Skills development at the workplace for professionals is a significant approach to achieving high-end goals for companies and organizations. As the demands and dominance of skilled professionals are rising, the 21st century is facing an apprehension for insufficient skilled people in workplace due to capacity-building limitations. Therefore, skill development in the workplace for professionals is vital to address this vacuum.
A survey by Gallup has collected huge sample data from workers based in the USA. According to their report, 71% of workers claim that their job satisfaction has increased after they received training and skill development resources. In comparison, 61% of the workers consider learning opportunities is one of the reasons they want to stay at their current jobs. Overall, above 50% workers would like to consider changing their jobs if they do not get to update their professional skills.
Many organizations spend a fortune to have their employees receive substantial training and attend workshops under resources building category annually. According to several reports, yearly $370 billion USD is spent on employee skills development in formal/informal trainings, online/offline courses and workshops and so on. Likewise, several platforms and resource organizations provide specialized on-job apprenticeships and skills development programs for professionals. However, growth in e-learning platforms shows significant shift towards online learning. Despite many free resources, online skills development expenditure by 2025 is projected over $300 billion. Therefore, battle is intense here.
Importance of Skills Development at Workplace for Professionals
Why skills development at workplace is essential for the professionals?; definitely for organizational growth and stability. Coupled with that, several factors contribute to that investment in employees. For example, minimizing performance gap is a major concern for any company. If not addressed efficiently, these shortcomings of the professionals can impact overall growth rate.
As these skills development programs are tailored to the specific need and gaps of the individuals, it is helpful for the professionals win their lacking and improve overall personal and professional goals.
Technical/Soft skills for Professionals
Competition in the market is intensifying. Professionals and experts need to undergo continuous process of skill development at workplace to ensure organizational as well as self- prosperity. Nonetheless, while importance of training and skills development is absolute, identifying the crucial technical and managerial skills is very subjective and sometimes hard to determine. We can start with understanding what skills are coated as “professional skills”. In addition to personal improvement, professional skills mainly covers organization specific goals implementation at training programs for the professionals.
By relevance, edX shows in an article that in the next five years, these skills will be far higher within 70%-90% relevance comparing to other skills existing today.
Skill Percentage
Analytical/Critical | ██████████████████████████ 86%
Digital Capabilities | █████████████████████████ 85%
Leadership Skills | ██████████████████████ 82%
Interpersonal Skills | █████████████████████ 81%
Technical Skills | ██████████████████ 76%
McKinsey research found out that 59% of leaders endorsed the importance of skills building for long-term growth pre-COVID 19. That number has since reached to 78%.
Best Online Platforms for Professional Skills Development
Online resources for workplace skills development is accelerating. Seek your compatible courses online if you are interested to enhance your professional skills instead of waiting on your organization. These courses are short, flexible in participation and time and you can directly communicate with world class trainers and experts on skill development virtually. Many of them are affordable and come with free sessions as well. Start off your hunt for courses with Coursera, LinkedIn learning, edX, Udemy and Skillshare. These educational and professional platforms provide courses and webinars for equipping professionals with upskilling.
Educational and professional websites like Coursera, LinkedIn and Udemy offer series of courses for skills development at workplace for professionals. Check out these courses this instant:
- Leadership in the Workplace by Udemy.
- Effective Communication Skills by Udemy.
- Critical Thinking & Problem Solving by Edx.
- Project Management is- project Management Institute (PMI): Project Management Basics.
- Professional skills for the-workplace-specialization by Coursera.
Skills Developments Programs at Workplace for Professionals: Training Resources
Apart from online programs, several formal in-person trainings on skills development at workplace for professionals are held by the resource and capacity building agencies.
- Dale Carnegie Training: This organization is a total package offered to the employees to elevate their professional experience. This courses they organize are on interpersonal skills, leadership, and communication through both on-site and offline workshops. Communication and leadership skills development is a priority topic to them.
- FranklinCovey: Likewise, FranklinCovey also provides in-person training on productivity, leadership, and interpersonal skills development. They often get hired to provide such trainings at corporate settings.
- The American Management Association (AMA): AMA offers in-person courses, workshops, and seminars on finance and accounting, leadership, artificial intelligence, management and supervisory skills, business enhancement and so on. Around 26 topics they cover through their resource team.
- SkillPath: SkillPath is also a career advancement agency that provides seminars and workshops on professional development, covering topics like time management, team building, and leadership. Their trainings are customized and tailored to specific needs of individual, team or organization.
- ATD (Association for Talent Development): Same as other agencies, they offers in-person workshops and conferences focused on training and development in various professional fields.
- Lee Hecht Harrison (LHH): LHH has a professional skill development section named as ‘reach potential’, under which they coach potential leaders to reach their full potential needed for further career advancement. They also cover individual career development and transition, offering in-person workshops for skill enhancement in leadership and personal development. All the organizations above usually tailor to several yet specified industries. However, they are very resourceful in terms of innovation and adoption to new changes and specific organizational needs.
Summing up,
Skills development at workplace for professionals is an investment not only for the employees also for the employer organizations. Therefore, both parties should be planning it forward in order to achieve company goals and efficacy in performance. Thus, while employers will have resources for organizational growth , employees can build their in-demand skills to enhance their competence for better career.
