Upskill and Reskill

Do you know the difference between Upskill and Reskill? And when should you worry about them?

The answer to the first question is pretty easy: upskilling is the process where you learn new skills in order to improve your current performance without changing your position.

Reskilling, on the other hand, means getting new skills to operate in a slightly or completely different area of your job.

If you're asking yourself when it's a good time to upskill or reskill, a pandemic is definately a right answer.

Covid-19 greatly changed our lives and how we work.

According to a survey by McKinsey&Co, 69% of the companies are taking actions to reskill or upskill their teams without hiring new people.

And we had no doubt the set of skills that is becoming more and more requested is the soft skill set: improving certain aspect of your team behavior can be an incredible boost for the company.

Imagine a group of professionals, great at whatever hard or technical skill they have, but with the capacity to communicate, handle stress, feel empathy, manage other people and create a stimulating yet relaxed environment.

If you're upskilling or reskilling your team it doesn't matter, just do it SOFT.

Here's which soft skills these big companies are improving:

Why is empathy a fundamental soft skill? Empathy is the ability to understand someone's pain, to see things from their point of view: it enhances trust, positiveness and proximity.

Use this skill with your team mates or with your clients to create a safe space and a feeling of understanding.

The pandemic has accelerated our need for digitization because we wanted to minimize the distance between us. Things are now going back to normal but there are some areas where we've done such a big step and there's no coming back.

Hybrid jobs, virtual team building, online meetings will be a constant in our lives with their ups and downs, like everything in life.

Improving your digital skills is now a priority.

"The only lasting truth is change". This is one of our favorite quotes. In life as in our jobs we must accept that everything is changing and will forever do so. Our chance of surviving is to adapt to these changes, embraces them and continue to learn with passion and thrive.

After all, if it wasn't for adaptability we wouldn't have started this Historical Escape Room adventure.

Change gives us opportunities, seize them!

To be able to manage a project, you will need a wide set of skills: your communication has to be strong, you must be good at organizing and prioritizing, handle conflicts within the team, inspire and motivate them, actively listen to different ideas, and create harmonious relationships. How do you do that?

Come on, with soft skills!

One of the most common mistake teams make in our virtual activities is wasting time waiting for someone to make a decision for the team. We understand: you want to be polite, you're afraid you'll come out as that person trying to outshine others, or you don't really want to take responsibility. But life is about making decisions! So if you're the leader in your team, choose an answer and go for it! Our penalties are not so terrible!

Since we were talking about leadership, here it is: the most important skill to improve according to these big companies is leadership and managing others. Companies are looking for trustworthy individuals with outstanding abilities to release the team potential and carry the squad to success. Some say you're either born leader or you're not. We believe you can improve this important skill even if you're not interested in becoming the new Elon Musk!

Do you need help in improving or monitoring your team's soft skills? With our new tool and thanks to our occupational psychologist we can fill a report on how your team performed, which soft skills have been used most and where you should take action to improve. Send us an email and tell us your needs!