Upskilling vs. Reskilling: A Practical Guide to Talent Development

Investing in both upskilling and reskilling can help keep talented staff, maintain a management and leadership pipeline, meet changes in your industry, and stay innovative and agile. However, there are big differences between the two, and understanding the difference between upskilling and reskilling is crucial to your L&D strategy.

This guide shows you how and when to upskill or reskill employees effectively.

How to upskill employees effectively

What is upskilling?

• Learning skills that complement a person’s existing skill set
• Some prior knowledge or experience in the skill area
• New skills that are relevant to current role or industry

Why upskilling matters:

• Helps the person keep pace with advancements in technology/processes
• Improves a person’s value in current role and/or enables career progression
• Enables professional accreditation
• Allows organisations to remain competitive and agile
• Helps retain talent in the organisation and reduces the cost of hiring

When to upskill employees:

• A new process or technology is being introduced
• The person has been identified as high potential for leadership roles
• The person is moving into a management role for the first time
• The person is making a side-ways move within the department
• The person has demonstrated potential or a talent that needs to be nurtured
• The training forms part of their professional development or career plan

How to upskill employees:
Offer affordable, flexible learning with optional certification for their role.

• External online courses
• Internal online courses via LMS
• Webinars
• In-person workshops, conferences, or seminars
• Coaching (for leadership and management competencies)
• Books and industry publications

Example of effective upskilling:
Leaders moving into higher positions can benefit from upskilling in areas such as leading diversity or leading for innovation. New Managers benefit from learning basic management and coaching skills, which is a prime example of how to upskill employees effectively. By recognizing the difference between upskilling and reskilling, you ensure you’re building on existing leadership capabilities rather than training for an entirely new field.

Qualities of ideal upskilling candidates

Upskilling starts with choosing the right employees. Ideal candidates:

• Are self-starters – they’re highly motivated and take initiative
• Have shown an interest in personal and professional development
• Are naturally curious – they ask a lot of questions during meetings
• Have good time management skills

Questions to ask employees to identify upskilling opportunities

Use these questions to determine if upskilling is the right choice for an employee:

• What are your interests?
• What skills can you learn that will develop your natural talents?
• What skills can you learn that will help you do your job more easily?
• What skills does your team need?
• What skills do you need for career progression with us?

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Reskilling

If you’re wondering what is the difference between upskilling and reskilling, consider that reskilling focuses on learning entirely new skill sets for a different role or industry, rather than building on existing skills.

What is reskilling?

• Learning skills outside a person’s existing skill set
• No prior knowledge or experience in the skill area
• Trains person from the ground up

Why reskilling is important:

• Skills are relevant for a completely new role or industry
• Enables a person to be eligible to begin a new career or fulfill a role at entry level
• Helps organisations keep top talent while reducing the cost of hiring

When to reskill employees:

• A person has been made redundant because a function/technology is no longer used
• A person wishes to change career completely or wants new opportunities
• A person could reskill to join a new department rather than being made redundant

How to reskill employees:

• Unlike upskilling, reskilling often requires time-intensive, expensive training programs that result in an accreditation or certification:
• Online courses with a Registered Training Organisation
• University or tertiary institutions
• Industry-approved training courses
• Technical colleges

Example of effective reskilling:
A Marketing Manager or HR Specialist may decide to change careers to become a full-time executive coach and undertake an ICF-accredited coaching program.

Qualities of ideal reskilling candidates:

• Are already top performers
• Love working in your organisation/industry
• Are self-starters – they’re highly motivated and take initiative
• Have proven themselves to be keen and fast learners
• Have demonstrated availability to be flexible and resilient during change

Questions to ask employees to identify reskilling opportunities:

• Is there a certain department or role that interests you in one of our available teams/departments?
• Are there transferable skills you use outside of work in a hobby or volunteering role that we may be able to build on in a new role?
• What type of work environment do you thrive in?

By understanding the difference between upskilling and reskilling, you’ll be more equipped to select the right candidates for each path. For those who need to enhance their current capabilities, learn how to upskill employees to amplify existing skills. For employees who need a fresh start, reskilling is a great option.

Using contemporary coaching and learning practices and decades of experience working with some of the world’s leading businesses, TNM Coaching can help your company create an engaging upskilling program for your leaders and managers.

Ready to future-proof your team? Book a discovery call with TNM Coaching today and let’s equip your people with the skills they need to thrive in today’s business world!

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