Continuous Learning is the Key to Success
Much is made of the need to empower our youth and close the gap between skills acquired during studies and the skills required by companies for ongoing employment. No one is diminishing the urgency of this task or the need to create workforce-ready youth, but we ignore the upskilling and reskilling needs of our current workforce at our peril.
The accelerated pace of innovation across industries brings a unique set of challenges to maintaining a relevant workforce. The Microsoft Future of Work Skills research shows clearly that organisations are struggling to find the right skills to enable digital innovation. The report also highlights the need for companies in the Middle East and Africa to take a multi-faceted approach to finding needed skills. Alongside recruitment from within and beyond their industries, companies must engage in upskilling and reskilling current staff.
The World Economic Forum’s (WEF) 2018 Future of Work report stressed an “upskilling imperative” for the workforce in an increasingly digitised world. Without doubt, a workforce sufficiently equipped with a comprehensive set of digital competencies would have a greater chance of standing to gain from new job opportunities arising from technological advances, Digital Intelligence’s DQ Global Standard Report 2019 notes.
Lifelong learning will keep employees relevant
Over 230 million jobs in sub-Saharan Africa will require digital skills by 2030, resulting in almost 650 million training opportunities, including retraining, reports the IFC Digital Skills in sub-Saharan Africa study. Self-learning is key to ongoing sustainable employment – without the drive to continuously improve skills, current employees will be left behind. Our mandate is to bring our expert workforce along on the journey. Through the Microsoft 4Afrika initiative, we believe it’s critical that we invest in continuous learning for our expert workforce who will be the guides and mentors to the new generation of skilled ICT workers.
Developing new skills is key
In fact, the LinkedIn Workplace Learning Report 2019 reports that the skills gap tops the priority list currently, with the decreasing shelf life of skills challenging corporations to play catch-up in hiring and developing staff.
Understanding the impact of technology and automation on skills development was ranked in the top seven areas to focus on. It’s not only about technical skills – more complex 4IR skills are also in demand – skills such as complex problem-solving, negotiation skills, project management and critical thinking. These are skills that cannot yet be replicated by an intelligent machine.
Online learning is experiencing an increase in popularity. Since 2017, 59 percent of learning and development professionals surveyed in the Workplace Learning Report say they are spending more money on online learning, although we are aware that this can never fully replace in-person training.
The advantage of onlinebased learning is that it enables modern learners to upskill when and where they need to. Kevin Alves is an IT Manager in Angola who was working with a Dubai-based bank and was initially unsure how to approach the project he was working on for the bank. Through enrolment in free Microsoft Cloud Society courses, he was able to find and develop the skills he needed to build the foundation of the project and continue to see it through to success.