0:02

Upskilling. You might now think, well, what's upskilling? And that's exactly what we're going

0:08

to talk about today. There are new studies available, the CEO study and the WEF, the World Economic

0:14

Forum study, where we focus on upskilling as the key aspect you have to take care of to develop

0:21

your company sustainably. Well, we now have to well, all all we know right now is that we have

0:27

to fight for talent, and the fight for talent is ongoing. There is not even remotely inside

0:32

that this is going to get better. And Pricewater, how Coopers did the annual CEO study about

0:36

what are the major challenges, the major problems, the major situations you face, the major

0:41

issues you see as a CEO to develop your company sustainably, successfully for the future. And,

0:47

of course, the World Economic Forum, the WEF, backs the whole aspect of this, the whole study

0:52

of that with their own data. So we're not talking about opinions here. If you disagree with

0:57

what I say here, you disagree with facts. And that means you are in science denial, which is

1:02

never a good look and also not a wise choice when you want to develop any organization into

1:06

any one of the most important aspects for the future. However, what does that mean? And just

1:11

to be sure, when I talk about the PwC, the PricewaterhouseCoopers CEO study about the major

1:17

challenges and situations and issues we see, I'm going to put a link in the show notes of this

1:21

podcast so you can read the full study. There is a lot more in there than I can mention in the

1:26

short 10 to 15 minutes we have every week in our podcast. And what I mentioned here, the main

1:32

issues I am going to talk about are only the aspects which were mentioned under they will have

1:38

influence to a large extent or to a very large extent on the future, towards the future of that

1:44

organisation. So we are only going to talk about the very and most important issues that we

1:51

see in this today's free enterprise economic world. And, of course, the same applies to the

1:58

public service because they face the same shortage of talent and workforce. Issue number 1 is

2:04

seen with regulatory and compliance. And, of course, we have a rising number which doesn't which

2:09

had which doesn't show a linear but an exponential growth on regulation. We have more rules

2:14

and praise. If you now say the the solution to that is having less rules, good luck. There's

2:19

not a single point that points there's not a single aspect that points towards the direction

2:25

markets. We will have more regulatory, more compliance in place. And, of course, what do you

2:29

need to do there? You need qualified people to fulfill the demands of a rising regulatory and

2:35

compliance oriented world? The second aspect, which is a major challenge, is prioritization.

2:39

You know that you have probably a lot of different aspects on your plate and you need to be

2:44

able to prioritise while at the same time getting straight to aspect number 3. You have limited

2:49

resources. So you need to be able to fulfill all those limited resources, going to aspect number

2:54

5, while you have a workforce that often lacks certain skills that you need. Often, employers

3:00

complain where they say, we get some applicants. However, they lack the skills that we need.

3:06

Going to the 6th aspect here or to the, 5th aspect here, that they lack the tech abilities.

3:12

Even if you want to work more efficiently, you need to know how to use certain tools. You need

3:16

a certain affinity or at least a certain aspect of learning towards tech. And often people lack

3:21

the skills they need here. Last but not least on that, on the top answers. Number 6 is bureaucracy.

3:28

Special greetings to Germany here, probably leader in Europe in bureaucracy. However, others

3:32

other countries aren't doing too much better. And of course, you need to be able to deal with

3:36

bureaucracy. So you need to work very precisely because, you know, when you fail to address

3:40

the issues of democracy, the only thing you get back is a letter where says, Sorry. You completed

3:46

the form incorrectly. Please restart here. The question is, how do you deal with that? And if

3:51

we look into this, what do you need for regulatory and compliance? You need people who who learn,

3:55

who are qualified to fulfill the demands of regulatory and compliance. When it comes to prioritization,

4:01

what do we need? Well, people need to be able to prioritize from time management to task management

4:06

to delegation to communication to conflict management to project management, and whatnot else.

4:10

They need to learn that. When we talk about limited resources, you need to talk about time management

4:16

and multi project management, all of that needs to be learned. Very obviously, the form of aspect,

4:21

the workforce skills that are lacking, you need to learn these skills. Number 5, the missing

4:26

tech abilities, you need to learn these abilities. And number 6, you need to learn how to deal

4:30

with bureaucracy because it's it's very sure that it's not going away. It is not going away

4:35

anyway soon. And, of course, now some companies will immediately say, well, I think we do a

4:40

lot for our employees. I'll just give you a couple of examples. And by the way, what I tell

4:44

you now is a real world example. Some Some people say, Well, we do a lot of health and safety

4:49

training. And, we do a lot of training on fire protection and about data protection and GDPR.

4:55

And we also do all the 1st aid training. And, people learn the SAP and ERP software that we

5:01

use in our company. And, of course, we also, for example, have communication and conflict management

5:06

training. And all of what you just heard from work health and safety, to fire protection, to

5:13

data protection GDPR, to Fird A training, to ERP software, for example, SAP, to conflict, to

5:19

communication conflict management training. All of these 6, only one of them is a learning offer.

5:26

And that is new to many organizations. We that often when you claim you do so much for your

5:33

employees, we have so many learning offers available. Often, the learning offers are not really

5:40

learning offers because most leaders, even senior executives, often struggle to define what

5:45

is a learning offer. So we are going to define this before we get to the WEF, the World Economic

5:51

Forum study, and their data on the matter. So what are the what are the aspects you need to

5:56

fulfill to have a learning offer? Number 1 is it must be voluntary. When you talk about health

6:02

and safety, not voluntary. If someone says, oh, sorry. I'm not doing this training because I

6:06

don't like it. It's a bit boring. You still send them that because, you know, it's obligatory.

6:11

If someone says, fire protection, no. I've seen YouTube videos. I think I know all that. No.

6:16

You have to do it. Data protection training, obligatory. First aid training, you need to have

6:21

a certain number of people who are able to deliver first aid just in case. So all of these are

6:27

not voluntary. So as soon as a training is not voluntary, it is not a learning offer. That is

6:33

the first aspect, voluntariness. Anything you'd offer as a proper learning offer is voluntary.

6:40

The second aspect, when you say, well, the ERP model and the communication conflict management

6:45

training, these are learning offers. Well, one of them is. The other one, not so much. Better

6:50

to say, not at all. When you tell people you have to learn the ERP system, that's a system they

6:56

need to master for work. It's basic qualification. The demands of the workplace in which and

7:10

that means you have certain expectations that they are able to master the software. And that

7:15

means the second aspect is, are you able to transfer the knowledge to another organization?

7:22

Of course, you could now claim well, others, When we use SAP, others use SAP as well. Anyone

7:27

who has used SAP for 15 minutes or longer knows that SAP or any ERP any good ERP software is

7:34

highly tailored highly tailored to your demands. And if you are unable to transfer the knowledge

7:42

from a to b, for example, to another organization, then people will say, well, that's not really

7:47

a learning offer. It is something I need for work. And they are right with claiming that. I'm

7:51

a self employed entrepreneur, so I'm not re representing a workers' council here. I am always

7:56

more pro employer, obviously. So I have to display my own personal bias here. But when people

8:01

learn something they need for work, please don't tell them, oh, we did so much for you. No,

8:05

you didn't. You simply qualify them on a level that that they need to be qualified. And learning

8:11

an ERP module, for example, SAP, when you go to a different company, you will see the same software,

8:17

which is then completely tailored to their demands. Processes are completely different. You

8:21

nearly have to learn from scratch. Not a 100% but 95%, depending on the amount of tailoring

8:27

that happened. So number 1, everything must be voluntary. Number 2, the knowledge needs to be

8:33

transferable. And number 3, and that's the personal benefit. If all of we get together, voluntary

8:39

participation, transferability of knowledge, and personal benefit. When you, for example, take

8:46

a class on communication and conflict management, you can use that absolutely anywhere. I'll

8:52

give you an example. When you say communication conflict management, you need that in the workplace.

8:57

Yep. And you need it at home. Correct. You need it in your football, golf, basketball, baseball,

9:03

your dog's or children's sports club or wherever else. You need it as soon as you leave the

9:09

house where you probably do not live on your own, or you at least have neighbors or some friends.

