Introduction
With Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 Smart City transformation, upskilling is critical to prevent technological workforce displacement. As tech evolves roles through automation and augmentation, closing the skills gap is essential to ensure workforce adaptability and sustainability.
While this article focuses on upskilling from a leadership perspective, it is important to recognize that closing the skills gap is a joint responsibility of governments, individuals, and leaders. In today’s business environment, closing the skills gap requires a clear understanding of the importance of a leader’s role in reskilling. Leaders must recognize their collective responsibility and outline actionable steps so that organizations bridge the skills gap and succeed in a fast-changing world.
While most organizations acknowledge the need for upskilling and re-education, bridging the knowing-doing gap presents a distinct challenge. Businesses often struggle to implement the necessary processes and structures to close this gap effectively. This could be due to time constraints, resistance from employees or even the lack of financial resources. With various avenues available to companies, governments, and individuals, this article highlights the most effective methods for fostering skill development in Saudi Arabia’s technologically transforming market.
Corporate Performance and Closing the Skills Gap
The introduction of technology has transformed the modern workplace by augmenting and automating historically human roles. This optimization of processes liberates humans to concentrate on more high-value tasks that require problem-solving and creativity and drive innovation, which not only enhances efficiency, but also has the potential to generate new revenue streams. GenAI tools are more effective when utilized skillfully—like a car requires a proficient driver—GenAI can augment human creativity, catalyze productivity, and drive corporate performance to new heights.
Corporate Performance
In the context of business growth, upskilling emerges as a critical factor. Studies show that upskilling facilitates significant innovation, productivity, growth, increased engagement, and employee retention. With a multitude of benefits, organizations still face risks and challenges in implementing upskilling initiatives.
Allocation of resources to programs, retaining skilled workers, and providing motivation pose significant hurdles. Self-directed learning, while valuable, can be perceived by employees to increase workloads and lack reward, incentives, and recognition from organizations. It is important to realize that skilled humans remain the backbone of the global economy, necessitating continuous training to keep pace with the rapidly evolving technological landscape. As such, upskilling is imperative for ensuring long-term corporate success and high performance.
Skills Academies & Accelerators
Corporations have various avenues for upskilling, including skills academies, accelerator programs, and online courses.
With each option offering distinct benefits and setbacks, business leaders need to assess which solutions best suit their individual needs and align with their company goals. As a part of Vision 2030, the Saudi government has launched the Human Capability Development Program (HCDP). It is a comprehensive national strategy launched by His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud aimed at upskilling young Saudi citizens with eighty-nine initiatives and sixteen strategic objectives. Business leaders can make the most out of such programs by encouraging their employees to participate in the various classes offered. AI-enabled HR can also assist in closing the skills gap by streamlining processes, fostering clear communication pathways, offering feedback and recognition, and creating custom development and growth programs. With the potential to catalyze human development and provide more flexibility in existing roles, AI-enabled HR can contribute to overall organizational success.
It is important to realize that AI-enabled HR solutions heavily rely on data collection and analysis, which poses risks such as regulatory compliance, data clarity, and ethical and privacy considerations. As a result, transparency is crucial in ensuring solution success. Employees need to understand what metrics are tracked, how they are collected, and what safeguard measures are implemented.
Strategies to Close the Gap
Identify Skill Gaps
Before investing in upskilling initiatives, leaders must conduct a comprehensive assessment of the current workforce to identify areas that require development. Pinpointing these gaps is essential for targeted investment and effective utilization of resources. Leaders should align upskilling efforts with long-term corporate goals, ensuring strategic alignment with the company’s trajectory for longevity and competitiveness.
Future Proofing
As AI evolves, roles will continually transform with innovative technologies. Leaders should anticipate future skill demands by prioritizing the development of skills that are not easily rendered obsolete by technological advancements in the short term.
Emphasizing skills anticipation, job market insight, initiative-taking redeployment, and re-employment strategies will be essential for ensuring continued organizational success. Employees should possess the capacity to embrace new challenges, solve problems, and exhibit adaptability and resilience alongside technical skills.
Co-design: Coaching & Collaboration
While developing upskilling strategies, it is imperative to collaborate with employees and stakeholders to ensure that proposed solutions are practical and implementable within the current business ecosystem. For example, as traditional business models often make upskilling an additional duty and neglect to reward employees, employers should implement incentives and facilitate accessible programs that easily fit into current work schedules.
