How to Avoid Skills Obsolescence Before it's Too Late
You used to be able to go to school, get your degree, and then you were set. You might add some continuing education later in your career, but it wasn’t always necessary or top of mind. Those days are definitely gone. Now, if you haven’t learned a new technology in two years, you’re already behind the curve. We’re lucky if we have a 5-year tech cycle. Skills obsolescence is a threat to companies in every industry, but it poses a unique threat to the built environment, where continual advances in technology are revolutionizing the industry more and more every day.
The rapidly-evolving state of our industry means we must hire versatile people with a hunger to learn the latest tools and understand how they can be leveraged to solve key business problems. It also means that leaders of an organization must make it a priority to empower their employees to evolve and grow with the industry. You invest a lot of time, money, and energy into acquiring talent. You need to nurture that talent and help it adapt to the new technologies that grow your business.
The Right Technologies are Not Enough
As you invest in emerging technologies, it’s not just about picking the right technology, although that’s important. In a recent study of 8,300 organizations by Accenture, 80% of respondents said they believe they have implemented the right technologies to grow their business, but most are not seeing the results they expected. With so many changes needed to stay competitive, employees are not going to magically understand the fundamentals of those technologies or have the time to figure out how to best integrate them to get impact.
Upskilling & Reskilling Lead to Sustainable Growth
According to the study, the top 10% who have realized high revenue growth, have a few key strategies in common, one of which is prioritizing employee upskilling and reskilling. They understand that change is a process that needs to have a solid foundation of learning. “In the absence of reskilling, 52 percent of their IT workforce’s skills, and nearly half—47 percent—of their non-IT workforce’s skills will be obsolete in three years.” Technology and competition continue to grow rapidly, so with half of the workforce’s skills becoming out-of-date in just a few years, the only sustainable solution is a continuous learning path.
At Enstoa, we are devoted to understanding and implementing cutting edge technology, so we know how hard it can be to translate all that foundational information into something usable for employees. That is why we developed Colonnade, a new collection of interactive, expert-led, virtual classes built to empower organizations to beat skills obsolescence.
Knowledge is power, and it’s changing and morphing every day. The longer you wait to learn, the farther behind you will be. Why wait? Click here to learn more.
Author Bio
Karla Watts, Director of Learning Services, is responsible for professional education across Enstoa’s portfolio of projects. With over 20 years of experience working in corporate education, as well as project and product management for high-tech software companies, Karla is an expert at aligning employee and customer needs with business strategies by implementing fun, innovative professional training programs.
You used to be able to go to school, get your degree, and then you were set. You might add some continuing education later in your career, but it wasn’t always necessary or top of mind. Those days are definitely gone. Now, if you haven’t learned a new technology in two years, you’re already behind the curve. We’re lucky if we have a 5-year tech cycle. Skills obsolescence is a threat to companies in every industry, but it poses a unique threat to the built environment, where continual advances in technology are revolutionizing the industry more and more every day.
The rapidly-evolving state of our industry means we must hire versatile people with a hunger to learn the latest tools and understand how they can be leveraged to solve key business problems. It also means that leaders of an organization must make it a priority to empower their employees to evolve and grow with the industry. You invest a lot of time, money, and energy into acquiring talent. You need to nurture that talent and help it adapt to the new technologies that grow your business.
The Right Technologies are Not Enough
As you invest in emerging technologies, it’s not just about picking the right technology, although that’s important. In a recent study of 8,300 organizations by Accenture, 80% of respondents said they believe they have implemented the right technologies to grow their business, but most are not seeing the results they expected. With so many changes needed to stay competitive, employees are not going to magically understand the fundamentals of those technologies or have the time to figure out how to best integrate them to get impact.
Upskilling & Reskilling Lead to Sustainable Growth
According to the study, the top 10% who have realized high revenue growth, have a few key strategies in common, one of which is prioritizing employee upskilling and reskilling. They understand that change is a process that needs to have a solid foundation of learning. “In the absence of reskilling, 52 percent of their IT workforce’s skills, and nearly half—47 percent—of their non-IT workforce’s skills will be obsolete in three years.” Technology and competition continue to grow rapidly, so with half of the workforce’s skills becoming out-of-date in just a few years, the only sustainable solution is a continuous learning path.
At Enstoa, we are devoted to understanding and implementing cutting edge technology, so we know how hard it can be to translate all that foundational information into something usable for employees. That is why we developed Colonnade, a new collection of interactive, expert-led, virtual classes built to empower organizations to beat skills obsolescence.
Knowledge is power, and it’s changing and morphing every day. The longer you wait to learn, the farther behind you will be. Why wait? Click here to learn more.
Author Bio
Karla Watts, Director of Learning Services, is responsible for professional education across Enstoa’s portfolio of projects. With over 20 years of experience working in corporate education, as well as project and product management for high-tech software companies, Karla is an expert at aligning employee and customer needs with business strategies by implementing fun, innovative professional training programs.
