Is skill development really necessary?
Before talking about skill development and its imperative necessity, let us first
understand what skill development is:
- Identifying your skill gaps.
- Developing and enhancing those skills.
This is important because skills determine the ability to execute plans effectively.
But what is even more important than filling the skill gaps is realizing your own
skills. You can never think of developing or working on your skills if you are
unaware of their mere existence within you. And once you do know what’s inside
you, you can think of many ways to let that bug out and give it wings to fly. Talent
is what you have naturally, but skill is developed only by hours and hours of
beating on your craft.
Is Skill Development necessary?
Skill is like a tool, a tool that enhances your output as well as saves your time. So
it is always a win-win situation for someone who is strong and sound with their
skills. Take for instance, leadership. Leadership was considered to be a trait which
could only be inherited and not developed over time. But with Nigeria’s rapid
growth in recent years, driven by the new age industries, need for skill has
overpowered the need for talent. The skills level of your workforce has a direct
and measurable impact on the efficiency and profitability of your organization
thereby making skill development an essential aspect of any economy that aims
at growing and increasing their GDP. In the wake of the changing economic
environment, it is necessary to focus on inculcating and advancing the skill sets of
the young population of the country.
“Vision without execution is just hallucination.” – Henry Ford
If you fail to get better at whatever skill you possess today, then you won’t be any
better at it tomorrow when the competition toughens. And if you don’t make the
decision to get better today, then your tomorrow will never come. And before
you realize it, that skill will no longer interest you or you won’t be able to learn
that skills foundation physically and mentally. You’d at this point find yourself
lagging behind on trends.
Take the leap
Are you in that place in your life you think you’ve achieved all you’ve ever
desired? Do you think you can accomplish more if the opportunity presents its
self? Well, we all aim at self-accomplishment in our careers but the feasibility of
that is very far from reality. There are never right times for opportunities, it’s
always a risk that’s why they are called opportunities, you taking the leap to join
the band wagon is what determines if it’s the right time or not.
Nigeria lags far behind in imparting skill training as compared to other countries.
Reports indicate that only 10% of the total workforce in the country receives
some kind of skill training (2% with formal training and 8% with informal training).
Further, 80% of the entrants into the workforce do not have the opportunity for
skill training. Due to globalization and competition there have been remarkable
changes in the work culture of industries. In addition to manufacturing sector,
service sectors expanding in geometric progression. It is observed that some of
the engineering graduates are seeking jobs in the field of management. The job
profiles of engineering technicians indicate that in addition to technical
knowledge they are required to possess soft skills to work efficiently in the
organization.
Our entire lives are basically one long process of developing skills. Learning to
walk. Learning to talk. Learn to feed ourselves. Learning not to poop in our pants,
unless we want to. All of this is done by the same general process of repeating
something over and over until it becomes a subconscious act. We follow pretty
much the same pattern when learning skills later in life. The only difference is we
are now much more cognizant and active in our participation of the learning.
Next step of action
In today’s fast changing economy, traditional education in the form of degree or
diploma will not help in meeting the job requirements. We need to learn new
skills that improve our employability. Developing one’s skill involves a systematic
process of learning in a practical environment at the workplace or in a simulated
context. It calls for application of theoretical knowledge to solve a problem. When
you are skilled you know how to ‘do’ something like perform on the job and this is
what will improve employment and career prospects. Skill developments
importance to the society, the economy, the industries, the country and the
global community as a whole cannot be over emphasized. Statistics have shown
clearly that skill development should be the top most priority of our government
and citizens alike in order to ensure competent and quality work force.
