Reskilling in the Age of AI | Harvard Business Review

This new article, authored by members of Harvard’s Digital Reskilling Lab and the Boston Consulting Group’s Henderson Institute, outlines how organizations are embracing five pivotal shifts in workforce reskilling: 1) Reskilling is a strategic imperative. 2) It is the responsibility of every leader and manager. 3) It is a change-management initiative. 4) Employees want to reskill – when it makes sense. 5) It takes a village. Regarding # 1, reskilling is a strategic imperative, several organizations have reskilling efforts underway to develop talent not readily available in the market—providing a strategic way of balancing workforce supply and demand. For example, Infosys has reskilled over 2,000 cybersecurity experts with various adjacent competencies and capability levels. Amazon, through its Machine Learning University, has enabled thousands of employees who initially had little experience in machine learning to become experts in the field. ICICI Bank runs an intense, academy-like reskilling program that prepares graduates, often from diverse backgrounds, for frontline managerial jobs. Other ideas are discussed, including #3 (it takes a village)—which outlines how organizations can accelerate their reskilling efforts by forming external partnerships (e.g., industry, non-profit, local colleges and universities). What is your organization’s strategy for reskilling its workforce?