TLP277: Upskilling & Reskilling: The Leader’s Response

In this episode, the hosts of the podcast dive into the leadership implications of upskilling and reskilling. With the certainty of uncertainty, leaders need to step back and take the time to interpret the meaningful outside, and the implications for talent acquisition and talent retention (get and keep employees). Listen in as Jim and Jan break it down.   Key Takeaways [1:50] Today’s topic is about upskilling and reskilling leadership! [5:20] Leaders know they have to scale, but how is the hard part.. [5:45] Jan shares how he likes to approach this big question mark on a lot of executives’ plates. [8:10] In medical training, Jan learned to always touch the patient, even if you don’t need to. Similarly, that’s what people need in leadership right now - high touch (figuratively!). [12:15] We’ve all been to in-person trainings where the staff is completely disengaged. The virtual setting hasn’t changed that employee disengagement. It’s a tough spot for leaders to be in. [16:55] You can get into trouble when you’re just trying to solve the problem without a deeper look at why that problem is happening in the first place. [19:45] Jim and Jan explore the idea of “gamification” in the workplace. [20:10] Instead of gamifying the experience, an alternative is to get people motivated enough to learn. [23:40] Anytime we invest in ourselves and educate ourselves, it creates options for us. [29:25] If you want to change for the better, you have to take something off your calendar to make progress on it. [32:35] Both Jim and Jan reflect on some of the best coaches they’ve had. [35:45] Curious teams that are active in their development are probably hitting their numbers.   Quotable Quotes Learning and development is addressing the gap between current capacity/capabilities and required capacity/capabilities. “Oftentimes people think, ‘I gotta go to this training.’ And organizations have these lofty goals about these investments, and realize, if their people are not all in, they’re burning their investment.” You can get into trouble if you rush to a solution without understanding the root cause. I don’t care about your certification badges. What value can you provide to my organization?   Resources Mentioned Sponsored by: