Practical Workforce Development for this Paradigm Shift

Who remembers the early 1990s? At that time, we were aware of incoming technologies, but we were not yet understanding just how profoundly these were going to change the way we work. Internet search was emerging (will the field leader be Netscape Navigator or AskJeeves, we wondered - it became Google!). The Microsoft Office Suite launched in the early 1990s. Excel, PowerPoint and Word all radically changed our day jobs and soon later Web2.0 interactive technologies and more portable devices challenged the desktops we worked from.

And now, here we are again. Just as we knew something was happening but not what was happening in the early 1990’s, we find ourselves in the early 2020s. We ALL know the relationships between technologies and our work is going to profoundly change but we don’t yet understand HOW this is going to happen.

We know that predictive data analytics will more effectively help managers make decisions about the growth of the organisation. We know that if we’re not thinking about the security of our data, we’re probably unwise. We can also see that Microsoft, those clever sausages (!), may just (?) have launched the software packages which we will all be relying on, once again, with the Power Platform suite of tools: Power BI, Power Automate, Power Apps, Power Pages, etc.

And the way people think about work is changing at the same time. Daniel H Pink, in his 2009 book ‘Drive’, identifies three main motivators for the emerging workforce:

- Mastery: people need to feel they are getting better and developing their skills and knowledge

- Purpose: people need to feel they are doing something that delivers social good

- Autonomy: people need to feel they can contribute to the organisation with their ideas

And as employers we need to facilitate those three experiences within our workforce.

So HOW can you develop digital skills in-house and support the career progression of your workforce?

Based in West Midlands, supporting employers across England, TDM are an Apprenticeships training provider, specialising within tech and digital.

Apprenticeship funding is for everyone, from those right at the start of their career to those looking to develop and reskill, so at TDM we have developed a model we called “the whole journey" for “Digital Transformers” in: Tech & Networking, Cyber Security, Data Analytics, Business Analytics, Software Engineering (Code and Low-Code), Digital Support, Marketing and more.

In each of these,

· Skills Bootcamps get people ready for these roles

· Level 3 Apprenticeships develop early career technicians

· Level 4 Apprenticeships take people deeper as technologists (engineers, analysts, specialists, etc)

· Degree Apprenticeships produce “T-Shaped” Solutions Professionals with broader business brains as well as technological specialisms

Any employer can develop these skills entirely alone, but TDM are funded by the Department for Education to support your skills development work with learning plans, training programmes and coaches who act as accountability partners over work-based and employer-responsive learning, performance improvement & impactful deliverables.

Further, we’re not going to solve the digital skills gap in our companies if we assume the Government is only deploying Apprenticeship funding to get early careers started. People of all ages, already working, across all departments have areas in which they can digitally transform your business.

And, TDM’s Employer-bespoke Totara Talent Experience Software Services align with the motivational agendas described by Daniel H Pink:

- Develop Mastery with Totara Perform

- Develop Autonomy & Accountability with Totara Engage

- Develop Purpose with Totara Learn

Contact us at enquiries@tdm.co.uk or www.tdm.co.uk if you want to learn about how TDM can support the tech and digital workforce development of your organisation.