74% of CEOs are concerned about the availability of key skills.
40% of workers will require up to six months of reskilling by 2025.
Data Source: SweetRush¹
Human-centric Workforce
It seems that companies across industries are shifting to a more human-centric approach to their corporate strategy. CEOs and C-level executives are beginning to realize that, in order to achieve and maintain ongoing success, a true partnership—and not simply a transactional relationship—with their employees is a must.
Employees are also evolving. They are becoming more informed and technologically savvy. They want to take on a more active role in their professional futures and are not afraid to take risks with your competitors if they are dissatisfied with their current position.
What this means is that business leaders need to find innovative ways to ensure their employees feel valued, appreciated, and integral to the company’s continued success. A growing number of employees want to be included in discussions regarding how to best move the company forward and welcome opportunities for learning and development (L&D) initiatives.
Greatest Challenges Facing Business Leaders
According to a recent survey by SweetRush (a California-based corporate training and eLearning company), some of the most pressing challenges business leaders face today include how to enhance a company’s “culture, leadership, and learning—the trinity of transformation.”² As the survey puts it, employees are:
“seeking out new employers that offer values, culture, and learning that align[s] with who they are and who they want to become.”3
While culture, leadership, and learning are all integral to a company’s strength, learning is intricately woven throughout the trilogy. As such, learning arguably plays the most pivotal role in a company’s ability to succeed now and well into the future.
Culture
What does “culture” mean to your organization? Does “culture” refer to building and enhancing a human-centric workforce? Are you focused on building a culture of learning? Is your organization striving to grow and strengthen a culture of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB)? Although we might define “culture” differently, one thing is certain—employees are paying close attention to what “culture” means to you and how well your company’s core values align with theirs. Creating learning opportunities for employees and for leadership can help bridge an otherwise possible divide between executives and their teams. As one L&D leader puts it:
What we’re seeing is a day-to-day partnership of the DEI and L&D teams to design, plan, and implement DEI learning curricula and resources for the organization that build belonging for all and also lay the foundation of an inclusive leadership model.”4
Leadership
We have also seen a shift in the approach to leadership. A growing number of executives are now focused on the health and wellbeing of their workforce, perhaps equally as much as they are focused on their bottom dollar. There is a greater emphasis for companies to provide L&D programs that foster inclusive leadership where employees know their true value. As SweetRush accurately describes it:
DEIB, critical thinking, and coaching mindset… are front-and-center skills that are crucial for fostering inclusive workplaces, where employees feel supported as people and are growing as professionals.”5
Training
There is little debate that L&D has become a hot topic among business leaders. But what types of training are organizations prioritizing? What skills do both leaders and the workforce, in general, require to keep their organizations competitive and their employees engaged?
When asked what the top skills were for 2022, executives placed agility and adaptability as the frontrunners. However, the survey’s respondents listed several other top-of-mind skills that are worth noting:
Data Source: SweetRush6
*DEIB (Diversity, Equity, inclusion, and Belonging)
How Language Services Support Corporate L&D Initiatives
When the same survey asked respondents to list the L&D challenges requiring the most attention, several stood out as opportunities for language services providers (LSPs) to offer their linguistic and cultural expertise.
Data Source: SweetRush7
A growing number of leaders across industries are actively working to reinvent their company’s core values and corporate culture. They realize that in today’s new remote and hybrid work environment, a collaborative culture is more important than ever before. Employees want a seat at the decision-making table. They want to know that their ideas and experiences are valued and that there is a path forward within your organization. Helping corporations build and enhance their L&D programs to ensure they resonate with—and engage—a more diverse audience only makes sense.
GIM can help.
If you are an LSP well versed in the eLearning and L&D sectors, there is also an important seat for you at the strategic table. Instead of waiting for your end clients to reach out to you for support, why not become a linguistic and cultural consultant for L&D initiatives? Let GIM help you build and share relevant, reliable, data-driven content on how your company can enhance the learning experience for all. From data-driven articles to white papers, case studies, and more, GIM has partnered with dozens of LSPs to promote the critical importance of multilingual corporate training. Reach out today to learn more.
If you liked this Snippet While You Sip It, you might want to check out some of our latest, including Conversion Rates — And Why They Matter, Work-Life Balance — CEOs Share Their Wisdom, Defending Quality Education in the Workplace, the 10 Best — and Worst — States for Healthcare, and Be an Agent of Change at Work — Escalate Issues.
REFERENCES
1 – 7 eLearning Industry. “Current Trends in Learning and Development & Learning Experience Design.” ELearning Industry, 27 May 2022, https://elearningindustry.com/free-ebooks/current-trends-in-learning-and-development-learning-experience-design.