Deliver Skills-First without tying yourself in knots
As I scroll through LinkedIn, checking out the latest trending discourse and wading through the reams of thought-leaders posting videos about AI, I'll also find the great 'skills debate' bubbling under the surface.
"Skills" and "AI" intermingling concepts?
The two trends are inextricably linked. Despite its title, 'skills-first' is a tech trend; it's tech that has allowed for detailed profiling using pools of tens of thousands of skills. That should be where your alarm bells begin to go off. As with AI, if you give a piece of tech to people who think a certain way, it will be shaped by and will reinforce the prevailing paradigm.
In other words, AI is being used to make content faster; ‘skills-first’ is being used to deliver content in a more ‘relevant’ way. I keep banging on about this, but content isn't the answer to behaviour change or business impact. When you look at any behaviour, you need to consider the system. It's an idea that James Clear does a great job of explaining in Atomic Habits.
A practical model
So, here's where I share a practical model to help you build a skills-first organisation.
Having done this a few times with different clients, I’ve noticed that the mistake generally made is taking a technology-first approach rather than a human-centred one. Basically, an L&D leader (this might be you) decides to do the skills-first transformation and then starts with the skills framework and the tech to deliver it. The Solvd way of looking at it is to start with adoption and outcomes and then work backwards. Employee skills profiling may well be the right way to go, but you need to start with people (who are messy and don't do what they're told), rather than with the tech (that’s neat and generally doesn't push back).
What I'm sharing is oversimplified, but I think it’s a good starting point. In our model the person drives the skills, and uses evidence rather than course completion to verify the skill. If you break ‘skills-first’ down into its bare bones, what we're talking about is an individual's ability to demonstrate they can do stuff the business needs, and the business being able to develop their products and services to adapt to market trends.
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Human-centred approach
Being human-centred increases the likelihood of employee adoption and engagement, but also increases the risk of misalignment between the person and company strategy.
Join me for the 'Skills-first' Lab on 8th May to find out more and unlock the next level of detail.
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