In a recent webinar, Jennifer Dearman, Chief Customer Officer at Udacity, had a conversation with Christina Rynning, VP of Digital Learning and Future Skills at Telenor about how to build up a world-class talent transformation strategy. From assessing gaps in technical skills to inspiring learner engagement, this webinar covers the gambit.
Keep reading for the top three takeaways from the Playbook for Implementing a Successful Talent Transformation Strategy webinar with Telenor.
Assessing Digital Skills Within the Workforce
The first place to start when building out a talent transformation strategy is by assessing the digital skills, and skill gaps, in the current workforce. Then, cross reference that with the future business goals of the organization. This will help identify what necessary skills your company already has, which workers are interested in being upskilled into the gaps, and what kind of external hires you’ll need to make.
According to Rynning, Telenor is a huge proponent of upskilling and reskilling any workers who have the desire to learn. “We strongly believe that all our employees have the possibility, if they have the right mindset and motivation,” Rynning says. “They will be able to build the right skills that we need to have in the future.”
Not only is it cheaper to train employees within the existing organization, it also keeps morale up and encourages workers to stay at the company and grow, rather than leave and find a new job. The biggest secret to success in the digital skills assessment, according to Telenor, is to work across departments when understanding future skill needs and current talent.
Prioritizing the Future
A successful talent transformation strategy starts with big goals. For Telenor, their first goal on the road to their talent transformation was a “vision of being and becoming the leading company when it comes to skills development in all our markets,” Rynning told Udacity.
Understanding where they wanted to be in a few years helped them determine what changes to make within their organization, like changing all quarterly performance check-ins into quarterly development check-ins. This change, which involved asking every worker what would help them do their jobs better and what skills they were interested in learning, helped them develop their employees into not only the skilled workers Telenor needed, but also got employees onto the paths of their dream careers.
Cultivating a Culture of Learning
A major change that Telenor made with the future in mind was establishing a culture of ongoing learning. In real life, this looked like setting aside 40 hours for every employee to spend on learning and development. Instead of having employees go learn from any source, Telenor spent time creating what they call “learning journeys” in order to keep learners motivated.
“It’s so important to create that connectedness among the learners in the same program so that they are finding each other and connect socially as they learn,” Rynning says. “Because if you’re alone on your learning journey, it’s a lot harder.”
Telenor’s learning journeys focus on building community, getting leadership closely involved (especially in the skill-building process), and intertwining real-world assignments with learning so new skills can be applied right away.
Watch the Udacity + Telenor Webinar
If you’re interested in learning more about Telenor’s ideas on how to create a successful talent transformation strategy, watch the whole webinar.
Learn More About Upskilling Your Employees
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