On the Society for Human Resources Management (SHrM) homepage, there is currently a great article, written by an affiliate from India—Rekha Bajaj—that details the importance of “upskilling”, otherwise known as self-improvement, in times of economic turmoil. Bajaj notes, “Upskilling is the basis for evolution and if the workforce does not evolve with the demands of the market [come companies] could be the next dinosaurs.”

This insightful point is all the more poignant during times of economic recession when competition for the scant few jobs remaining on the market is at it’s highest.

But how do organizations promote upskilling among their workforce? After all, employees can’t be expected to intrinsically know that they should improve their skills in order for their employer to survive a tough economic climate; many employees are set in their ways and may feel that the best way to prove their worth to the organization is to do what they to best. As Bajaj points out, open communication is the answer.

There are numerous ways to promote open communication within an organization including:

• Stating and adhering to an open door policy in the employee handbook
• Holding regular meetings where employees can speak openly (at least in a professional manner)
• Leveraging technology to communicate company policies, procedures, expectations, vision, etc.

It’s on this last point i’m going to expand because this is where I will segue to Learning @…, the subject of this blog. Learning @… is the perfect tool for organizations to build the open communication necessary for managers to express and detail the vision and mission of the organization, which may have drastically altered in the face of a new economic reality, and then provide the online training for them to “upskill” and work towards achieving that vision and mission.

I really encourage you to read the article on SHrM (unfortuneately you need a SHrM membership in order to read. Ironic given the subject of this post. If you have a membership, the article’s title is Upgrading for an Upturn: Training Encouraged for Greater Mobility.) When you are finished reading, take a look at the features of the Learning @…Professional and let me know if you agree with my assessment—I hope you see the connections that I do.