The Leadership Skills Needed For Organizational Success In 2021

It is about employees, not leaders

The skills decision-makers need to be successful leaders in the modern workplace are constantly debated. This year, some think effective leadership comes down to asking good questions, while others attribute success to factors like separating noise from facts or being decisive. 
 

But in 2021, the economic fallout of the global pandemic is forcing businesses to replace millions of jobs with technology, stoking fears of further replacement efforts in companies around the world. And this impact has major implications for what decision-makers need to prioritize in their leadership initiatives for the near future. 

While technology has filled some of the void in job roles prompted by the pandemic, it can also create new opportunities for employees, and it’s up to leaders to make them happen. To be a successful leader in the modern organization, decision-makers must give employees the skills they need to solidify their careers for the long term.

Upskilling programs — learning and development plans built to improve employee tech skills — are a solution many companies use to address shifting organizational needs and fill new job opportunities. 

The pandemic drove some roles to be replaced by technology, but it’s also spawning digital transformation projects that require technically skilled professionals. And if organizations don’t fill these positions for the long term, they may sit unoccupied as tech evolves. 

It’s within this gap of technical skill and organizational need where decision-makers have an opportunity to lead by investing in their workforce. Upskilling not only benefits the entire organization, it also gives leaders the chance to empower workers to chart a new career path within the company and boost employee morale. 

A strong employee upskilling program is rooted in deliberate success planning. There are a few critical factors organizations should consider in building out their program for continuous employee improvement.  
 
1. Knowledge
It’s ideal to start small and concentrate on areas of greatest need for your upskilling program. Assess areas of your business that require improvement to identify the corresponding technical skills needed from employees. For example, if e-commerce needs a boost, determine what tech is needed to improve it, and then build the upskill program around the skills needed for the initiative. 

2. People 
In your program’s infancy, you’ll likely need to rely on tech-savvy individuals in your organization to encourage faster skill learning. It’s critical to invest in individuals who are most likely to prove the concept of your upskilling program before rolling it out on a larger scale. As smaller groups start seeing success through the program, the progress creates a “success snowball” that can attract interest from other employees. 

3. Time 
Design the program to be completed during work hours. Give employees the time at work — as opposed to after work or on the weekends — to demonstrate that you care about and are committed to their career development. 

4. Methodology 
Initiatives like paying employees to go back to school and coding certification courses were popular early iterations of upskilling programs. However, these types of programs usually take a long time to deliver a return on investment. Instead, it could be more worthwhile to leverage no- or low-code platforms, which require little to no programming experience from workers to build technical work applications and system workflows. Learning skills through no- or low-code tools takes much less time than learning how to code or program software, enabling employees to gain skills at a faster rate and apply them to your business.  

5. Accountability 
Without accountability, your upskilling program is set up for failure. The initiative is a two-way street and a contract between the employee and employer. Define what success looks like for employees to make the program more tangible and realistic. Be transparent by outlining a clear path that workers can follow to upskilling achievement, and keep employees accountable by holding them to step-by-step points of progress. 

Investing in an employee upskilling program will challenge many of your leadership skills. You’ll need to demonstrate transparency by clearly stating the short- and long-term goals of your program so employees can trust the initiative. Empowerment will also be paramount in encouraging employees to enroll in your upskilling program. 

The ultimate test of leadership in an upskilling initiative is exhibiting humanity. By committing to ongoing investment in people, you let employees know that they’ll always be a priority, no matter how much technology evolves for years to come. 

Sean Chou is CEO of Catalytic.  Visit www.catalytic.com  Connect Sean Chou