Reskilling Revolution: Preparing 1 billion people for tomorrow's economy. An urgent investment in human capital is needed.
The skills gap is one of the most pressing challenges facing businesses today. Organisations aren’t moving fast enough and often don’t know where to start. This gap is widening as the digital economy evolves, creating new demands for technical, creative, and social skills. At the same time, the workforce is becoming more diverse, with different generations, cultures, and work expectations.
Addressing the skills gap is critical for business growth, innovation, and competitiveness. It is also essential for employee engagement, retention, and satisfaction. Lack of development is the #1 reason for people leaving for the tenth year consecutively (Work Institute, 2023). Businesses that fail to invest in learning and development risk losing their talent, customers, and market share. Businesses that embrace learning and development can unlock the potential of their people, create a culture of excellence, and achieve their strategic goals.
Where to start? At Kallidus, we aim to understand your business's goals and objectives, determine what you want to become, where you will compete, and what skills you’ll need to win. We advise our customers to ‘start simple’ and avoid getting lost in a massive skills analysis, but rather, begin by collaborating with your executive stakeholders and getting on the ground floor with your people.
Change is hard and understanding what capabilities your business needs to keep ahead of the change curve is critical. Once change is in motion, things move quickly so keeping to a consistent project management methodology, maintaining an appreciation for the growing pains of change, and committing to a growth mindset, are essential. Fixed mindsets won’t survive in the new world of work. Develop your managers as coaches – more on this later. But they are the lynchpin – to the success of your skills outcomes and (I’d argue) your business… remember
of the employees would consider quitting due to a lack of training
but the vast majority would remain loyal to the company if offered new training and development opportunities’ (LinkedIn, 2023)
The Role of AI in Workforce Learning and Development
Be careful of gimmicks. As consumers of Artificial Intelligence (AI), we should look for AI that truly adds value to our people and processes and returns time to deeper, more meaningful human interaction. AI is starting to and will further transform the learning and development landscape. It enables new ways of delivering, designing, and evaluating learning experiences.
An area we are excited about at Kallidus, is empowering learners to take charge of their own development. The future uses AI to personalise skills-based content and help with auto-tagging content (a grunge admin task).
It’s about helping curate and shape developmental pathways with inputs from similar roles, capabilities and high performers.
We can use AI to accelerate and create more value for our customers through generative inputs, speed, and stronger ties to business outcomes, but we must never forget that going ‘all-in' carries risks, especially on compliance and business-critical topics. You do not have to look too far into recent news to see the meticulous governance needed.
Power to the manager – the critical role of middle management
Managers have a crucial role in shaping the reskilling and upskilling of their teams, as they are the ones who have the most direct contact with the employees on the ground and have the responsibility of translating the strategy and outcomes from the business to the floor. Managers are also best positioned to understand the needs, strengths, and aspirations of their team members, and to provide them with coaching, feedback, and recognition.
However, many managers need to be equipped with the skills, tools, and support to lead their teams' learning and development effectively. They often face competing demands, lack of clarity, and resistance from both senior leaders and frontline workers. They may also have gaps in knowledge, confidence, or motivation. That is why it is essential to invest in the development of managers and to empower them with the resources, autonomy, and accountability they need to successfully execute against closing the gap while doing their day job.
At Kallidus, we focus on supporting the creation of great managers and, most importantly, giving them the tools to be effective in their roles. This enables businesses to create a culture of learning that is aligned with the organisation's vision and values but also responsive to the employees' needs and interests. As the CEO of Kallidus, I am placing focus on developing managers as coaches, capable of giving constructive feedback and seeking continuous performance improvements. We’ve just had our highest eNPS score in our history at 62 at the company level and 74 at the team level. I firmly believe that getting this right can lead to higher engagement, retention, and performance and increased innovation, collaboration, and agility. Learning and development is not only a strategic imperative, but also a shared responsibility, and creating capable managers is the key to making it happen.
Measuring Impact: How to quantify learning outcomes and business growth
Sadly, L&D is currently seen as a cost centre. This is often because we do not set out clear success measures and follow through with the absolute measurement of the outcomes. Learning and development is an investment in people and business performance. Therefore, it is vital to track and measure the impact of learning and development programs and demonstrate the return on investment (ROI) to stakeholders.
We want to make the line between learning and skills as inputs to performance outcomes as easy to draw as possible. This means we must prove we can close the development gap/ skills gap. Our use of Microsoft’s PowerBI, combined with CoPilot and machine learning capabilities will put more power into the hands of our customers.
The days of writing complex reports are over; querying the database to surface usable, relevant and timely information for stakeholders across the company is what we’ve all been asking for. We need to get usable information into the hands of our people (our managers!). As a business, we can use these insights to show the tangible links between employee development, closing the skills gap, and overall business performance.
The Future of Work: Preparing for tomorrow’s challenges
The world of work is changing rapidly and profoundly, driven by technological innovation, demographic shifts, environmental pressures, and social transformations. These changes pose significant challenges and opportunities for businesses and employees alike, requiring new skills, mindsets, and ways of working.
How can business leaders prepare their workforce for these changes and ensure they have the talent and capabilities to thrive in the future? How can employees adapt to the changing demands of their roles and careers, and remain relevant and employable in the long term?
The answer lies in learning and development. Learning and development is not only a means to close the skills gap but also a way to foster a culture of continuous learning, curiosity, and innovation. By investing in learning and development, businesses can enhance their agility, resilience, and competitiveness, while employees can increase their confidence, satisfaction, and well-being.
At Kallidus, we believe that learning and development is the key to unlocking the potential of people-focused organisations. We are committed to supporting businesses in building a resilient, future-ready workforce by providing them with the tools, solutions, and insights they need to create compelling, engaging, and impactful learning experiences.
We envision a future where learning and development are at the heart of every organisation, every employee has access to personalised, relevant, and meaningful learning opportunities, and every learner can measure and demonstrate their progress and impact. We are excited to embark on this journey with you and to help you shape the future of work as a truly customer-led partner.
Harry Chapman Walker, CEO Kallidus
Harry Chapman-Walker studied Politics and International Relations at the University of Bath. He played professional rugby for All Golds Rugby League, a team competing in the third tier of British rugby league, while completing a master’s in international business law.
In 2013, Harry joined Kallidus as a graduate, working his way through diverse business roles and attaining an Executive MBA in Business Administration and Management at the University of Bath in 2020. In 2021, he moved to the US as Executive Vice President of the recently acquired Sapling to grow Kallidus’ presence in the North American Market.
Following three years in the US, Harry further progressed his career to become the CEO of Kallidus in March 2024. Returning to the UK, he leads the company's vision, strategy, and culture, focusing on becoming the case study of its success, closing the global challenge of the development gap, and growing a truly customer-led organisation.
