Build a hypothesis and test

- Often, L&D teams tackle upskilling by developing long-form curricula, usually connected to roles, and then do a big bang launch. On the one hand, this can generate momentum and big completion numbers, which tend to impress stakeholders. That said, completions do not mean upskilling, and putting all of your eggs into one basket can be extremely risky if the strategy is not fit for purpose. There are so many individual variables in every company that it can take some testing to see what will actually work when it comes to upskilling effectively. This is why I strongly recommend to start by selecting one or two skills to target, determining an evaluation strategy, then deploying and tracking the results. Basically, start small, learn and mitigate risks. This approach means you can be iterative in how you improve your strategy for one skill before you have made a gamble on several. When you get one skill right, you now have a template and a cost estimation for future skills. As we examined, upskilling is more than just a learning pathway of digital content or classroom experiences. It involves hands-on training and coaching and more. Now, this is absolutely not a new concept for anyone in L&D. However, with the myriad of new technologies and platforms, this will likely require some critical and practical thinking, especially when it involve digital aspects to track and measure. Your first task is to identify what skilled is. These are your indicators to measure before and after. Once these are established, map out the entire learning experience from start to finish. This includes everything from enrollment to courses, to test, to job shadowing, to coaching, and more. Then create the flow. What is the timeframe between activities? What platforms are used? How are completions or feedback tracked? You will then need to determine a target pool to launch the skill too. Remember, skills are about internal mobility. This is why I recommend you choose a transferrable skill for your prototype. You will touch a number of different audiences, and therefore, see what works in a variety of environments. This is extremely critical as most organization have an array of workplaces. These could be everything from frontline positions in a factory or back-office processing. Some of the environments may not have wifi or access to laptops or mobile devices. We often see this in remote onsite locations such as mines or oil rigs. All of these considerations must be a part of your hypothesis. When everything is built and ready to launch, ensure you have the resources to measure and evaluate the outcomes. Because you are testing for only one or two skills, be prepared to uncover what works and what does not. This is meant to be a time to take some risks as you're not committing to an entire fulsom launch with a massive investment. Finally, debrief and document the results. What were the costs in terms of time and investment? Was new technology required? Were people managers needed, and what was their capacity? All of these types of details will provide you with the information you need when your company is ready to implement upskilling at scale. When that happens, you'll be ready with the findings of your hypothesis to guide planning and a business case making you a strategic partner.