The importance of skills development

How can an employer boost staff capability both inside and outside the office? The HR Leader, in partnership with The Access Group, hosted a panel of three professionals for the “Thriving in a tight talent market with effective leadership” webinar in September 2022, where they detailed best practice for ensuring employee development.

According to Julip founder Kim Wiegand, when addressing skills shortages, employers should initially focus on core skills that are going to serve as a foundation to build upon.

Ms Wiegand discussed these key skills: “RMIT did a recent report just this year saying that employers reported that 26 per cent of employees’ digital literacy skills are out of date. And they state that digital skills are no longer nice to have, but a core business skill. Now, you could rectify that, right? So, there’s some essential technical skill development, which should just be a baseline across the organisation – this is what we need to function.”

She continued: “The same report, however, claims that employees’ soft skills, including leadership, critical thinking, communication, were essential for businesses to thrive in the next five years.”

While fostering employee workplace capabilities is important, Ms Wiegand noted that it is equally important to help people outside the workplace: “What do we need to support them holistically? Now, that comes down to … organisations looking beyond the nine to five … and one example is domestic and family violence.

“I work with an organisation who supports corporates and firms [on] how [to] implement programs to support their employees experiencing domestic and family violence. And some say, ‘Well, why is that my problem?’ Because you’re supporting their whole wellbeing, their whole self,” said Ms Wiegand.

Remembering that employee needs and wants are not the same across the board is important. Employers should be embracing diversity.

Ms Wiegand explained: “We come back to the point that we’re people and we are all completely different … Different backgrounds, skillsets, genders, desires, everything’s different about us. So how can most organisations consider that they will foster fantastic leadership or even performance within a group of very different people with an often one-size-fits-all approach?”

Development can not only boost current staff competence but may also help with talent attraction and employee engagement.

Stuart Freeman, director at Kennedy Reid Group, commented: “Organisations that are involved in mentoring, coaching, one-on-one meetings, I love. I love this talk of looking at the whole individual, and I feel like that’s become absolutely critical … particularly since COVID-19.

“You need to have an interest in your people and where they’re at and are they well? And I think the organisations that have placed a priority on that, they’re going to be at the forefront of being able to attract the best talent in the marketplace. And that’s going to be key, and it’ll continue to be key going forward,” said Mr Freeman.

Michael Byrnes, partner at Swaab, discussed how staff development can help turn the tide of talent shortages: “What it brings home is the importance of people, that you can’t run your business successfully without people, and without the right people performing their role to the best of their ability.”

Mr Byrnes continued: “All of this is very important. Being able to recruit people, being able to get people, and as part of that, letting them know that they’re valued, that they have an important role to play, and that they will be assisted and supported in achieving their potential. So that’s both an important recruitment point, but also … very important in developing those people to achieve their potential.”

He added: “It’s really bringing home how important people are to an organisation. Without them, you can’t operate, you can’t function. You can have everything else. You can have all of the technical infrastructure, the equipment, but without the people, the right people performing to the best of their ability, then your business, your operation, your organisation is either going to fail or have critical issues that won’t be able to be successfully addressed.”

The transcript of this webinar, when quoted above, was slightly edited for publishing purposes. The full audio conversation and the original webinar can be found here.