Leadership: Shifting to a skills-based mindset

Embracing a bold, skills-based approach requires a significant shift in mindset and behaviour for people leaders.

Leaders and line managers play a pivotal role in the drive to become a skills-based organisation as they guide team members and colleagues through the cultural and behavioural shifts required to be truly skills driven. Organisations on the path to becoming skills-based shouldn’t underestimate the power of activating leaders and line managers in this journey.

Here are some actions that leaders and line managers can take now to spark and enable a skills culture and mindset transformation across your organisation:

Know your people
 

Have ongoing conversations with your team members to understand their strengths, knowledge, experience, motivators, and goals (both short- and long-term). Recognise where they have opportunities for development and provide regular feedback and guidance to help them identify and bridge skill gaps.

Align goals (and work) with skill development
 

Identify the skills required for all roles on your team and where there are gaps. Set clear expectations for skill development, clearly define proficiency levels, and ensure performance goals are linked to skill development objectives. Strategically delegate work to allow for experiential skill development and/or provide opportunities for team members to take on stretch assignments.

Foster a culture of growth
 

Provide opportunities for learning in the flow of work, mentorship, coaching and access to learning resources. Lead by example and actively engage in your own skill development. Encourage your team members to own their career and their development and help them to embrace a growth mindset by treating mistakes or failures as opportunities to learn.

Become an importer (and exporter) of skills
 

Use data to gain insight into emerging and retiring skills within your business area and industry. Bridge skills gaps by supporting skills transfer within your organisation (e.g., encouraging your people to share their expertise by taking on new projects or roles), which also allows you to acquire needed skills from other areas within the organisation.

Recognise and reward skill development
 

Celebrate skill development achievements and milestones. This can be as simple as sharing in a team meeting or company announcement, or as a promotion, spot bonus, or salary increase.

Leaders and line managers play a vital role in the successful transformation to a skills-based organisation.

How will you make an impact in guiding and supporting your people through this change?