There is a 90% chance that you are a business or HR leader in one of the companies that have a skills gap. To close, we recommend you take these steps:
1. Assess whether L&D is able to conduct a proper capability gap analysis to identify those skills that are mission-critical to fill the gap.
2. Based on the gap analysis results, re-evaluate your existing learning and development measures in place, including on-the-job and classroom training, job rotation, and others. Identify and preserve the measures that help you fill the gap and discard the rest.
3. Design and implement new learning and development programs that help your people build both technical skills (hard skills) and people skills (the famous soft skills) needed to live up to the challenges coming their way. Make sure the capabilities and content of these programs have a clear link to the business need.
4. Implement and measure success on an ongoing basis and gradually adjust your L&D efforts to make the most out of the resources you invest into closing the skill gap.