Behavioral skills are fast becoming a differentiator in the world of work. Personal development in terms of attitude and competencies has become more critical than the technical or domain skills. The pandemic has made organizations realize that behavioral skills are oblivious to the external changes in the business environment. They shall be relevant forever. Even rapid advancements in technology can’t replicate these human skills, and hence, they are precious.

But are organizations taking the right steps to build and harness these critical behavioral skills? 

As per a recent survey by People Matters and Harappa Education, 96 percent of participating companies believe coaching is important to impart behavioral skills. Yet, only 29 percent of organizations have a personalized behavioral learning roadmap for all their employees. 

There is clearly a lack of clarity on where to begin from: How can organizations identify the gap in behavioral skills? 

The journey starts with awareness. Leaders need to assess the strengths of the entire workforce, including themselves and gain more insights about their unique learning needs. 

Mapping competencies as per business needs

While heading into unfamiliar territory, one won’t make it very far without a map. For the uncertain and complex future, business leaders have made certain assumptions and drawn a new vision for their business. The redefined vision requires a new set of competencies and behaviors that will help the organization grow. The first step for talent leaders begins with identifying these critical skills. 

Talent leaders must have multiple dialogues with the business leaders to understand the new requirements and accordingly map the competencies required to thrive in the present and future of work.

Identifying the learning needs & aspirations of the talent 

Using people analytics, data and insights, talent leaders can identify the unique learning needs of their talent. The Insights Discovery model puts forward that everyone is a mix of four color energies, but that one of these will be our natural home, whether that’s Fiery Red, Sunshine Yellow, Earth Green or Cool Blue. And each of these color energies also has a preference for how they most like to learn.

For instance, someone with Fiery Red energy, can be task focused, direct and determined. Those are their natural strengths. But when it comes to being more flexible and empathetic, they may struggle a bit.

Here it is important to note that it doesn't mean they can not tap in and dial up these skills. It rather means, these are the areas their learning roadmap must focus on. 

Besides using solutions like these, leaders also need to have one-to-one conversations with the employees to understand their career aspirations. What are their personal goals? What do they wish to do? Then, leaders have to help them identify the behavioral skills or the energies, as per the Insights Discovery model, they would need to work on. 

Investing in one’s own self development

As Carl Jung said, “There is no cure and no improving of the world that does not begin with the individual himself.”

As leaders invest their time and efforts in designing a relevant learning roadmap for their entire team, they must work on themselves as well. The notion of self-development, as given by Carl Jung, is predicated on the premise that an awareness of self is the basis for all positive human endeavour and interaction. Furthermore, if a leader understands their strengths and weaknesses they may seek to develop areas of weakness through consulting with others and drawing on their expertise (Golman, 2000).

Using Insights Discovery, leaders can better understand themselves and design their own personalized behavioral learning roadmap. They can even share this roadmap with their team and inspire them to take charge of their own personal development. 

With self-awareness, the endeavor to identify behavioral skills and cultivate them among their workforce becomes much simpler.

And organizations are able to design more impactful and relevant, personalized behavioral learning roadmaps.