MIT Sloan Management Review Article on How to Engage People on Reskilling: A Language Lesson

Reskilling has become an imperative rather than merely a growth opportunity. Technology advancements like generative AI have led the World Economic Forum to project that 44% of employees will experience skill disruptions in 2023. On the surface, organizations seem to be rising to this challenge: Thirty-four percent of Fortune 50 companies have made reskilling and upskilling top strategic priorities and have designated a hefty 1.5% of their annual budgets to support them, according to research from Boston Consulting Group.

However, despite the level of investment in reskilling infrastructure, such as learning programs and talent technology platforms, we find that organizations are undervaluing the need to change employee behavior through effective engagement strategies. Having a well-designed reskilling program doesn’t help an organization if people don’t sign on to participate in it. To achieve a shift, leaders must understand how to connect people with reskilling initiatives in ways that encourage them to take up learning.

About the Author

Carl Clarke is the director of talent, learning, leadership, skills, and people performance at Vodafone. Zsófia Belovai is the behavioral science lead at MoreThanNow. Michelle Davies is the head of learning, performance, and reskilling strategy at Vodafone. Nicha Surawattananon is a behavioral scientist at MoreThanNow. James Elfer is founder and CEO of MoreThanNow.

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