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    How can I develop the skillsets of my workforce?

    As a business grows, or just operates against backdrop of change across the wider industry it operates in, the skills required to prosper evolve and change. Rather than simply thinking new hires are required to deal with fresh challenges and opportunities, developing skills internally can often be more effective and unlock potential you didn't even know resided in your team.

    Ways to help you deal with it:

    Action plan

    Improve the way you performance manage staff

    Effort : High
    Impact : High

    At the heart of it, performance management involves a business and its employee getting the most out of the relationship. For the business, the process involves ensuring it is able to best leverage the skills and experience an individual has while, or an employee, it helps drive learning and development key to their current job role and future career. Taking the time to ensure the way your business performance manages staff will help both sides and drive important improvements and change.

    ACTION PLANS are a structured list of steps designed to help you approach tackling a particular business challenge.

    • We explain why each step is important
    • Customise by setting your own completion dates and assign tasks
    • Helpful tools are provided for certain steps
    • A downloadable PDF version of each action plan is available

    Action plan

    Filling the skill gaps in your business

    Effort : Medium
    Impact : Medium

    Factors outside of your control, such as changing consumer habits, development of new technologies or particular regulations, mean it's important to stay abreast of the skills your business has and doesn't have as it looks towards the future. While working this out might sound intimidating, it will allow you to focus on the skills that have the greatest potential to help your business in the short term.

    Action plan

    Empower your best people to do more

    Effort : Medium
    Impact : Medium

    While the temptation might be to focus on bringing the skill levels of your less experienced and confident members of the business, giving your best the chance to do more should not be neglected. Often these kind of people are sitting there waiting to be given some extra responsibility, expanded role or new project. Get empowering them today and see what extra energy they can bring to the business.

    Guide

    An introduction to developing workforce skillsets

    Many managers equate skills gaps with the need to hire, but there are better ways to go about developing skillsets in your organisation.

    GUIDES break a challenge down, providing important context and real-world experiences.

    • Based on SME experiences, not corporate jargon
    • Filled with real-world stories
    • Achievable steps every business can take

    Other support that’s available

    Identifying your employees' skill sets

    Identifying your employees' skill sets

    We all bring different skills to the table in the workplace, and that’s a really good thing. But your employees’ skill sets are only of any use to you if you know how to identify their skills in the first place.

    Conducting a skills gap analysis

    Conducting a skills gap analysis

    Conducting a skills gap analysis helps you identify skills you need to meet your business goals. Use this template from Workable to help inform your employee development and hiring stategies.

    How other businesses have tackled something similar

    Derek Eassey, VP at Brandwatch

    Real business story

    Upskill staff or they'll look elsewhere

    By helping staff achieve their working ambitions, companies that prioritise the upskilling of current and new employees find that staff stay longer and can help boost overall productivity..

    Real business story

    Treat every new employee as a potential leader from day one

    Nurturing junior employees to become future leaders not only helps to increase engagement and build solid teams, but it supports business growth in a stable, sustainable way..
    Zak Edwards Prezzybox

    Real business story

    Getting the most out of your best people

    You utilise hours and numerous resources to track down the best people for your vacancies, but once you’ve found them, how do you ensure that you get the most out of your latest employee?.

    The questions lots of businesses are trying to answer

    What issue is keeping you awake at night? A bit of targeted support is often all you need to overcome those challenges.

    Select a topic

    Digital

    How can I improve the digital presence my business has? How should I go about collecting data to improve my business? How should I use the data I have to improve decision making? How can I streamline and automate some of our business processes? How do I work out the best digital sales channels to use? How do I assess and choose the right technology to improve business operations? How do I effectively seek external digital support? How can I understand what digital tools or support my business needs? How do I know if my technology is robust enough for growth? How should I best budget and plan for new technology investments?

    Leadership & Strategy

    How do I learn to become a better leader? How do I improve the communication in my business? How do I get staff interested in our vision and values? How can I reflect on my own strengths and weaknesses as a leader? How do I give my team autonomy and get better at delegating? As a leader, how do I learn to trust others within my organisation? How do I apply learnings from other businesses to my own company? How should my role as a business leader evolve with the company’s growth? How can I balance short-term needs with long-term targets? How do I get better at noticing and reacting to warning signs?

    People & Team

    How can I improve my hiring and onboarding practices? How can I develop the skillsets of my workforce? How can I develop career paths for my staff? How can I run a better appraisals process? How should I performance manage my staff? How do I deal with a challenging member of staff? How can I increase staff engagement and motivation? How can I keep my best members of staff? How do I manage an effective remote workforce? How can I reduce employee turnover?

    Planning

    How do I better inform my business plans? How do I know when to scale up my business? How can I define and communicate my vision for success? How do I ensure my business can navigate a dip in trading? How do I know when to invest in my business? How can I get better at looking internally at my business? How can I get staff interested in the financial situation? How can I make my business more resilient to change? How can I balance ambition with setting realistic goals? How can I work out what required skillsets are missing in the business?

    Sales & Growth

    How can we develop new products and services? How do I develop a clear unique selling point? How can we better serve our most loyal customers? How do I financially plan for new opportunities? How do I build a network to support my business? How can I get a better return on investment from my marketing? How can I identify new customers to target? How do I create targets and KPIs for my staff? How do I make sure my team and processes are ready for growth? How do I benchmark my business against competitors?
    All