How to Choose the Best Talent Development Strategies (For Your Organization)

According to a Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce report, organizations in the U.S. spend $180 billion every year on talent development. That figure alone is enough to signify the importance of talent development in the workplace.

Talent development refers to all efforts made by an organization to build its employees’ existing skills. Moreover, talent development programs also help bring new skills to the workforce that are important for the current market landscape.

However, there’s no one-fits-all solution since every corporation is a mix of employees with different backgrounds and skillsets. The talent development strategies you deploy in your organization will depend on the skills of your employees and the skill gap you’re trying to bridge.

Bridging this gap can help you remain more competitive, especially in an increasingly tech-focused market. Here’s an overview of how you can select the best talent development strategies for your business.

What Is Talent Development?

Talent development involves efforts to foster learning, employee development, and engagement in the workplace. At the moment, there’s a dire need for talent development in global workplaces since technology is advancing at a phenomenal rate.

Automation and artificial intelligence are quickly making their way into the workplace. As a result, many employees’ skills are now considered obsolete since technology has taken over.

It’s important for businesses to reskill or upskill their employees as 64% of professionals believe it will help fill the skills gap in a post-Covid 19 world.

Types of Talent Development

Talent development programs vary among organizations, as each program caters to specific needs. For instance, if you have talent development strategies in place, your future tech talent acquisition will be much smoother and easier.

In addition, talent development programs help reduce employee turnover. With higher employee retention, you’re likely to have fewer hiring needs.

At the same time, when professionals know that your company offers talent development strategies — something that will subsequently help their personal growth— they’re more likely to apply for any jobs you post. As a result, your talent acquisition strategy becomes a success.

Keeping your organization’s needs in mind, you have to determine what kind of talent development programs you want to offer.

Upskilling

Upskilling means building on the current skills of your employees and making them more specific to your workplace operations. In this way, upskilling helps your employees acquire the specialized skills they need today and in the future.

Some examples include building analytical skills or digital skills.

For instance, before the pandemic, most collaborations took place in person. However, social distancing guidelines required businesses to move their operations online. Here, upskilling could involve teaching your employees about cybersecurity practices, conducting online meetings, and using an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system rather than paper.

Some pros of upskilling your workforce are:

• Higher productivity, employee engagement, and retention
• Lessened need for hiring new employees
• Fostering a culture of personal development and progress in the workplace
• Cultivating a sense of ownership in the workforce
• Creating a culture of learning

Reskilling

While upskilling builds on skills that your workforce currently has, reskilling involves developing new skills that are required to perform job-related tasks more efficiently today and in the future.

Apart from technical skills, employees also need to develop soft skills, like resilience and flexibility. An MIT Sloan School of Management study showed that a year-long training program focused on soft skills helped deliver a 250% return on investment.

Reskilling helps businesses:

• Save money that is otherwise spent on filling new positions
• Remain competitive in the market
• Retain their best talent
• Attract new talent

Diversifying Talent Pool

In today’s business environment, people are the secret formula for digital transformation. Organizations can transform their hiring practices to create workplaces that are replete with diverse skills. The presence of a diverse talent pool in your company will allow you to remain aligned with current market trends and requirements easily.

Tips to Choose the Best Talent Development Strategy

When choosing the best talent development strategies for your workplace, here are some things to keep in mind:

Identify Your Strengths and Weaknesses

First and foremost, determine the strengths and weaknesses of your workforce. Do you have employees who are technologically illiterate? Is your workforce mainly millennial and familiar with recent tech advancements?

Choose your talent development strategy according to your weaknesses. If your employees need more tech knowledge, consider reskilling them. If they already have digital skills but their skills are slightly outdated, opt for upskilling.

Identify Your Objectives

Having a clear view of your business objectives can also help you select the right strategy. What do you want your talent development strategy to accomplish?

Research and Work with a Talent Partner

If you’re uncertain about how to go about your talent development program, work with a talent partner with sufficient expertise in talent acquisition, upskilling, and reskilling.

Revature launched its workforce transformation program with talent assessment and workforce planning, upskilling, and reskilling capabilities to help organizations like yours that want to transform their most important assets — the workforce.

Besides helping you fill the skills gap, Revature also creates a customized curriculum specifically for your employees to help you meet your strategic objectives.

Conclusion

Talent development is a critical need for every business today since workplace norms are changing. Your employees will be unable to keep up unless you provide them with assistance through your upskilling or reskilling programs.

Make sure your talent development strategies are aligned with your strategic objectives and eliminate the existing weaknesses in your workforce.