Table of Contents

An Evolving World and Business Ecosystem

Today’s world and business ecosystem continue to evolve at an unprecedented rate due to continuous advancements in new and existing technologies. As a result, the need for workers to consistently acquire new skills and strengthen existing skills remains a challenge for organizations globally. Workers seem eager to meet this need, however.

According to PwC’s Workforce of the Future report: 

• 74% of survey respondents are ready to learn new skills or re-train to remain employable in the future. 
• 65% of respondents think technology will improve their job prospects in the future. 

Yet despite this willingness of workers to reskill and upskill, there still exists a massive digital skills gap today. In this blog post, we’ll explore how role-based skills training can set your organization up for digital success in the future. 

The American Library Association defines digital literacy as: 

• “the ability to use information and communication technologies to find, evaluate, create, and communicate information, requiring both cognitive and technical skills.” 

However, the idea of digital fluency takes this concept one step further. While digital literacy tends to refer to the development of basic digital skills and competencies, digital fluency encompasses aspects beyond these basic skills, including metacognitive skills required to transfer technical skills from one technology to another and to make informed, nuanced decisions about technology use. 

To use a linguistic metaphor to explain digital fluency, Jennifer Sparrow, Senior Director of Teaching and Learning at Penn State University, states: 

• “How is digital fluency different from digital literacy? In learning a foreign language, a literate person can read, speak, and listen for understanding in the new language. A fluent person can create something in the language: a story, a poem, a play, or a conversation. Similarly, digital literacy is an understanding of how to use the tools; digital fluency is the ability to create something new with those tools.” 

Digital fluency is paramount in today’s digitally-driven and technologically interconnected world. Yet there remains an alarming lack of digital skills across all industries in the United States. According to the National Skills Coalition: 

• Nearly one-third (31 percent) of workers lack digital skills. 
• 13 percent of overall workers have no digital skills. 
• 18 percent of overall workers have limited digital skills. 

And with the exponential rate of technological advancement comes an increasingly worrisome digital skills gap. Data shows: 

• 54% of American workers believe technology will advance faster than workforce skills. 
• Just 17% of workers consider themselves “advanced” in workplace digital skills. 
• 49% of workers consider themselves “beginner" in workplace digital skills. 
• 76% of workers say they do not feel prepared for a future that prioritizes tech savviness and a “digital-first” mindset.  

It’s clear that to bridge this skill gap, serious time, effort, and money will need to be devoted to training workers for the digital skills needed for the future. 

When thinking about skills training, a role-based approach is advantageous because it is aimed not only at theoretical learning but also the practical application of learned skills. Role-based skills training takes into account the learner’s specific role and responsibilities and provides tailored instruction and information based on his or her job duties and function. 

Providing extraneous or irrelevant information to employees during any training not only disengages learners, but it also wastes an organization’s time and money. In fact, one out of three employees say that “uninspiring content” is a barrier to learning. Role-based skills training focuses precisely on the information and skills that a learner will need to more effectively and efficiently perform a specific role, thereby more completely engaging learners and increasing knowledge retention. 

Role-based training provides employees with tools and resources they need to not only do their job, but to perform their job well and with accuracy. 

Organizations that wish to keep up with the rapid pace of technological change should have their eyes set on role-based training for digital skills. As workers continuously need to learn and sharpen their digital skills, a role-based approach will help ensure that they are receiving focused training that most efficiently prepares them for the future by taking into account exactly what digital skills each employee will need to excel in his or her role. 

With an empowered and digitally fluent workforce, organizations can feel confident when facing the myriad of challenges presented by the ever-changing face of technology.  

How Intellezy Can Help Support Your Organization 

Focused on the most widely used business software and applications, Intellezy’s award-winning online library of over 10,000 training videos helps employees learn and refresh their digital skills, with hundreds of courses available that can be provided to employees based on their specific training needs. In addition, Intellezy’s custom eLearning solutions go a step beyond this, providing organizations with expertly designed, tailored training videos centered around employees’ specific training needs, so that they can master the digital skills needed for their roles. 

To find out how our award-winning training videos and custom eLearning solutions help set your organization up for digital success.