Yes, you read the title correctly! Try to take the problem upside down.
Why update and unlock new professional opportunities? It's tedious, time-consuming and requires a lot of motivation.
Why?
Because when we live in a world that constantly demands our attention, it's easy to get distracted. Moreover, we are drowned in a tsunami of information, so how can we be sure that we will not waste even more time looking for the right content.
In addition, we often lack inspiration: what are the applied skills we should train?
How often should we train? Every day ? Every week ? When does the urge take us? (So for some, never….)
At work, it is difficult to have clear directions. Your manager has probably already told you that "it would be good if you informed yourself about these subjects", without really giving you a methodology on how to get there.
And unfortunately still too often, you are told that it would be good "to try to train you outside of your working hours, because we are very busy at the moment".
Okay….
But at the time of the big resignation and where the balance of personal and professional life takes on another dimension, the employees will not (or no longer) make the effort and prefer a good Netflix and Chill vs 1 hour of training behind their home computer.
So staying obsolete in your market is quite simple, because you don't put forward the right arguments or the right tools to employees. And finally if we have too many choices, we end up confining ourselves to what we know.
Who has never tried a Netflix browser to find new content, but was not sure if the content would please us - finally decided to watch for the hundredth time: Friends, HIMYM or an episode of The Office ?
I plead guilty (and I see your smirk, I know for you too).
However, the solution is quite simple. But first, you have to change your attitude! Some examples that some know by heart.
📍 “I don’t have time to train myself”
>> Take advantage of your in-between or downtimes, those times when you're commuting, at the gym, shopping, cooking dinner, or walking your kids (who are crushing) by stroller. Because your day is busy enough at work and there is ALWAYS something happening that will distract you from your planned day.
>> Upskyld solution: an app that plugs onto professionals downtimes to help them to upskill more easily.
📍 “I don't know how to train”
>> What learning medium works best for you? When do you read? When you watch a video? When you listen to audio content? You have to know what suits you best so that training does not become a chore.
For me, for example, it's the audio. Why? I can do other things at the same time (shopping, eating, going to work), it helps me to concentrate and stop fiddling with my phone (saving a lot of screen time), I don't risk taking my post while reading an article (clearly it smells of experience) and then it's more ecological than watching a Youtube video.
>> Upskyld solution: an auditory listening matched with a compelling learning experience. Because we believe an engaging listening is better to learn, we added a smart note tool to help you organise, plan and deep dive into the skills you’ve selected.
📍 “Yes, I will test this (tool, campaign, strategy) when I have time”
>> Except that this excuse, everyone knows it and those who use this excuse will never take the time. And then often we take notes to be able to write them down and test them, but we struggle to find the information, classify it, organize it and above all put it into practice.
>> Upskyld solution: organise your notes and sync them for your managing tool, such as Notion or Trello. Share your findings with the community and get inspired by the public notes left by Upskyld users.
📍 “I don’t know where to start, what skill should I focus on?”
>> This is a very recurring problem: what skills are sought after and required in a job, in a market or even by an employer?
But there are solutions to that - you can already look at the recommendations on Upskyld by type of job on skill inspirations. Also discuss with colleagues to see what are the hot topics of the moment or browse a little on LinkedIn.
>> Upskyld solution: we’ve categorised the skills by type of jobs to inspire the ones unsure about where the learning journey should begin. We’ve focused so far on digital positions such as marketers, salespeople, product and entrepreneurs.
Well, you got it, there really is no excuse for not finding the time to train. So why is the average per professional 24min per week on training?
It's time to question yourself because the person next to you will have already taken the lead and will be more competitive in an ever-changing market.
