Infographic: Emerging top skills in demand for 2021 and Beyond

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Market research across the industry worldwide shows the most in-demand skills this year and next varied according to the role of the organization.

Hard skills refer to technical abilities, like piloting a plane, electronics engineering, language expertise, or computer programming, to name a few. Generally, an employee will have to be educated in hard skills, usually by taking up additional classes, through professional certification, or with a master’s degree. 

Soft skills, on the other hand, are personality traits and characteristics that aren’t as easy to quantify, but just as important in the workplace. They’re rooted in behavior, attitude, and values. These skills can be learned through working with colleagues in the workplace and enhanced through collaboration with peers. 

Top 3 steps for a business to proactively tackle upskilling and reskilling

Firstly, give managers and admins more flexibility to train and reskill employees 

Time is a valuable commodity and can be spent efficiently on pre-planning to reskill as many employees as possible. Enable your admins to be learning advocates. Invest in systems that allow managers’ content delivery to be automated, and yet also personalized to each member of the team. 

What it means to work is changing, multiple generations are collaborating in the modern workforce, from seasoned executives to junior staff, and the software systems we use to communicate, collaborate, and manage our time at work are evolving by the day. Employee perception about the responsibilities of employers has changed, and employees are proactively prioritizing companies that offer programs for eLearning, upskilling, and reskilling. 

Secondly, encourage the sharing of ideas 

A collaborative environment is more important now than ever as we have fewer people working in physical offices and the uncertainty around lifting of lockdowns and other restrictions on face-to-face meetings. Sharing best practices is key even during tough times. At the end of the day, you still and always want to replicate success.  

Collaborative learning environments enable upskilling and reskilling that is seamless and intuitive to the staff being trained. Allow peers to educate each other, and share in the benefits altogether, across departments.

Lastly, embrace the best practice in remote learning

People often use Google for web search and Youtube for video tutorials when looking to learn about new things, and online learning should be no different – after all, it is just another resource that can be used to hone existing skills or learn new ones.  

Corporate online learning needs to be accessible and easy to use so your workforce can rapidly reskill and adjust to the changes happening within your organization. Mobile learning is a way to guarantee that the workforce remains engaged and armored with the tools they need, whether on the go or from home. 

Conclusion

To remain competitive, the future depends on both the employee and the employer taking advantage of the distance economy. Employees should be self-motivated to continuously enhance their knowledge, and be the first advocates of learning new skills. On the other hand, organizations should continuously expand access to training and development and remain open-minded to the workforce's demands for new knowledge and experiences.

Want to discover more trends? Check out our latest infographic and white paper on Leadership Development Trends 2021.