Skills development is vital in a fast-changing workplacegetty
Upskilling teams for the future is a major priority for leaders as they adapt to the demands of a constantly evolving workplace. Often, the focus is on cultivating skills in artificial intelligence (AI), but what about the other skills needed to thrive at work, from creative thinking and innovation through to negotiation? How can you, as a leader, build a culture where people are ready to absorb new skills and use them in their daily roles?
1. Demonstrate self-leadership
When building future skills in teams, leaders must act as role models. That involves continuously developing their skillset, taking into account that we are living in the age of AI.
The biggest barrier to team upskilling is rarely ability; it’s ownership, argues Andrew Bryant, founder of leadership development provider Self Leadership International and author of POTENTIAL-IZE. “When leaders openly acknowledge that they are still learning and are unsure at times, they normalize the discomfort that comes from growth,” he says. “People are not inspired by perfection; they are motivated by authenticity.”
Self-leadership is core to a culture of development. Bryant emphasizes that leaders cannot expect others to stretch and adapt if they are not doing so themselves. Bryant advises modeling learning as a process rather than just an outcome. “Sharing what didn’t work, where confusion arose and what eventually clicked teaches people how to learn, not just what to learn,” he says.
Leaders must also believe in their team’s ability to grow – backed up with their own visible effort – and people will rise to meet their expectations. “The leader’s job is not to be the expert in the room but to be the most credible believer in the room,” Bryant concludes.
2. Build new capabilities through small, structured experiments
Ultimately, building new capabilities in teams isn’t about the training itself, it’s about what happens after it. One of the biggest reasons upskilling fails is that participants leave with vague scribbled notes, extensive slide decks, or long pdfs that are rarely used in practice, according to Tom Pullen, CEO of Innovinco, which helps companies accelerate innovation, and author of INNOVATOR. He says: “Leaders should distil the key principles into a clear, memorable model or roadmap, ideally a one-page visual framework that employees can easily recall and apply in their daily work.”
Pullen believes that when teams have a practical step-by-step structure, “it becomes far easier to translate learning into action.” This is particularly true for skills such as innovation and creative thinking, which may initially seem intangible or inaccessible, but can be broken down into repeatable, visual frameworks.
Furthermore, Pullen argues that new skills and ways of working rarely stick when introduced through one-time, big-bang transformation programs. “A far more effective approach is to frame learning as a series of small, structured ‘test and learn’ experiments,” he explains. “Teams try a new method, review the results, and improve the next iteration.” For this to succeed, Pullen says leaders must remove the stigma around failure and position experimentation as progress; that’s when people become far more willing to adopt new tools and approaches.
“The most valuable future skill is the ability to learn faster than competitors,” Pullen observes. “Organizations that build systems enabling teams to test, learn, and adapt will consistently outperform those relying on traditional training approaches.”
3. Connect skill development to meaning
It’s not enough to ask people to learn new skills; they need to understand why those skills matter. Accordingly, Angela Rixon, founder of consultancy The Centre for Meaningful Work and author of Meaning Over Purpose, argues that meaning is a powerful driver of development. “When people understand the personal and business significance of what they are learning, they are far more motivated to engage with it,” she says.
The link between meaning and motivation is reflected in PwC’s Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey 2025. The research finds that employees who see their work as highly meaningful are 91% more driven than those who see it as least meaningful. Rixon believes this emphasizes the need for leaders to connect skills development to both business goals and what matters to employees personally.
“When people can see the link between the organization’s purpose, their own career progression, and the skills they are building in their current role, they are much more likely to invest in that development over time,” she says. “That benefits the individual, but it also strengthens the business, because people are more likely to stay engaged and go the extra mile when their work feels meaningful.”
4. Facilitate ownership of individual skill development
Building future skills must be a collaboration between leaders and the individuals, says Tim Castle, performance coach and negotiation expert. Leaders have a key role to play in facilitating opportunities for their team’s upskilling, but they should also foster a culture of ownership where individuals are proactive in their own development and are comfortable getting uncomfortable through consistent exposure.
Castle suggests that, in practice, this could look like weekly missions set by leaders, but managed by the individual, such as challenges that involve tracking and using a new skill, plus the response from the client, which are then shared in the next weekly meeting. Similarly, he suggests that leaders can coach through problem-solving – listening to understand, not to respond – with phrases such as “how so”, “I’m curious, go on”, and “expand on that.” These conversations encourage teams to reframe challenges as opportunities.
As part of this collaboration, leaders must create the psychological safety necessary for employees to come to them with the skills they want to develop and the ability to confidently negotiate why this development will support them and the business. “When employees have the space to advocate for the training they need to drive the next phase of their careers and future-proof their role, the organization will reap the benefits,” Castle concludes.
Building skills for the future
Research suggests that while organizations recognize the need for future skills development, they are not necessarily investing enough in supporting their teams to build future skills. So, it is critical that leaders consider not only which skills are needed for the future of work, but also how they can upskill their team effectively and prepare them for a fast-changing world.
This article was originally published on Forbes.com
