AI has transformed how organizations deliver training. As mentioned in my previous blog, for the first time, personalized learning at scale is practical and cost-effective. Yet, workforce productivity doesn’t increase solely through technology. Real performance gains occur when organizations embrace human and technical skills integration.
While recent high-profile advancements represent a giant leap in L&D capability, our experience has shown that organizations that ignore human skills will fall short of their productivity objectives. However, there is nothing soft about so-called soft skills. Human skills drive the hard edge that delivers productivity gains.
The Compound Effect of Human and Technical Skills Integration
To be clear, I am in no way diminishing the value of technical skills. We live in a world where mastering new tools quickly and effectively is essential. However, the efficacy of any tool depends, to a large degree, on a team’s human skills. By reducing training costs, we free up resources to build human skills.
Consider the following questions:
- Will technical skills alone resolve team conflict?
- Will technical skills alone encourage team communication?
- Will technical skills alone enhance workplace psychological safety?
- Will technical skills alone ensure acceptable team boundaries?
- Will technical skills alone further team inclusion?
The answers are obvious: technical skills can improve how a team executes, but they can’t resolve the relational and behavioural dynamics so critical to performance. Trust. Communication. Accountability. Judgment. These attributes result from human and technical skills integration, and they help teams deliver real collaboration and sustained results.
CareerForce Skills: Powerful Simulation Training that Builds Human and Technical Skills in Real Time
Several years ago, a consortium of leading Canadian financial institutions engaged Redwood to develop human skills training for aspiring young professionals. We responded with CareerForce Skills, a powerful, immersive simulation.
CareerForce Skills builds competency in the six human skills most valued by employers seeking to boost productivity:
- Communication
- Critical thinking and Problem Solving
- Teamwork and Collaboration
- Resiliency and Adaptability
- Financial Literacy
- Managing Others
In terms of both user experience and feedback, the program has been an unqualified success. The expertise we built through that program now shapes nearly every L&D initiative we lead.
Redwood’s Secret Sauce: Building Human Skills from the Get-Go
For example, Redwood clients typically ask for learning programs that address either specific technical challenges or specific business-critical team skills. In addition, we take it one step further by asking essential performance and context questions, such as:
- What does “good” look like on the job, and what observable behaviours are you seeking above and beyond “course completion?”
- Where will teams use this learning tool – in solo work, cross-functional collaboration, customer-facing interactions, or across all three?
- What are the top failure gaps, such as communication, missed deadlines, or safety incidents, and what is the root cause?
Identify the “Human” Moments in the Workflow
No matter how advanced a technical tool is, humans play an important role. As part of our design process, we identify every point where one person or team hands the tool off to another.
- What typically goes wrong at the handoff?
- What decisions will learners be expected to make, and what level of knowledge and judgement is required?
- What does ideal communication look like (who needs what, how often, in what format)?
Inclusion and Real World Application
It is critical to identify the barriers that learners will face right from the start. Account for accessibility, neurodiversity, and diverse tech fluency. Anchor every scenario in well-researched, real-world stakes that are incorporated throughout the instructional design.
How Will Impact be Accurately Measured and Reinforced as Needed?
Impact measurement is always a top priority. We measure by asking powerful questions:
- What metrics offer the most accurate picture of a program’s impact (cycle time, error rate, adoption, customer satisfaction, safety incidents, escalations)?
- How can we zero in on the specific causes of performance gaps?
- Reinforcement of identified performance gaps must also take human skills into account. Will the team require job aids, real-time coaching prompts, spaced practice, or peer feedback?
Human and Technical Skills Integration Delivers Results!
These processes may seem complex, but we implement them efficiently to tackle virtually any workplace challenge. After delivering hundreds of successful L&D projects, I can confidently say that improvements in team productivity and performance will significantly outweigh the resources expended.
At the end of the day, building your upskilling superpower comes down to a basic business reality: Tools and processes don’t create performance – people do. If humans must understand it, act on it, and sustain it, the training must develop human skills.