9:13

So when you have anyone around you, you will see that communication and conflict management

9:18

will have an advantage for you if you get additional training on that. So of all the aspects

9:24

I mentioned, from work and safety to fire protection to data protection GDPR to first aid, ERP

9:30

module, and last but not least, the communication and conflict management training. Only the

9:35

last one is a learning offer because it combines 1, voluntary participation. 2, the knowledge

9:41

can be transferred. And 3rd, there's a personal benefit. And one aspect I need to add because

9:47

I've seen it way too often now. When you, for example, pay for someone's bachelor's degree,

9:51

master's degree, personal certification, if it's IT or out of IT certification, do not put them

9:57

in front of a paper where you tell them, well, if you want to have that qualification and we

10:02

pay for that, Please sign this paper that you need to stay here for the next 2 years with no

10:06

salary raise. If you still use these papers, I can tell you there is a lot, bad stuff about

10:13

that. I I can give you, by the way, personal statements in in a minute about people who faced

10:18

that situation, what they did afterwards. And there there are a couple of reasons why you shouldn't

10:22

put people into the situation to say, you have to tie yourself to the organization. Of of course,

10:27

you want that they stay. And it's your job to make them stay. If you tell them sign this piece

10:33

of paper so you must stay, You have a couple of issues here. Number 1, you openly communicate

10:40

that you do not trust them. Because otherwise, you wouldn't put this paper on the table. You

10:44

openly communicate that you do not trust them at all. There might be many reasons for that.

10:50

The question is why do you then still qualify them if you obviously do not trust them? If you,

10:56

for whatever reason, do not have trust in someone, then maybe you should think about this distrust.

11:07

This this this level of mistrust probably is not a good foundation for a future relationship

11:12

in a work setting. So number 1, you openly communicate. You do not trust them when you put this

11:17

piece of paper on the table where you say, tie yourself to the organization no matter what.

11:21

The second aspect is, in Europe, especially, we have the right to choose our employers wherever

11:26

we want in the European Union. So please check if you're complying with the laws of your country.

11:30

In most countries, you will not be compliant. And 3rd, by the way, you cannot force people to

11:35

work there. If you force someone to work with you when they are already in their mind, quit

11:39

with you, they will either call in sick or they will go to press or on social media and say,

11:44

look, this is how this employer deals with me, and you're not going to win this discussion.

11:49

So if you still have papers in place where people have to sign that they stay in the organization,

11:55

stop doing that. It is simply bad leadership. You have to take care that their circumstances

12:00

are good enough that they stay, and that is your job as a leader. Getting to the World Economic

12:05

Forum, and I'm also gonna put a link in the show notes so you can see the World Economic Forum

12:10

studies as well. 49% of the people in the workforce at the moment are working in a field where

12:16

they were not primarily qualified for. And that is good news. And, of course, the message here

12:21

is not that education is useless. People who have the formal qualification are productive a

12:25

lot quicker. However, when you say and there are certain fields where you can't show tolerances.

12:30

When you have a dentist, someone cannot say, well, I watch a lot of YouTube videos, and I really

12:35

like to be a dentist. So where's my first patient? That wouldn't work. It is not possible. But

12:39

in many other fields, you can have a certain flexibility. When people move into a certain field,

12:45

you have more work force available, which in most areas is a prerequisite to actually fulfill

12:53

the needs of the workforce you have right now if you're not already understaffed while listening

12:58

to this. 49% of the people working at the moment are working in a field where they were not

13:02

primarily qualified for. That means you have to qualify them afterwards because otherwise, they

13:06

will do too many mistakes. And they, of course, when they haven't worked there in the first

13:10

place, need to be professionally qualified by you or external professional trainers. More than

13:16

100,000,000 people, according to the World Economic Forum, can get into the workforce if we

13:21

take a skills first approach. The skills first approach means you see that someone is able to

13:27

do the job. You see that someone is willing to do the job. You move them into the field and

13:31

then professionally qualify them. What you do not do is you move them into the field, push them

13:36

in there and say, good luck from here, have high expectations and do low investments. That is

13:41

a ticking time bomb in your organization. 100,000,000 people can get into work by a skills first

13:46

approach. So adopt this as quickly as possible. Adapt this as quickly as possible to your organization

13:52

because it is your job to do so. It is the employer's job to do so. The the scarcity of talent,

13:59

the scarcity of workforce, and the scarcity maybe of other resources as well, just put a focus

14:04

on employer. We know there were different times, and you happily accepted the times when it

14:08

was completely different and the tables now turned. So please do not complain about what you

14:13

see right now. You didn't address the possible positive situation that you had in the nineties,

14:18

early 2000s where you had an abundance of workforce you could choose from. You now have to live

