In the last series of articles I explored how providing learning opportunities as an employer may not be sufficient to achieve the desired developmental growth of the target workplace population, particularly if some or all of that population are not motivated to engage with the opportunities. Understanding why people 'buy-in', or not, to a training or learning initiative is an essential component of learning design, but it's one that is frequently missing from the design process. I'm going to use this month's posts to extend this exploration of motivation by considering one powerful lever that is particularly effective in encouraging employees towards a positive attitude in relation to their personal and collective learning.
It's becoming increasingly common to read headlines that relate to current trends in employment, and the inevitability of rapid change in this area. The growth and threat of AI, youth unemployment, political and economic imperatives, etc - all fuel a sense that employability needs to be addressed in a much more considered way; access to, and mobility within, the jobs market can no longer be assumed, it's something that needs employers to be actively engaged. On a positive note, the idea of developing individual employability can be a great source of motivation, but this needs careful framing if it is to be realised.
So what do we mean when we use the term 'employability' and, more particularly, 'employability skills'?
According to Dacre Pool & Sewell 2007, “Employability is having a set of skills, knowledge, understanding and personal attributes that make an individual more likely to choose and secure occupations in which they can be satisfied and successful.”
It's generally accepted that Employability is a combination of hard and soft skills, and also the way that these skills are acquired and developed throughout a working life. These are universal skills that transcend role, sector, geography or career stage, and, as such, are vital to every individual employee if they are to find, and maintain, a fulfilling career. There are various lists that attempt to define the nature and scope of these skills, but in general they all include the following:
- An interest in, and active commitment to, Personal Development
- Communication and Interpersonal Skills
- Versatility and Adaptability
- Problem Solving Skills
- Team Working Skills
- Commercial Awareness
- Role-related Technical Skills
That's quite a broad list of requirements for any learning manager to accommodate, or for any individual to recognise and commit to. It's also a list that requires us to consider learning provision in a broader sense than simply knowledge acquisition. These are skills that need an individual to transition through the stages of awareness, development, rehearsal and deployment; as such they are perfectly suited to a curriculum that leans heavily on experiential learning methodology. This is what I'm going to use the next three articles to explore.
Dacre Pool, Lorraine, and Peter Sewell. "The key to employability: developing a practical model of graduate employability." Education+ training 49.4 (2007): 277-289.
