Your Guide to the Differences Between Upskilling & Reskilling

Investing in both upskilling and reskilling can help you retain qualified staff, maintain a management and leadership pipeline, meet changes happening in your industry and economic environment, and stay innovative and agile. However, there are some significant differences between the two which need to be considered before you embark on an L&D strategy.

The quick guide below will help you know when, and how, to deploy these two concepts to ensure you meet these aims.

Upskilling

What:

• 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:

• Helps the person keep pace with advancements in technology/processes
• Improves 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 reduce cost of hiring

When:

• 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:

Shorter, inexpensive learning opportunities that may/may not come with certification that can be integrated into their current 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:

Leaders moving into higher positions can benefit from upskilling in leading diversity or leading for innovation. New Managers benefit from learning basic management and coaching skills.

Qualities of ideal upskilling 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:

• 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 their job more easily?
• What skills does your team need?
• What skills do you need for career progression with us?

Reskilling

What:

• 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:

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

When:

• 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:

Usually 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:

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?

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.

Book a discovery call with TNM Coaching to discuss how we can empower your people with the skills they need to thrive in the technology-powered business transformations to come.

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