Digital Bootcamps: What Are They And How They Create A Future-Ready Workforce
The workforce is undergoing tremendous change. Rapid digitization and automation are giving rise to new workforce challenges. The shelf life of the skillset has already been reduced and it is further going to shrink in the near future. The demographic profile of the workforce is also changing with increasing preference for flexibility, accessibility, and just-in-time support. The COVID-19 pandemic has put enormous stress on jobs and employment. Some organizations have managed to withstand the fast-changing skills ecosystem, while others are still struggling to get used to it.
The nature and requirements of skills are changing and so is the mode of training the rising key talent in the economy. Organizations have started building up their digital boot camps to create a strong and agile workforce that is future-ready.
In this article we’ll talk about:
What are digital boot camps?
What do you mean by a future-ready workforce?
How to create a future-ready workforce?
What Are Digital Boot Camps?
Digital boot camps are like mini schools, universities, or military camps where one learns new skills from instructors.
Today, many organizations have started building up digital boot camps for training employees exclusively. Under these camps, the L&D teams run a variety of training programs to continuously reskill and upskill the employees. From the IT staff to the customer support service team, all are covered under these programs.
Employees are expected to march daily, touching every milestone that comes their way. The eLearning resources act as employees’ arms and ammunition that help them fight against future shifts in the economy and market. Just like the military personnel have to clear the military combat fitness test to move to the next level, here in the corporate world, employees have to write eLearning assessments that help them advance in their careers. Online training projects and assignments are assigned to the employees to keep themselves up to date with changing market needs.
The backbone of these digital boot camps is a learning management system or an LMS. A learning management system is a software or tool that makes digital learning possible.
The basic features of these digital boot camps are:
Virtual classes
Social learning tools
Role-based learning paths
Learning plan tools
If you are already running a digital boot camp or thinking of starting one, then make sure you choose the right LMS. By right LMS we mean an LMS that ensures smooth onboarding, offers mobile learning, social learning, and easy creation of eLearning courses. Docebo is the best LMS to go for. You can read more about their pricing, features, and uses on their official website.
What Do You Mean By Future Ready Workforce?
Now that you know what digital boot camps are, it’s now time to know the purpose behind these digital boot camps. Why are organizations investing in these boot camps? What is that thing that is propelling them to establish these boot camps?
The major reason why organizations are running these digital boot camps is to create a future-ready workforce. A future-ready workforce is one that is always ready to deal with anything in the future and is equipped with the skills and knowledge to meet tomorrow’s challenges and needs.
The major characteristics of the future workforce are:
Hybrid workforce comprising humans and machines-The modern workforce is not entirely human. It has technology and machines that perform various business functions. For example, artificial intelligence chatbots can answer queries related to training; big data analytics can give insights into employee engagement, and interaction with eLearning courses, and robots can perform all the tedious tasks.
Remember, there are skills that only humans possess, and no matter how technologically advanced we become, those skills are irreplaceable. Empathy, emotional intelligence, creativity, etc, are a few such skills.
Sustainable workforce-A sustainable workforce is useful for the organization today and tomorrow. It is flexible, adaptable, and resilient.
Always ready to learn in the flow of work-A future-ready workforce is always in a mood to learn. Even ten years down the road, they’ve got that spark and zeal to upskill or reskill themselves. They manage their work effectively with their training and never compromise on both.
Has enduring capabilities-The future-ready workforce possesses enduring capabilities like teaming, empathy, critical thinking, adaptive thinking, resilience, emotional intelligence, social intelligence, etc.
The forces that are shaping these digital boot camps and the workforce are economic shifts, disruptive innovations, the development of new technologies, competition, the thirst to grab opportunities, and new business models.
How To Create A Future-Ready Workforce?
After understanding what the future workforce looks like, it’s important to know how to create a future-ready workforce.
The only way to create a future-ready workforce is to upskill the new talent and reskill the existing talent in your organization.
Digital boot camps are ideal for upskilling employees. For instance, when a new technology like cloud computing or machine learning emerges, you can restructure your eLearning programs. You can add new eLearning courses and resources that support technological learning.
Similarly, digital boot camps are ideal for reskilling as well. For instance, for employees who already know what big data analytics or augmented reality is, their knowledge and skills can further be enhanced by providing relevant training that keeps them abreast with technological changes.
Before kick-starting the upskilling and reskilling online training program, you need to plan and strategize effectively.
The following steps will help you strengthen your digital boot camps to create a future-ready workforce:
Workforce planning – The workforce planning process includes identifying skills gaps, individual needs, and figuring out who needs what and how.
Keep a tap on future skills and capabilities – You as a business leader need to keep a tap on future skills and capabilities that are essential to survive in the marketplace. For instance, artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data analytics, blockchain, cloud computing, augmented reality, etc are technologies that your present workforce needs to know.
Set up your digital boot camp – Once you understand the needs of the organization, employees, and the market, you can launch your digital boot camp. Make sure you’ve got the following components in place in your digital boot camp:
Mobile learning – This is important to support on-the-go learning. Employees can learn at any time and anywhere through their mobile devices.
Social learning – Learning cannot take place in silos. Social interaction is a must to create a healthy and friendly work culture. Let your learners interact with their subject matter experts and colleagues and learn new things.
Microlearning – The main idea behind microlearning is to provide employees with compact and concise information that is relevant and to the point. Small eLearning modules and resources help in the absorption of information easily.
Learning plan tools – Administrators of digital boot camps should help employees chalk out their training plans to get training certificates. Provide them with tools like eLearning resources, eLearning assignments, eLearning projects, etc, that help them achieve their goals.
An LMS with built-in features like automated notifications can constantly remind employees of their pending tasks.
Conclusion-
We hope that the above article will help you understand how digital boot camps are shaping the future workforce. These boot camps can help create a strong and resilient workforce, that is ready to deal with any complexity in the near future. To establish a digital boot camp, make sure you invest in the right LMS.
