Change is the only constant. 2020, the year of unexpected and unprecedented changes due to the global pandemic has renewed our belief in this age-old saying and changed the way we need to look at everything in 2021. Training and development remains no exception. This year companies need to concentrate their focus on the future and bring in innovation in how they train their employees. Up skilling the workforce is crucial now. Hence, the soft skills training companies in India are now gearing up to touch new horizons.
So, what are the biggest changes that companies need to bring about in employee training in 2021?
- Let’s begin with the most obvious aspect. Virtual training will continue to be the new norm even this year. Though hands-on trainings and classroom sessions were considered as the more preferred training process for so long, the shift to virtual training came with its own benefits. As the need for physical presence is omitted, employees can now attend the training sessions from anywhere and anytime via smartphones and laptops. This gives soft skills training companies in India the option to bring in more innovative and essential training programs without employees having to compromise on their normal working hours. The need to develop more digital content that meets the needs of their learners will increase.
- However, with the upsurge of use of technology in day to day work, companies also need to focus on training the employees if they need any additional assistance in using the technology needed to work from home.
- Moving forward, the most successful organizations will be those which have learned from the experiences of 2020, and implement them this year in their improvement. The role of training in change management becomes essential in this respect. The most important aspect of change management is to manage employees in a situation where market conditions are changing rapidly. Training managers have the job of leading the workforce and the organization through change initiative. They need to they need to communicate the changed policies to the employees, understand the skill gaps that have been rising due to the changed pattern of work and train them accordingly. However this also means that the changing goals and priorities of the company need to be clear to the training managers. Only then can they make sure that the employees are all working towards the same goal.
- The importance of soft skills trainings is rising and the best soft skills training companies in India keep this in mind while designing training patterns. Soft skills focuses on who a person is rather than on what they are good at. The pandemic has made it increasingly important to close any gap in soft skills that may have been existing across almost every role and job. With the rising levels of stress and anxiety among employees, leaders need to have higher empathy and emotional intelligence to effectively guide and communicate with their employees. Other important soft skills training in companies are of critical thinking and complex problem solving, things that are becoming vital for the companies in the demanding situations.
Soft skills are something that need practice and improve with time. Organizations need to develop virtual soft skills training programs to help both the trainers and trainees.
- HR leaders need to focus on future-forward skill development. The traditional method of identifying problems and then providing trainings to fulfil them isn’t sufficient in the rapidly changing circumstances today. There is a constant need of learning new and many skills for each particular job. Research shows that almost one third of the skills needed to get a particular job in 2017 will no longer be applicable in 2021. Hence HR managers should look at the right new skills to train employees for both their personal development and the benefit of the organization. With such dynamic approach to reskilling, employees will be also be applying the newly acquired skills much more.