There are jobs you need done now to help your company thrive—and ones that your business will need in the future as it continues to grow. These strategies can help equip your current team to do both.
1. Upskilling: This strategy focuses on enhancing an employee’s existing capabilities. That could mean gaining new technical skills, such as learning to use generative AI or other technologies that are changing the way they do their job. Or it might involve growing soft skills like emotional intelligence and problem solving.
Companies that invest in upskilling employees demonstrate a willingness to stay current on industry trends—and create a pipeline of talent that can fuel growth for years to come. And it’s a win for employees, too. Upskilling can lead to advancements along their career path, like moving into a more senior role or taking on new projects.
2. Career pathing: This process takes upskilling a step further by mapping out a series of jobs that an employee intends to hold while at the company. The endpoint of the path represents a goal the employee would like to reach—whether it’s a step up or a lateral move with more or different responsibilities. Having managers work with their direct reports to develop career paths that meet their goals can boost morale by ensuring their teams feel heard and valued.
Career pathing can also help with internal recruiting. Even if you don’t have personal career paths for every employee, sketching out potential paths for each position can help managers more easily identify internal candidates for vacancies.
3. Reskilling: While upskilling and career pathing can help an employee advance along the course they started on, reskilling prepares them to take a different trajectory. It centers around training workers to take on new jobs when the ones they’ve been doing have transformed or become obsolete—mainly due to advances in technology.
Reskilling creates efficiencies for companies by eliminating the need to recruit for newly created positions. It can also boost morale by demonstrating to your employees that you’re invested in their future.
4. Cross-training: Just like runners might broaden their workout routines with weightlifting or yoga, companies can broaden their employees’ skill sets by training them on tasks outside their normal responsibilities. For example, a physician’s assistant might be trained to answer questions about insurance coverage. Or someone who works in payables could be trained to work in receivables as well.
In addition to helping businesses deal with staffing shortages, cross-training can increase agility and encourage teamwork. It can also prepare workers to make lateral moves within the company when needed.
5. Leadership development: Just as important as helping your employees become more skilled workers is helping them grow into future leaders. Leadership development training and resources—like those offered by Truist Leadership Institute—can reinforce capabilities like resilience, self-awareness, and communication.
Implementing leadership training in the early and growth stages can be especially beneficial when it comes time for a transition. As a business owner, having someone you trust to take the reins can make it easier to step into whatever’s next for you.
