TSHEPO MOKOENA: Upskilling and training needs strategy not tick-box approach

The serious skills gap regarding IT talent is only growing as technology evolves. A lack of skilled resources can be a huge obstacle in achieving organisational objectives, and without sufficient IT skills SA will fall behind on the global stage.

While many programmes are aimed at skills development, especially for the youth, for many businesses these have become about ticking a box to ensure they meet the requirements of a broad-based BEE scorecard, and not about plugging the talent gap.

To address the skills gap upskilling and training need a strategic approach to develop skills that will be useful in helping a business grow. The industry faces a dichotomy — regarding hiring, businesses want to be able to simply “plug and play” their employees, slotting them seamlessly into their roles. However, the experienced resources to be able to do that are scarce, so businesses cannot access the needed skills.

This is where skills development and training should be filling the gap. Instead of pushing as many people as possible through learnerships, organisations should focus on strategically developing and providing the experience for the skills they need to thrive.

The challenge is that it requires the entire organisation to work together. Everyone from the CIO and CEO to the HR team should speak the same language about finding the right fit for the business. It also means skills should be developed in line with the business strategy, from entry level right through to mid and higher levels.

Upskilling from within is often a more rewarding process than the endless struggle to hire the right talent, but it requires an approach of mentorship, coaching and partnership with the right training provider. It also requires a shift from the mindset of quantity versus quality — it is better to train fewer people but train them well, so they can add value — and from the belief that as soon as people have skills they will take it elsewhere.

Employment training

If every organisation had the same strategic approach, the pool of talent available to draw from would be far wider, and this challenge would not be such a barrier. Having a strategy and clear direction, and focusing skills development on this in line with an organisation’s vision and mission, is a crucial step in building the deep pools of talent SA will require to compete as the fourth industrial revolution continues apace.

As an example, a services and infrastructure business needs people with the requisite knowledge and skills and relevant certifications in equipment and software. The skills development approach we follow is therefore not to train for the sake of training but to train people for employment — even if it ends up being at another organisation, because this is the only way to build talent.

Taking this a step further, skills development initiatives should be about building career paths, not just about pushing numbers through a broken system. It requires commitment from all parties involved and alignment on vision and mission. It also requires C-level executives to foster a culture of skills development and continuous learning and improvement. However, to address SA’s skills gap a more holistic approach is needed.

It has become essential to take programmes from the ground up, developing youth from school age so that they have skills and experience, job readiness, personal motivation and the many soft skills needed to succeed. For example, the Boys2Men initiative mentors and develops fatherless boys from disadvantaged communities with an aptitude for technology from grades 9 and 10 and provides them with avenues to further their skills and studies to develop a digital career.

For the skills gap to be addressed a different approach is needed to pushing many youth through programmes that lead them nowhere. It leads to endless cycles of stipends and short-term learnerships that do not develop careers or employability. Skills development and training need to be strategic; they need to address actual gaps in the market, and they need to groom youth from school age in career paths that will provide them with future employability.

They also need to look at the cross- and upskilling individuals with talent within organisations to build the pipeline of skills and create a growing pool of talent that will serve the country as digital becomes further entrenched.

• Mokoena is executive chair of In2IT.