How AI can drive skills development across an organisation

In this world of rapid change, there is a greater need for fluidity, responsiveness and agility as organisations become quicker to innovate. It’s crucial that leaders are able to strengthen the connection between the skills businesses need and what employees want from their careers.

However, it’s not as simple as it once was. Long gone are the days where people climbed a professional ladder, understanding clearly what each level meant in terms of skills, responsibilities and what was needed to move up. We’re in a world where both organisations and people want something very different.

With Fosway, Cornerstone delved into how organisations are leveraging talent intelligence to address skill shortages, empower career paths, drive motivation, and build skills to retain and grow all their people’s talent.

Why is this so important? Because lack of flexibility and agility places strain on HR teams as its impact on the workforce is huge. According to recent research conducted by Fosway, 82% of HR professionals as one of their most significant business challenges.

Especially when we consider the backdrop against which businesses are working – from changing demographics, to the fifth Industrial revolution, climate change, an energy crisis and economic downturn. There has never been greater need for agility and flexibility. Crucially, it is not just an organisation’s structure or policies that need to change here. Just as an organisation continuously transforms, so too must its people.

So, how do organisations handle all of these spinning plates?

The answer is in having a HR strategy that is underpinned by skills intelligence. It’s always been important to understand the skills you’re hiring for, but organisations must also look to the skills within, which may not always be obvious. A person may not be using a certain set of skills in their current role, but they are there, dormant, and could be essential in another role. And this person may also want to use this skillset but haven’t yet had the opportunity. Within every organisation, there is huge potential to upskill and reskill, and drawing from internal talent offers a way to navigate uncertainty. How agile a company can be comes down, in large part, to its skills management.

Organisational leaders and managers can use technology to understand which skills their workers are eager to grow and how that development can propel workers into the next phase of their careers. AI has the ability to unearth this intelligence and, importantly, do this at scale. With this, organisations can grow, develop, change and keep pace with the market that they serve, while their people are inspired by career opportunities, feel recognised and thrive. In this way, AI is instrumental in managing the connection of people, their aspirations, available work, mentors and learning that is simply not possible without advanced technology

It can feel overwhelming to decipher where to start in implementing an AI-driven skills strategy. Together, Cornerstone and Fosway have partnered to take a look at what this journey looks like, and answer some major questions. The whitepaper offers key insights, including:

Today’s workers want visibility of new opportunities and want to know what skills and experience are required to succeed in those new roles. The ladder may have gone, but careers and organisational growth can still be managed in a structured and robust way that allows for many moving parts.

To learn more about how to use AI to drive a stronger connection between employee and business, check out the Fosway report here.