Closing the employee skills gap series part 2: How to upskill employees for AI technology

3 mins, 13 secs read time

500,000. That’s how many days leaders at Fortune 500 companies waste each year on bad decision-making. Contributing factors?

• Communication silos
• Gatekept intel
• Employee skills gaps
• Terabytes of unprocessed data
• Monotonous busywork

Most managers have too much to do and not enough time… and it’s costing companies millions.

AI technology is here to help. As experts have reiterated, AI isn’t a replacement for humans, it’s a tool. It shows the complete picture, evaluates information, predicts outcomes and offsets mundane tasks at lightning speed.

In the first part of this series, we explained why it’s important to upskill your employees for this new AI world (TL;DR: Upskilled employees stick around, saving you money on future hiring).

Now, we’re unpacking how you can close your employee skills gap for AI technology and create a plan to help your organization make the most of AI’s revolutionary capabilities.

A smart plan is an intentional plan

While your interest in AI technology might be to boost the bottom line or go to market faster, your intention should be better defined. AI needs a job. You’ve got to set up the workshop and tell it exactly what to do. Speed (in operations, go-to-market and decision-making) is more important than ever.

Start with a few impact-focused intentions for AI at your org. This might look like:

• Absorb monotony with automation.
• End silos for good.
• Achieve decision-making velocity.
  

You can embed all three intentions within your AI strategy. Leveraged together, they can keep your company competitive in a market that’s moving faster than humanly possible.

For Fortune 500 companies, it can save you $250 million in lost labor costs.

Spot the employee skills gaps (and see where AI can help)

Now that you understand ‘why’ and ‘how’ you’ll use AI intentionally within your organization, it’s time to upskill the team.

You can either use an assessment tool like one of Greenhouse’s integration partners like Beamery, an AI-powered talent platform for upskilling, or you can create employee and manager surveys to understand where employee skills gaps lie. Then, you can:

• Define new skills: Understanding what skills your team needs
• Find the employee skills gaps: Understand how far your team is from the endpoint (consider transferable skills)
• Design your upskill plan: Armed with employee data, you can create individualized upskill plans.

Put your plan into action using the right tools

Launching a new AI project is part change management. Establish and get the organization to adopt new policies, processes and workflows. Here are some essentials for success:

1. Successful change management. Activate successful transformation with face-to-face communication, influencers and a culture that naturally inspires adaptability.
2. Personalized upskill plans. Distribute the personalized upskill plans to a primed and excited team.
3. Unlock training. Some eLearning or training platform partners have AI modules and sandboxes ready. Check with your partners to see if they offer AI training. If not, consider investing in resources for your team.
4. Make it easy to get to class. People-first organizations provide dedicated time for on-the-clock learning, but you can also ask enterprising team members to experiment with their new skills within their everyday projects.
5. Offer incentives. Along with forecasted salary increases that come with new AI jobs, consider adding bonuses or other incentives to boost participation in your AI upskill program.

An impactful AI technology upskill plan is more than just a link to some lessons. It’s a strategic campaign of change that will evolve your organization and employee careers alike.

Although closing your employee skills gap for AI may seem like a lot of work, an engaged workforce, money saved on future hiring, improved ELTV and stronger bottom line will thank you later.

Want to learn more about how upskilling your workforce can lead to growth, retention and improved morale? Read this blog to make upskilling part of your company culture.

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