. Whether it’s a podcast, a conversation with someone outside your field, or reading about on a new insight. Curiosity is the fuel you need.

Next time, we’ll explore the next 5 year outlook for the skills economy.

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If you like my writing and think “Hey, I’d like to hear more of what this guy has to say” then you’re in luck.

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Categories
Artificial intelligence Skills

How IKEA Reskilled 8,500 Employees To Boost Sales by $1.4 Billion

AI is everything, everywhere and all at once.

It’s transforming industries at an unprecedented rate. The challenge for many businesses isn’t just how to adopt the technology, but what to do with the people it displaces.

IKEA, a global leader in home furnishings (and delicious meatballs), faced this dilemma when they introduced an AI chatbot to handle customer service. Billie, the AI bot, effectively managed 47% of customer inquiries.

But instead of cutting jobs, IKEA chose a different path, one that not only reskilled 8,500 employees but also generated a remarkable $1.4 billion in additional revenue.

This case study offers insights into how strategic reskilling, alongside AI adoption, can drive both business success and employee growth.

👓 Summary

IKEA set out to provide more value to its customers and support it’s employees with reskilling opportunities. It did so by giving new skills to 8,500 employees displaced by the introduction of a AI assistant, and making a nice $1.4 billion in profit for its efforts.

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The challenge: Displaced by AI

Like many retailers, IKEA deals with a high volume of customer service queries.

To meet this demand more efficiently, they introduced an AI chatbot capable of handling routine customer inquiries. This AI solution quickly became a cost-effective tool, significantly reducing the need for human intervention.

Positive but also negative.

The decision to automate, however, posed a critical question: what would happen to the thousands of employees whose roles were now largely redundant?

Instead of following the path of least resistance and letting these employees go, IKEA created a different story. They realised that while the chatbot could handle basic queries, there were still numerous areas of the business where human skills and expertise were essential.

One of those in reviewing and improving the Chatbots answers, and others in new business areas.

How IKEA reskilled 8,500 Call Center Reps into Interior Design Advisors in under two years

How IKEA turned 8,500 Call Center Reps into Interior Design Advisors in under two years

IKEA’s answer to this challenge was a comprehensive reskilling initiative.

Rather than downsizing, the company retrained 8,500 employees for new roles in such as interior design consultants. Basically, an advisor helps you pick the items that would best compliment a room or previous orders.

These roles leveraged their existing customer service skills but added new layers of expertise that aligned with the company’s evolving business needs.

This is the point of the term “Reskilling”

What made IKEA’s approach particularly impactful was how they identified the gap between the employees’ current skills and the demands of the new roles.

Instead of starting from scratch, they built on the employees’ foundational customer service knowledge. Training programs focused on crafting specific customer interaction, design, and sales capabilities.

Others were up-skilled to handle more complex customer service tasks that required empathy, creative problem-solving, and expertise. The skills we know that AI can’t replicate.

The unexpected $1.4 Billion boost to IKEA sales

The results of IKEA’s reskilling efforts were remarkable.

Not only did the company avoid layoffs, but they also unlocked new revenue streams. By retraining employees to offer value-added services in interior design consultations, IKEA enhanced their customer experience and sales.

The financial impact was significant: the company reported an unexpected $1.4 billion in additional revenue.

This is a powerful reminder that technology and people don’t have to be in competition. When deployed thoughtfully, AI can free up human talent to focus on more strategic and revenue-generating tasks.

(Yes, read that line again over-eager CEO).

IKEA reskilled 8,500 employees affected by AI technology and generated $1.4 billion in revenue

Why reskilling, not downsizing is the answer to AI adoption

Jobs being displaced by AI doesn’t mean the end.

It’s actually an opportunity craft new skills and deploy human resource where it is needed most in your business.

  1. Reskilling is a Strategic Advantage, Not a Cost

    Ikea’s story demonstrates that reskilling isn’t just about retaining employees, it’s about positioning your business for growth.

    Instead of viewing AI as a threat to jobs, IKEA saw it as an opportunity to redeploy human talent to higher value roles. For L&D professionals, this is a key lesson: your reskilling efforts should be aligned with the strategic goals of the business.

    When done right, they can drive both employee engagement and financial performance.

  2. AI and Human Skills Can Coexist

    One of the biggest concerns surrounding AI adoption is the fear that it will replace human jobs.

    IKEA’s approach shows that AI can complement human capabilities rather than replace them. While the chatbot took over routine customer service tasks, humans were freed up to take on more complex, creative, and customer-centric roles—areas where AI still falls short.

    L&D teams should focus on identifying these complementary areas within their organisation’s. By fostering skills that enhance, rather than compete with, AI, companies can position themselves for long-term success.

  3. Specific Reskilling Programs Drive Results

    Ikea didn’t offer generic training to its employees.

    They crafted targeted programs designed to address specific business needs. You can’t create any old generic experience and deem it “reskilling” L&D professionals can take a page from this book by designing training programs that bridge the gap between existing skills and the new demands brought on by AI and other emerging technologies.

    The key is to recognise that reskilling doesn’t mean starting from zero. Many employees already have valuable foundational skills that can be built upon with focused training.

  4. Invest in People, Reap Rewards

    Perhaps the most important lesson from IKEA’s approach is the value of investing in people.

    While AI may offer immediate cost savings, the long-term benefits of developing human talent can far outweigh those savings. IKEA’s reskilling initiative not only saved jobs but also turned a potential disruption into a revenue-generating opportunity.

    For L&D professionals, this highlights the importance of advocating for reskilling and upskilling initiatives at the leadership level.

    When employees feel valued and are given the opportunity to grow, the business benefits are clear.

Reskilling in the Age of AI

IKEA’s story illustrates a path forward for businesses grappling with the challenges of AI adoption.

Instead of viewing AI as a threat, companies can leverage it as a tool to drive innovation, while reskilling their workforce to meet new demands.

For L&D teams, the opportunity is clear: by leading reskilling efforts, they can help their organizations not only survive but thrive in the age of AI.

Ikea’s $1.4 billion result is proof that investing in people is not just a moral decision, it’s a strategic one.

♻️ Sharing is caring

Found this case study enlightening?

Feel free to share it with your network. And if you’re considering a similar transformation in your business, I’d love to hear about it.

Drop a comment below or reach out to me directly.

Before you go… 👋

If you like my writing and think “Hey, I’d like to hear more of what this guy has to say” then you’re in luck.

You can join me every Tuesday morning for more tools, templates and insights for the modern L&D pro in my weekly newsletter.