Panelists:

• Ms. Letang Kekwaletswe – Capacity Development and Training Manager (Telecommunication Organization)
• Mr. Chitty Ayaan – Global Digital HR Expert
• Ms. Carol David – General Manager of Traditional Services (Telecommunication Services Limited – Trinidad and Tobago)

DIGITAL SKILLS

Ms. Letang Kekwaletswe observed that the outbreak of COVID-19 had led to an increase in patronage of technology and applications.

“So are employees competent enough to use these systems or applications? Are they knowledgeable on the functionality of these applications? If not, what have you done as HR professionals or learning and training and development professionals to help employees use these systems?” She asked.

DIGITAL SKILLS AND NON TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES

She made reference to findings by Robotic Process Automation – a business process automation technology – which revealed that  Information and Technology (IT) companies had posted technology-based jobs of total of 22, 402 while non technology companies posted 26,361 over the years. Ms. Kekwaletswe explained that the findings showed there was a demand for digital skills across all business functions. Moreover, the digital skills were not confined to IT or technology-driven companies only.

“So for any organisation to compete in a digital world, organisations must make sure that they have necessary digital skills for today and the future,” she advised.

SKILLS GAPS

Ms. Kekwaletswe added that it was important for organisations to regularly upgrade employees’ business skills. According to her, the rate at which change was ‘bombarding’ organizations would shorten shelf lives of business models or strategies.

“Consequently, skills will also have a shorter shelf life, meaning they will expire in a short time. Certain skills that are learnt today may become outdated three months down the line. Therefore HR professionals and learning and development professionals should make sure that learning programmes are often updated to bridge the gaps that are existing in our organisations,” she said.

She added that organisations had to be proactive by ensuring that they adopted market-driven and predictive skills to close skills gaps that existed between employees and the market.

SOFT SKILLS

Ms. Kekwaletswe also entreated organisations to prioritise trainings for their employees in soft skills such as emotional intelligence. She indicated that soft skills training was important because it would help employees to adapt to change.

Ms. Kekwaletswe further indicated that there was the need for organisations to also invest in leadership development. According to her, leaders were subjected to pressure when their organisations were facing changes.

Therefore, it was essential that leaders or people responsible for  growth and success of the business were constantly developed and equipped with the necessary skills to focus and help drive the business strategy even in most challenging times, and for the organisation to stay competitive, she said.

RESILIENCE CAPACITY

Adding to the above, Ms. Carol David said one important skill that organisations should pursue was resilience capability – the ability of employees to deal well with stress, adapt and thrive in dynamic and challenging times.

She indicated that people were able to respond well to changes based on their resilience, mindset and emotion, therefore, organisations should not only focus on physical skill training but they should train people to be resilient.

According to Ms. David, employee resilience empowerment was needful as it would not only build confidence in employees but would also let them stay focused.

Sharing experiences from some organisations during COVID-19 pandemic, Ms. David said there were occasions where a number of employees working from home began to feel lonely and detached from their organisations. In a situation like this, organizations should step up their game to ensure that they empowered employees’ resiliency to cope with changes.

RIGHT MANAGEMENT APPROACH

She further said that organisations should train leaders and managers to adopt the right approach to manage employees who were working remotely.

Ms. David suggested that leaders and managers should regularly engage employees with fun but equally educative activities to boost their emotional and psychological wellbeing. She however said that systems should be put in place to measure productivity and efficiency in the end.

TRANSFORMATIONAL OPPORTUNITY

Mr. Chitty Ayaan outlined a number of strategies, which could help organizations to remain on course after being hit by COVID-19. One of such strategies he mentioned was using COVID-19 as a learning point.

He said COVID-19 presented many transformational opportunities to organisations and most organisations as a result adopted new method of working such as remote working.

He also observed that most organisations improved wellbeing of employees and enhanced good communication between management and employees.

According to Mr. Ayaan, the new modalities presented by COVID-19 were not only worth experiencing but had brought a permanent change to the business world.

He therefore advised organisations to always employ the changes brought by COVID-19, take it as a lesson and a strategy to keep upgrading their work standards.

THRIVE ON CHANGE

Mr. Ayaan emphasized that it was needful for organisations to continue to adapt to change in order to survive and thrive.

They should still ensure effective communication, future planning and transparency. Being transparent with colleagues and employees would definitely favor the organization, he said.

REMOTE WORKING

Mr. Ayaan also mentioned that more organizations could adopt remote working in addition to the traditional office work.

“In fact, having the freedom to work remotely with flexibility in time have increased productivity,” he observed.

However, he asked that organizations weigh the nature of their businesses and employees’ roles before adopting the remote working option.

Though remote working may not work for a particular business or particular role, it would definitely be a trend which would continue to some degree, he said.

REMOTE WORKING AND DIGITAL EMPOWERMENT

Mr. Ayaan added that, for an organisation to ensure a smooth transition into working remotely, it needed to accelerate its digital agenda and improve digitised infrastructure.

He advised organizations to seize the opportunity to invest in technology and train employees adequately to explore the digital space. Organizations should give employees training in data literacy, digital skills in coding, creative thinking and self-motivation.

Mr.  Ayaan further said organisations needed to essentially motivate employees and optimize recruitment processes to make sure that the organisation attracted and hired a lot of relevant skills into the business.