Priorities for reskilling and upskilling in the age of Gen AI

Priorities for reskilling and upskilling in the age of Gen AI

The focus is on enhancing and reskilling skills in the era of Gen AI

Organizations must reskill and upskill their workforce in a scalable, cross-collaborative way in order to benefit from generative AI.

A new strategy for attracting, engaging, and retaining employees is required due to the widespread use of generative artificial intelligence (gen AI) breakthroughs. Companies that implement gen AI early prioritize personnel development more than late adopters, according to this poll, with two-thirds already having a strategic plan in place to handle their future talent and skill needs. In addition to considering the speed and scale at which they should be produced, organizations should consider the range of their AI capacity demands, from deep technical and domain-specific capabilities to wide fluency supporting business goals. Organizations, however, are finding it difficult to transition from compliance training and gen AI basics to hands-on, outcome-driven skill development.

What to Consider

Organizations should adopt a cooperative, scalable strategy for reskilling and upskilling to take advantage of this potential. Organizations may better meet the expectations of Gen AI and make learning and development (L&D) units more strategic partners for business executives by rethinking their L&D. Here are three things to think about:

  • Prioritize goals over positions. Start with business outcomes and how gen AI investments can support or expedite them, even if it may be tempting to jump right into developing gen AI literacy across all positions at once. Describe the competencies needed to achieve these results and pinpoint the organizational groups that require skill development. This is significant because since AI has accelerated the creation and reshaping of positions, skills, particularly durable ones, are a more transparent and long-lasting currency.
  • Human-centred learning and development. Many reforms fail because of issues with people and culture. Gen AI will constantly change the nature of employment and the skills needed, and some workers may feel that their established professional identities are in danger as a result of skilling initiatives. By using an empathic, human-centred approach to leadership, L&D can turn early apprehension into curiosity and promote opportunities and lifelong learning.
  • Reimagined corporate learning. The next generation will have fundamentally different skills. The ultimate goal of learning at scale, customized, in the workflow, and when it matters, is made possible by Gen AI technology. This requires closer coordination between HR departments, a new approach for the L&D technology ecosystem, and stronger business integration to incorporate learning experiences in workplaces. 

Where to start

Four high-level objectives have been defined below, along with related priority skills and employee categories that probably require skilling efforts:

  • Lead and add value by prioritising talent to inspire the “art of the possible from gen AI.” To increase and accelerate wealth development, make well-informed investment decisions that consider risk and ethics. Set an example of behaviour to promote creativity and trial and error.  

Target groups include the C-suite, who set the transformation strategy and vision; domain and functional leaders, who are in charge of attaining transformation outcomes; and change agents, who influence the uptake and expansion of solutions.

Ideally connected to strategy formulation and implementation, effective formats incorporate extremely immersive moments woven over a longer trip (e.g., “go and sees” to firms on comparable tracks).

  • Build and implement models: Give top priority to the abilities needed to plan, create, test, and safely implement AI models in support of business use cases, with a focus on risk management and teamwork.

Cross-functional teams of tech experts, including data scientists, product managers, and data and AI engineers, are among the target groups. Formats can include technical certifications, deeper skill-building learning experiences, and team-based mentoring to help increase team effectiveness.

  • Enable value in certain domains: Set priorities for abilities that will help you find areas where gen AI may enhance results, reimagine processes and methods, and operationalize novel methods of operation in particular functional areas or domains.

Domain and functional experts, who influence the creation and implementation of gen AI solutions to facilitate pertinent use cases, as well as specialists who offer advice on the governance, legal, risk management, talent, and operational aspects of gen AI, are among the target groups.

Enhance daily tasks: Give priority to skills that will allow you to responsibly incorporate Gen AI tools into your daily tasks and ongoing education. Risk, security, data literacy, ethics procedures, and—most importantly—enduring, human-centred skills that are more challenging to enhance, such as empathy, critical thinking, and resilience, should all be part of these competencies. 

Target groups include frontline workforces, line managers, and employees using new-gen AI tools for task improvement, enhancing efficiency and insight into daily operations.

Modern AI is revolutionizing in-the-flow-of-work learning, requiring scalable and tailored formats. Strategic businesses addressing human elements can fully benefit from this technology.