Kill upskilling.

With “upskilling” being such a buzzword at many companies, I wonder how many organizations actually achieve genuine upskilling outcomes instead of masking poorly formed KPIs that suggest some effort to make employees more productive.

The best case scenario seems to be an impossible ask for a lot of businesses: to give every individual in a company ultra-personalized learning where development is optimized for both individual growth and better outcomes for the business. And to do it in a way that is fulfilling, engaging, and scalable.

I don’t have nearly enough experience or insight to come up with a viable solution, but I’m far more intrigued by cohort-based learning than content-based learning platforms like Udemy and LinkedIn Learning. I’m much more committed to cultivating curiosity and self-driven development than KPIs based on completing courses and attending training. And I’d rather change the learning pathways provided at work to be built into well-formed goals and objectives (hard to do) than expect learning to happen at work in an isolated manner, because while ‘needs of the business’ come first, it’s all too often used as an excuse.