As automation takes over a lion's share of processes that previously required us humans, we need to rethink areas of employment and invest more on behavioural skills and critical thinking. But almost 70 per cent of companies think that implementing these skills even if they learn it is the biggest challenge, said a survey of 350 companies across the world. The State of Behavioral Learning 2020 report by Harappa Education and People Matters found that 85 per cent of the companies feel that personalisation is of utmost importance.
When asked to choose among the top challenges that businesses face with respect to behavioural skills, 69 per cent of the survey respondents opted for “applying learning to daily work” as the topmost challenge. "This was followed by “uncertain future business environment (55 per cent)” and “limited resources (54 per cent)”, indicating that the prevailing business environment due to the global pandemic has adversely affected training on behavioural skills. As companies continue to evaluate their business continuity plans, it is clear that training or additional investment in behavioural learning may not rise in the near future," added the recently released survey.
Although in many companies (62 per cent), employees play a direct role in giving inputs on behavioural skills learning, there’s still a need to create personalised learning roadmaps. Over 71 per cent of the companies do not offer personalized roadmaps, said the study. "Digital learning' is on par with ‘On the job training’ and ‘Classroom training’ as one of the most preferred methods of imparting behavioural skills. In fact, training remote employees was identified as a challenging area by 49 per cent of respondents. It is essential to create a digital strategy around behavioural training," said the study. "Although 96 per cent of companies believe that coaching is important, 44 per cent don’t currently have coaching as a significant aspect of the learning program. There’s a need to create coaching programs for short and long term for behavioural skilling needs to support your employees," the findings suggested.
It is understandable that a company will want to spend more for its top assents but the study said that spending more even lower down the ladder will result in better returns. "Most companies invest heavily on behavioural skills when employees move up the organisational hierarchy. The study showed that senior management and executive rank on top of the priority list. It is, however, a good idea to invest in behavioural skilling early-on in an employee’s career," the study said.
Learning behavioural skills is a two-way street, the company needs to be as invested in it as the individual, said Founder and CEO of Harappa Education Shreyasi Singh. "While formal education prepares people for the technical and functional aspects of their work, mastering behavioural skills requires continuous effort, both by individuals and the organisations that employ them," she added.