Open communication channels between employees, HR, and upper management are key to identifying challenges, optimizing processes, and fostering a supportive environment conducive to learning and development. Upskilling programs should be customized to align with company goals and the unique needs of the workforce, recognizing that there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Collaboration with universities and educational institutions can also provide valuable resources and expertise in developing effective upskilling solutions.
Measure, Review, Re-Implement
In an environment of continual technological advancement, companies must adopt an agile and adaptable approach to upskilling processes. Continuous monitoring and evaluation of solutions is essential to ensure they effectively address evolving skill demands. Rather than implementing rigid, static solutions, companies should view their upskilling systems as dynamic processes that can evolve in response to changing organizational needs and industry trends. Leveraging AI-enabled HR can expedite this process by generating data-driven insights and creating customized upskilling plans tailored to individual employee needs. Implemented solutions need to be measurable if they are to be effective and organizations need to pinpoint and track the correct outcome-focused metrics to gauge success and inform future decision-making.
Leading Through Transformation
Change can be inherently challenging and can often lead to apprehension and hesitation among employees. As employees navigate these transitions, potential stressors like added workloads and invasive technological developments need to be prepared for. In such scenarios, leaders can set a positive tone and outlook for the entire organization, instilling confidence, and resilience in the face of change.
Leadership Alignment
Leaders serve as the driving force behind organizational change, wielding the power to facilitate a secure environment for employees to succeed. Recognizing the pivotal role they play, leadership teams must actively champion and facilitate upskilling transitions, providing the necessary resources and guidance to ensure successful adaptation.
Facilitating a Change Environment & Continuous Learning Culture
Closing the skills gap is not a singular effort but rather an ongoing process requiring sustained commitment and effort. Fostering a culture of continuous learning is paramount to nurturing an adaptable and resilient workforce capable of evolving alongside market demands. Cultivating an open dialogue wherein employees feel heard and supported fosters a sense of belonging and encourages active participation in the change process.
Workforce Sustainability
An obsolete workforce significantly threatens business sustainability making it vital for businesses to attract and retain tech talent. No company wants to invest in upskilling their workforce only to lose them to competitors. Building trust, fostering a positive workplace culture, and prioritizing ethical considerations in AI HR initiatives are crucial for retaining skilled employees and ensuring organizational stability and growth. As AI increasingly assumes roles in employee interaction and decision-making processes, leaders must carefully assess the ethical implications of HR automation and discern tasks that require emotional intelligence (EQ) versus intellectual intelligence (IQ). For instance, automating firings raises ethical concerns and underscores the necessity of judicious delegation based on the nature of tasks.
Conclusion
As we come closer to Vision 2030 and technological advancements shape our industries, upskilling and retraining the workforce is an integral need. Closing the Skills Gap is not just a necessity; it is a prerequisite for sustainable growth and competitive retention. While external learning platforms offer generic knowledge, skills academies emerge as a potent solution that is uniquely tailored to the specific needs and culture of individual businesses by fostering a highly experiential learning environment that aligns with organizational goals.
Leadership plays a pivotal role in driving and sustaining upskilling initiatives, providing the necessary guidance and resources for a successful transition. It is important to understand that re-education is not a one-time event but an ongoing process, requiring continuous commitment and effort. Leaders need to collaborate with employees, HR, and educational institutions, adopt an agile approach to adaptation, and cultivate a culture of continuous learning to ensure workforce sustainability and organizational growth.
It is time for leaders to actively support and champion upskilling efforts. Let us embrace the journey of continuous learning and evolution together.
References:
1. jain, y. (2024, april 25). closing the skills gap: how to bridge your business’s talent shortage. emeritus india. https://emeritus.org/in/learn/upskilling-the-skills-gap
2. o., & d’cunha, s. c. (2023, june 1). the impact of upskilling and reskilling programs on job satisfaction and employee retention in the. . . researchgate. https://www.researchgate.net
3. human capability development program launches. (n.d.). https://www.vision2030.gov.sa/en/media-center/latest-news/human-capability-development-program-launches/
4. figure 1 source: regional leader in learning and development, ewtraining launches new courses in line with saudi vision 2030. (2019, december 9). www.arabianbusiness.com. retrieved may 19, 2024, from https://www.arabianbusiness.com
5. figure 3 source: understanding the skills gap: how can businesses overcome this issue. https://www.imocha.io
6. figure 4 source: continuous learning culture – scaled agile framework. (2021, september 27). scaled agile framework. https://v5.scaledagileframework.com
