Talent Development: 2018 Trends Report

“As the rate of skills change accelerates across both old and new roles in all industries, proactive and innovative skill-building and talent management is an urgent issue.  What this requires is a [talent development] function that is rapidly becoming more strategic and has a seat at the table.” – World Economic Forum

Rise and Responsibility of Talent in the New Labor Market

LinkedIn Learning with Lynda.com Content has published a report on the Rise and Responsibility of Talent in the New Labor Market.

The theme of the report is the short shelf of skills and a tightening labor market are giving rise to a multitude of skill gaps.  Companies are trying to hold on to their best talent and are struggling to fill key positions.  Individuals are needing to pay closer attention to their relevance in the intensifying age of automation.

Approximately 4,000 professionals globally were surveyed on LinkedIn to gain a holistic view of workplace learning today. 

Key Findings

The workforce agrees, training for soft skills is the number one priority for talent development teams

In an age of automation, maintaining technical fluency across roles will be critical, but the pace of change is fueling demand for adaptable critical thinkers, communicators, and leaders.

• 92% of executives say that soft skills are equally important or more important than technical skills
• 89% of executives say that it is difficult to find people with soft skills

Leadership

• Talent Developers 74%
• People Managers 66%
• Executives 65%

Communication

• Talent Developers 66%
• People Managers 66%
• Executives 64%

Collaboration

• Talent Developers 50%
• People Managers 50%
• Executives 55%

Role Specific Skills

• Talent Developers 50%
• People Managers 49%
• Executives 42%

Savvy talent developers must balance today’s challenges with tomorrow’s opportunities

Talent developers are tending to prioritize the employee development needs of today.  While that is essential, executives and people managers are looking to talent developers to do more, i.e. increase their focus on identifying industry trends to prevent internal skill gaps. 

Identifying Trends to prevent future skill gaps:

• Executive Priority #2
• Talent Developer Priority #6  

The rise of digital is transforming talent development

Talent developers are relying more on online learning solutions to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse, multi-generational workforce.

90% of companies offer digital learning today:

• 68% of employees prefer to learn at work
• 58% of employees prefer to learn at their own pace
• 49% of employees prefer to learn at the point of need

The number one challenge for development is getting employees to make time for learning

• 94% of employees would stay at a company longer if it invested in their career
• Number one reason feel held back from learning is because they don’t have the time

Manager involvement is a critical ingredient to increase employee engagement with learning

• 56% of employees say they would spend more time learning if their manager suggested a course to improve skills

• 52% of managers say they would encourage learning if a system helped to recommend courses based on certain criteria

Are your organizational L&D programs having the desired impact on productivity and efficiency?

At TMA World we specialize in delivering learning programs for complex organizations working across borders – be that hierarchical, geographical, cultural or technological. We develop the skills and capabilities needed to thrive in global organizations – where leaders, managers and individual contributors are navigating matrix structures, cultural differences, remote working and virtual technologies. Our content is available in various formats, bespoke to our client’s individual needs and requirements. Click here to view our success stories.

If your organization would like to develop a truly borderless workforce, we would love to hear from you. Click here to speak to one of our team.  

Interested in how introducing a cultural intelligence tool in your business could help to create a more borderless workforce? We’d love to show you our groundbreaking platform.