Over the next few years, more than 50% of the world’s workforce will need to develop or improve upon skills in order to remain competitive amidst technological and economic changes. 

Unfortunately, the majority of organizations relegate reskilling and upskilling to one of many roles that fall upon HR, with only 13% including other managers in the development of these programs. But because HR can often lack specific knowledge of a team’s needs or challenges, this risks you designing programs that don’t align with real-world needs or resonate with your employees.

There’s a better way—by incorporating all leaders and fostering a culture of inclusive leadership, your reskilling and upskilling programs will not just grow workers’ skills, but will meet each employee’s individual needs.

What is Inclusive Leadership?

Inclusive leadership is the process of company leaders empowering employees and valuing diverse perspectives. An inclusive leader can cultivate a culture full of trust and collaboration if they are open to new ideas and inclusive of all backgrounds.

This often shows up in the form of a commitment to diversity initiatives, a focus on collaborative decision making, and a culture of empathy and psychological safety. For example, this may include leaders establishing and advising employee resource groups or driving feedback sessions to amplify underrepresented voices.

To foster a culture of inclusive leadership, survey employees to understand their needs and goals. Remain open to—and solicit—continuous feedback with an eye toward iteration and improvement. Incorporate diversity and inclusion into company trainings and initiatives.

Why Focus on Upskilling and Reskilling?

Upskilling and reskilling are both essential to addressing the skills gap, but they are not the same thing. Upskilling refers to improving the skills one already holds, leading to better performance in a current position. Reskilling means providing employees with new skills that may enable them to take on an entirely new role. 

Both reskilling and upskilling are paramount for companies hoping to grow amidst technological advances and a changing workforce. Whether that means teaching your team to leverage new AI technologies or helping them bolster their existing technical expertise, this type of retraining can keep your employees adaptable and engaged while driving toward company goals. 

However, in addition to many companies lacking a focus on these programs, there may be other barriers. For instance, some employees may feel such programs interfere with their work time, while others may find them inaccessible due to logistical or language barriers. Focusing on inclusive leadership can remove these barriers.

How Inclusive Leadership Drives Successful Upskilling and Reskilling Programs

Inclusive leadership can contribute to successful retraining programs in several ways. 

• Uncover skills gap across demographics: Leverage data to gain an unbiased look into the needs of different employee demographics, which will help you avoid designing training programs that are meant to be one-size-fits-all, and instead focus on meeting each group’s needs with engaging content. 
• Create accessible programming: Tailor your programs’ content so it’s inclusive of your entire employee base, rather than appealing to only the majority. Be sure to deliver training in a variety of formats to ensure everyone can access the information they need in the way that’s best for them.
• Remove barriers: Consider where you can mitigate challenges to employee participation. For example, multilingual employees may do better with training in their primary language. Parents may require childcare coverage to attend certain training sessions, while shift workers may need courses offered outside of standard business hours. A best practice is to engage the affected groups to understand how to meet their needs.
• Foster a growth mindset: Make upskilling and reskilling a normal part of the organization’s culture, showcasing it as an opportunity for continuous learning. Acknowledge and celebrate participation in the programs. 

As leaders prove their commitment to inclusion, they’ll inspire employee trust, making workers more likely to see the benefit of and engage in learning opportunities. Plus, the more a culture fosters the inclusion of new viewpoints, the more everyone can learn from each other. This can also lead to more innovative training and development approaches, like gamification or training led by subject-matter-expert peers. 

Measuring the Impact of Inclusive Leadership on Upskilling and Reskilling

To stay aware of your progress, keep an eye on metrics like employee participation across various demographics, employee engagement scores (which can also be analyzed by demographic), and how well performance or promotion rates improve after the training sessions. 

Combined, these metrics will paint a picture of how included your employees feel and how beneficial the upskilling or reskilling courses are, ensuring the programs equitably benefit all demographics and allowing you to discover and resolve any gaps. Consider using a comprehensive learning platform that tracks this data and provides insight into the ROI of your training programs. 

Over time, upskilling or reskilling programs led by inclusive leadership practices should result in a stronger talent base with a better pipeline for new or higher-level roles, which should also position you with a higher competitive advantage against competitors.

It’s Time to Leverage Inclusive Leadership and Grow Your Employees

As the working world transforms with the continuous advent of new technology, your company must change along with it. One of the surest ways to stay competitive in a changing landscape is through a continued focus on upskilling and reskilling of employees. 

However, trying to create a single program that meets every worker’s needs is likely to result in barriers and low adoption. Inclusive leadership is the answer. By striving to understand the needs of diverse demographics and design programs that meet each employee where they are, you’ll break down barriers, increase participation, and future-proof your team.

If you’re an inclusive leader looking to get started with upskilling and reskilling, check out a Tekstac demo. With 500+ unique learning paths and assessments, there’s a way to meet every employee’s skill development needs.