Things Can Only Get Better
Nick Goddard
Why the UK election is an unmissable opportunity for the Financial Sector to close the skills gap.
This isn’t a party political broadcast but, as D:Ream famously sung in the nineties, “Things Can Only Get Better”.
According to the
UK’s Chartered Management Institute, the recent UK election offers a chance to fix what they call our broken skills system.
The CMI say:
“The incoming government has committed to a national skills strategy that presents a once-in-a-generation opportunity for a true reset"
This is an opportunity for the devolved UK governments to address the skills gap too, in partnership with business.
Business commentators point to chronic levels of under-investment in skills due to uncertainty, short-termism and business behaviour.
Uncertainty deters investment and we sometimes see this at ABSTRACT through client discussions and learning & development tenders.
An article published by Wonkhe, a website for higher education debate, says:
"The problem is fundamentally about skills demanded by employers, both in quantity (too little), and levels (too few higher-level skills)."
Other factors cited include a lack of ambition by organisations and evidence of a low quality of UK management versus international standards.
We need political and business leaders who have the will and the vision to set long-term plans and stick with them. We also need innovative learning and development providers, like ABSTRACT, to provide modern solutions that are specifically tailored to business needs.
The Financial Services Skills Commission (FSSC), who exist to ensure the sector has the talent and skills it needs for the future, has identified that skills gaps in financial services are impacting negatively on productivity, growth and competitiveness.
The sector has one of the largest skills gap of any UK sector, with a much greater number of roles becoming more highly skilled in the past 20 years.
The FSSC have identified an increased demand for coaching, relationship management skills, adaptability and creative thinking, among others.
How Can ABSTRACT Help?
There are a number of factors impacting skills, including education, investment and the pace of technology advances.
As a learning and development company, ABSTRACT are focused on the provision of skills based training and development for our clients, mainly in financial and professional services.
We help organisations thrive by:
- Embedding Leadership and Management essentials.
- Addressing gaps in relationship management capability.
- Improving critical thinking, judgement and decision making skills.
- Increased use of expert coaching for all levels, not just for the executive.
- Delivering structured career management development programmes that help future leaders and managers to achieve their full potential – and for organisations to retain their top talent.
Improving productivity will be on the ‘to do’ list of the incoming government, although this challenge is not unique to the United Kingdom.
ABSTRACT will continue to contribute through our learning and development programmes, as we work with clients globally to address their skills gaps and improve business through people.
And, as they say at the end of some broadcasts, if you are affected by any of the issues raised by this programme then get in touch with us:
