With many employers focused on developing the digital and technical skills that are in short supply, María Balbás urges them not to forget about cultivating the more human ‘power skills’ that can help employees reach business and career goals.
Employee training and development is a critical aspect of an organisation’s strategy for investing in its future. At present, leaders are paying close attention to the global digital skills gap – research from Salesforce recently highlighted that just 10% of the global workforce has the skills needed for businesses to adopt artificial intelligence (AI).
However, there is an often-overlooked element of employee development that has an impact on how effective technical skills training can be – ‘power skills’. These are capabilities such as effective communication, complex problem-solving, and critical thinking skills, which are vital for talent to become effective team members and have a positive influence on operations, culture, and future success.
Power skills
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When developing employee training programmes, businesses should ensure that technical training is balanced with targeted development in power skills.
What are power skills?
The core competencies that fall under the category of power skills should be high on the agenda for all employee development, including self-active learning, creativity and ideation, critical thinking, agile leadership, complex problem solving and change management. In addition to this, curiosity is a highly sought-after power skill in the digital age, as it drives continuous learning, innovation, and adaptation in a rapidly changing environment.
These should be seen as foundational skills that facilitate the use of technical knowledge. Essentially, power skills unlock better use of technical skills to help talent address business challenges and achieve targets more effectively. This is particularly relevant for specialist and technology-based roles, such as AI developers.
For example, if an AI developer can clearly and constructively communicate how machine learning can make another part of the business run more efficiently, their solution is more likely to be considered. Similarly, the developer is more likely to have arrived at this solution if they have been supported with training in critical thinking and problem-solving. With strong leadership skills, the developer will be better placed to collaborate with other teams and lead in implementing their solution.
These qualities are often what companies are looking for when hiring candidates, but businesses regularly fail to recognise that they are learned competencies that can be developed in existing talent with the right support. It is as important to provide dedicated power skills training to staff as it is to develop the technical skills required of a role, and leaders that fail to recognise this will fail to get the most out of their people.
How necessary are they?
Failure to develop power skills not only invites disconnection between colleagues, but has a profound impact on overall business performance.”
Skills-based hiring is often beneficial for the recruitment of external and internal candidates, helping companies find and keep the talent they need. For example, in an evolving world where hard skills have a shorter life span, a Deloitte survey has shown that hiring based on foundational skills like ‘learnability’ can improve retention. Learnability relies on power skills like communication and teamwork.
Failure to develop power skills not only invites disconnection between colleagues, but has a profound impact on overall business performance. A recent study conducted by Harris Poll and Grammarly found that poor communication costs businesses in the US $1.2 trillion every year. This issue has been exacerbated by the new world of flexible and hybrid working, further highlighting the need for individually-tailored training in these areas as companies strive to adapt to new demands and working models.
Tracking power skills
A common pitfall that besets managers is for them to label individuals as ‘strong leaders’, ‘good communicators’ or ‘creative problem solvers’, then distribute opportunities accordingly, based purely on instinct or familiarity with their team. However, this can mean the range of talent available is not supported in a balanced way, and development can be negatively impacted. Those that don’t have a natural inclination for these skills can feel left behind if a business fails to invest in these skills.
Employers should try to develop training programmes tailored to an individual’s needs, actively tracking progress on power skills rather than relying on instinct. Talent management tools that show what training individuals have had, their progress in developing skillsets, and how they are applying them in practice can be beneficial. This will not only more effectively support people to improve their power skills, but it will enable managers to more accurately tailor future training and development to an employee’s career trajectory.
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When formulating talent development programmes, it is useful to think about your people’s capabilities beyond the technical aspects of their role. Power skills are often the difference between a good worker and an outstanding team member, and a business that deploys the right support for their people to become the latter will reap the benefits.
