The term “digital” is more heard today than ever before. From electricity bills to money transfers and business communication – everything is digitalized today. It leads to the need for effective ways to transform digital skills in workplaces and educational institutions.

According to Finance Online, a recent report by IDC mentions that digitally transformed organizations are expected to contribute over $53.3 trillion to the GDP by 2023.

Despite the inevitable need for digital skills, many organizations do not have a digitally literate workforce to cope with the revolutionary global transformations.

Yet, we cannot overlook the need for adapting these skills and instilling them in our routine tasks. We have put together ways to help you teach digital skills to your team from the top to bottom hierarchy.

Transform the Digital Skills in Workplace

Awareness

The first approach to any revolution in a system is awareness or understanding of the situation. You may tell your employees they must learn MS Excel because everyone works on it. But, many might try to avoid learning it, and others would only do it to please their boss.

However, it may be helpful to inform them of how the digital skills demand is worldwide. You can tell them it is not about a particular competitor or only because people in your business do it that way; the need for transforming digital skills has risen due to its role in global business dynamics.

“89% of all companies have already adopted a digital-first business strategy or are planning to do so.” – Foundry

These statistics are immensely important to emphasize the importance of being digital in this generation.

Inclusion

The next way to transform digital skills in any workplace is to involve and include your employees. The times of coercive leadership are gone. Now, people stay loyal to companies that make them feel valued. And you can use this perspective when making a major change in the company.

The leaders may address their staff to inform them how they are considering moving to a tech-savvy style, and their cooperation is required. It gives workers a sense of responsibility toward the progress of the business.

Furthermore, researches also show that communication and inclusion are essential to organizational success. As the workplace communication statistics by Team Stage present, businesses with effective communication programs and support are 3.5 times more likely to outperform their rivals.

Identify Areas of Improvement

Now that your employees are well aware of the importance of digital skills for the workplace and an expected transformation, it is time to identify and mark areas of improvement.

Every department might need a different kind of modification to take them to the recent technological advancements, thus there must be a particular strategy for each of them. The managers of each department may help find the areas that require work before devising a final working plan.

Top to Bottom Approach

The employees might not say it out loud, but they observe how their managers act in the office and adopt a similar approach. If they see their managers and bosses utilizing the same methods as the 1900s, they will opt for the same.

So, when you think, “What are the effective ways to transform the digital skills within the workforce,” educating the managers is fundamental to the process.

You have to start with pushing the heads of departments and managers to develop these skills so they can help other employees as well.

Maintain a Balance between Employee Skills and Technology

‘Digital skills’ and ‘technology’ are often misunderstood and used interchangeably. While they are not the same, technology and digital skills are highly interconnected.

For example, all your employees, including accountants, officers, executives, and managers, have the mailing algorithm in their systems. But, they still prefer walking to each other to convey messages. Or everyone must come to the office for a meeting on a rainy day when Google Meet is already installed on their computers.

The technology is present while the digital skill to use that technology is no there. Tech giants mention that it’s not the lack of technology in offices that halts growth, but the lack of skills to use the technology.

PwC reports, “55% of employers most worried about digital skills say a lack of key skills hampers innovation.”

It shows that more than half of employers look for digitally sound individuals as technology is not enough until the workforce is trained to use it best.

Importance of Digital Skills for Students

The need for digital literacy is equal in workplaces and educational institutions. Today’s students are tomorrow’s employees, and empowering them with these skills today will ensure a more digitalized workforce in the future. Acquiring digital skills also helps you get into organizations of your choices due to added knowledge. Working on the essential digital skills points may help students work efficiently in the future as well.

Some of the important digital skills that every student must learn for the present and future are:

• Digital marketing
• Digital business analysis
• Digital project management
• Data science and analysis
• Leadership skills

How To Transform The Digital Skills?

Now that you know the need and ways of transforming digital skills in the present generation, an important question is “how to transform digital skills.”

Whether you are a student, an employee, an employer, or an HR personnel, you can lessen a widening digital skills gap with these three learning methods.

YouTube

YouTube is one of the most easily accessible resources to learn any skill. You can find hundreds and thousands of videos on every topic conveniently. Many digital gurus on YouTube share their wisdom and tutorials about acing any digital skill you want to acquire.

Search on YouTube, find a mentor whose style you like, and get, set, go!

Online Course

Besides YouTube, another ‘free’ online strategy is to find free online courses. Make sure to research thoroughly and look for credible resources. The focus must be to find free resources but do not end up with leads that may waste your time.

Search for specialized courses for each skill you wish to learn. Once you decide on the course, study the outline to see if it has everything you are looking for. If it does not contain the content you look forward to; there’s always another.

Paid Certifications

Okay, do not run away reading ‘paid.’ It is natural to prefer to learn a skill without spending money as so many tutorials and courses are available for free.

But, there is usually a reason that these courses are ‘paid.’

It could be the credibility of the institute, the instructor, or the detailed, unparalleled course content they offer.

Don’t hesitate give paid certifications a shot, as they help you learn through pre-designed schedule and assessments.

Remember: One Step at a Time

While the above-mentioned methods may seem incredibly easy and you wonder, “We can easily transform digital skills in our workforce now,” it is not that simple.

Transforming from one era to another always takes time. Thus, you do not have to worry if your employees take time to adapt to these changes. Allow them to understand the need for this transformation and how their contribution matters. Providing them with resources and spending effort on their training will pay back to the company in the best way.

Take one step at a time, and you will see a difference in the organization’s functioning soon.

The Bottom Line

The digital skills demand is rising globally and has become indispensable in today’s time. Thus, working on effective ways to transform digital skills is immensely important. The need to maintain a balance between employee skills and technology is also critical when digitalizing a workspace. The managers must set an example by understanding technology and utilizing it. Besides employees, students must also invest their time, effort, and money in learning digital skills to cope with the revolutionizing world.