Is your company struggling to hire appropriately trained workers or bring current workers up to speed with the skills they need to be productive?
If so, you might be suffering from the skills gap blues.
Skills gaps, which are impacting companies worldwide, occur when the skills employees offer and the skills their employers want and need don’t match.
During a recent workforce needs survey, 87% of companies said they have skills gaps or expect to within a few years.1 Among the skills they need most: critical thinking and decision-making, leadership and managing others, and advanced data analysis.
Here are four steps to help minimize skills gaps in your company.
- Establish a baseline – The first step in minimizing skills gaps is identifying your company’s skills needs. To do this, make a list of the jobs your company currently offers and the skills needed with each. Then, contrast that list with the skills your employees already have. The skills on the first list and not the second are skills you need to address.
- Invest in your training infrastructure – Learning management systems (LMS) are software programs that deliver educational courses and training for employees. Many businesses—including hospitals, government agencies, and colleges and universities—already have an LMS in place and can easily add content based on skills needs.
- Research online skills courses – Online universities like Walden University offer a range of lifelong learning courses for credit and professional development that can help employees build their skills. For example, Walden University’s School of Lifelong Learning (SLL) offers Critical Thinking for Effective Management, a course that helps learners sharpen their diagnostic-reading skills and learn to construct effective, ethical, evidence-based arguments. Walden’s SLL also offers tailored employer training programs.
- Explore future work trends – The jobs of today aren’t the jobs of tomorrow, so find out what jobs and skills your organization may need in the future. Trade journals often provide insight for specific professions. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics also lists fast-growing professions and occupational outlooks for a range of careers.
Explore How Walden University Can Improve Your Team’s Skills
Walden University’s School of Lifelong Learning supports the needs and goals of working professionals, providing lifelong learners with opportunities to grow and succeed through non-degree course offerings.
Walden offers hundreds of online courses for credit or professional development, including Critical Thinking for Effective Management, Harnessing the Power of Data and Information, Dynamic Leadership, and Meeting the Leadership Challenge, a course designed specifically for nurses.
Whether you want employees to learn new skills or refresh existing skills, Walden’s flexible continuing education options make professional development more accessible than ever.
Walden University is an accredited institution offering online courses for credit, professional development courses, and tailored employer training programs through its School of Lifelong Learning. Degree seekers may wish to explore Walden’s suite of online degree programs, offered at the bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral level. Learn new skills in a convenient, flexible format that fits your busy life.
Walden University is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission, www.hlcommission.org.
