Is skill development really necessary?

Before talking about skill development and its imperative necessity, let us first

understand what skill development is:

  1. Identifying your skill gaps.
  2. 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.