Some of the skills that are in great demand from corporate India today are effective communication skills, analytical skills, problem-solving, critical thinking, leadership, team management, global exposure, empowerment and ownership. We at Pearson TalentLens believe that these skills need to be paired with the right assessment and development solutions to bring them to an acceptable level in an organization to render productivity.

The most fundamental skill that the Indian workforce lacks is the ability to communicate, comprehend and converse in English language. Effective communication skills are no longer the prerequisite of the IT/ITES industry alone. Organizations across different sectors are now appreciating the importance of effective written and oral communication skills. Being the brand ambassadors of their firm, particularly those employees who are at the front end with customers have to master the ability to strike logical, influential and sometimes flawless conversations with their clients. The global workplace is shrinking and customers want to experience the same quality of service across the world. A workforce with effective communication skills has now become a differentiator. Organizations have been using tests such as the Versant series of tests to facilitate identification and development of the right level of communication skills in their employees.

The second most important, sparsely visible, but equally important skill would be critical thinking and problem solving. In the current dynamic market scenario, recessionary sentiments have a major role to play. We are seeing a paradigm shift through empowerment of employees who are accountable for their own decisions.Decisions which can make or break a company! A lot depends on the person’s ability to think critically weighing all options and arguments before making a business decision. Creative thinking and problem solving in ones area of work to maximize productivity and efficacy is the mantra followed everywhere.

Lastly, there is a need for leadership skills in the industry today. This skill is more or less an extension of the critical thinking skill-set. The essence of leadership can vary for different industries and different markets. But one can still observe a pattern in what effective leaders have in common. Critical thinking, passion to excel, ownership and execution area few qualities such leaders share. Also, leadership identification and development is an ongoing exercise to continuously churn out the desired talent pool.

Pearson TalentLens’s skilling programs help organizations baseline their talent on skills which have a direct or enabling relationship to job performance. Identifying and developing individuals with good analytical and critical thinking skills (in managerial leadership roles across levels) is the key focus. Besides standardizing communication skills, the ability to benchmark people from within the talent pool is a focal point.These highly scientific and valid assessments help organizations manage talent effectively, create benchmarks, recruit better andultimatelyimprove productivity. Such scientific and research-based solutions to the industry facilitate consistency in the pool of employees that organizations have across the globe.

(The author is the National Head - Pearson TalentLens)