14:23

with the different wave. Every wave that goes up in your favor goes down against you. It's an

14:28

up and down and that will not stop. And by the way, if you think, oh, there is so much regulation,

14:33

there's so much going on and now this skills for us approach, what's next? Well, when you are

14:38

in the UK, you probably know this already. The UK now agreed on a law. And the law includes

14:43

the right for flexibility. You have a right for flexible work from day 1, not after 6 months

14:49

as it was before from day 1. From day 1, you have a right to work flexibly, work from home,

14:55

maybe work from anywhere depending on the legal situation of what you do and the possibilities,

15:00

of course, of what you do. Of course, have flexible hours, which are compatible with either

15:05

your family, your children, and what else might be necessary to to be taken into account. The

15:10

right for flexibility was agreed by a by an unreconstructed conservative government. So when

15:16

they agree on such a law, I can tell you that this will arrive in many other countries as well.

15:21

And by the way, when you now say, oh, in my country, they won't. There is a global workforce

15:27

with remote work. So anyone with an Internet access is able to leave your organization at the

15:33

tip of their fingers with a couple of mouse clicks. So when you think you don't have to face

15:38

the remote working world, you have to Because it is very important to see that globalization

15:46

is not a one way street. It means that you now have to look into what upskilling really is.

15:52

And upskilling is a part of the future of work. Upskilling is the employer's task. And upskilling

15:58

means that you proactively engage in getting better skills and more skills into the existing

16:04

workforce no matter how long they are with you. That applies for the people who are very new

16:08

to your workforce as well to the people who are with you for 30 years. And by the way, if you

16:12

now think, well, I'm taking the cheap approach, our so called trainers, someone who knows someone

16:19

who knows someone who does it for a couple of dollars, cash in the hand, good luck with that.

16:25

Of course, people will leave your organisation when you do not have professionally qualified

16:28

trainers. Just to give you a rough guideline, senior professionals as a trainer roughly work

16:33

for a daily rate from about 3, 3 and a half $1,000. That is the general starting rate in Europe.

16:40

In the US, it's a lot higher due to the cost of living, health care, the risk they have, etcetera.

16:44

So when you when you buy anyone cheaper than that, you will not get any professional anywhere.

16:50

And, of course, your people know that. Your people see that. They will talk about this and they

16:54

will act accordingly. When you go cheap, they go cheap. When you expect a lot, you have to hire

17:00

professionals because only then you can justify that you have high demands towards them. Upskilling

17:06

means that you take a proactive approach on putting more skills, better skills, and extending

17:13

the skills of your existing and future workforce. And the task to implement that is now. And

17:21

while the time to implement that is now, you, of course, might have a couple of questions marks

17:25

a question marks now. And, thank you very much for the last week where we received a lot of

17:29

emails or I I received a lot of emails. Feel free to contact me anytime. Nbnbhyphennetworks.com

17:36

is my email address. I will also put that in the show notes of this podcast. Feel free to send

17:40

me any question, and I will get back to you within 24 hours. I always answer messages within

17:45

24 hours. Of course, when you want to have something very specific, trading, speaking, coaching

17:49

on the matter or any matter around that topic or any other topic in the leadership area, let

17:54

me know as well, and we can have a chat from there. Besides my email address, I will also include

17:58

my LinkedIn contact so we can get in contact there and then have a chat from there and answer

18:04

any questions you might have. The second aspect which I always recommend is we have live sessions.

18:09

And, of course, we just had one a couple of weeks ago, which went very well. If you'd like to

18:14

join for a live session, feel free to do so. It's available in English and German. So feel free

18:18

to bring colleagues with you as well. Expert.nbhyphennetworks.com. You can register your email

18:25

address there. And as soon as you did so, you receive only one email every Wednesday morning.

18:30

It's a 100% content at free guarantee. And then we take it from there. And I look forward to

18:37

being in touch with you. The 3rd aspect, however, is the most important one. Apply, apply, apply

18:42

what you heard in this podcast. Because only when you apply what you heard, you will see the

18:47

positive aspect of what you obviously want to see as a positive change in your organization

18:52

because otherwise you wouldn't sit here listening to me for the last 15 minutes. I wish you

18:56

all the best. Let me know if I can help. I'm available for you 247. And at the end of this podcast,

19:00

there is only one thing left for me to say. Thank you very much for your time.