Vocation > location: time to develop skills, not the office
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Vocation > location: time to develop skills, not the office
Matilda French
16 January 2025
6 min read
Matilda French
16 January 2025
6 min read
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What skills are needed to be remote-ready?
Three key actions to start upskilling remote-ready workers
"Organisations often focus on solving for the perceived inefficiency of remote work instead of the inefficiencies in their processes, organisational design, or strategy." - Amanda Myton
According to the statistics collected in Kolekti’s Out of Office Report, it's not the physical distance that’s holding your company back when working remotely, but a shortage of the skills needed to be effective collaborators when not sitting side by side. So, rather than giving up on the huge potential of working from home (WFH), organisations should be focusing on upskilling their employees.
For years, organisations have grappled with a chronic skills crisis.¹ While the rise of remote work offered many advantages to businesses, such as access to a global talent pool, it also revealed a stark reality: many employees lacked the skills to work effectively when apart.²
Research by the World Economic Forum says that 44% of businesses expect their employees' core skills to change in the next five years, with six in 10 employees requiring reskilling.²
For years, organisations have grappled with a chronic skills crisis.¹ While the rise of remote work offered many advantages to businesses, such as access to a global talent pool, it also revealed a stark reality: many employees lacked the skills to work effectively when apart.²
Research by the World Economic Forum says that 44% of businesses expect their employees' core skills to change in the next five years, with six in 10 employees requiring reskilling.²
So, what skills are needed to be remote-ready?
Research has provided us with a good place to start, pointing to a few key areas where organsations should be focusing on upskilling their employees. The World Economic Forum lists flexibility, resilience, curiosity, empathy, and self-motivation among its top 10 critical future skills, while a 2022 study adds communication, digital literacy, and time management.³
Expanding on communication in WFH, Amanda Myton, former Director of People Strategy Group at Lattice says, "Communication and collaboration are in most organisational matrices. But, there are subtle shifts in the type of communication and collaboration needed in a remote culture. Organisations don't just need to teach their employees how to do this and what good looks like - they need to demonstrate it through leaders and managers."
Research by the International Journal of Agile Systems and Management also shows the importance of communication in remote work, suggesting (perhaps unsurprisingly) that strong communication and remote knowledge sharing will help companies maximise knowledge and skills adoption across geographical borders.⁴
Moreover, cohort learning and cross-functional learning (where employees work within different teams or departments) could help scale organisational capability more effectively.⁵
Another critical skill to nurture would be effective prioritisation. Myton emphasises the importance of goal-setting in remote environments. "When organisations are really clear on business performance and focus on goal setting at all levels, managers can then translate and help employees focus on the most important work," she notes. "When everyone knows what they're measured on and has a shared definition of success, that's a differentiator."
Expanding on communication in WFH, Amanda Myton, former Director of People Strategy Group at Lattice says, "Communication and collaboration are in most organisational matrices. But, there are subtle shifts in the type of communication and collaboration needed in a remote culture. Organisations don't just need to teach their employees how to do this and what good looks like - they need to demonstrate it through leaders and managers."
Research by the International Journal of Agile Systems and Management also shows the importance of communication in remote work, suggesting (perhaps unsurprisingly) that strong communication and remote knowledge sharing will help companies maximise knowledge and skills adoption across geographical borders.⁴
Moreover, cohort learning and cross-functional learning (where employees work within different teams or departments) could help scale organisational capability more effectively.⁵
Another critical skill to nurture would be effective prioritisation. Myton emphasises the importance of goal-setting in remote environments. "When organisations are really clear on business performance and focus on goal setting at all levels, managers can then translate and help employees focus on the most important work," she notes. "When everyone knows what they're measured on and has a shared definition of success, that's a differentiator."
Three key actions to start upskilling remote-ready workers
As Myton says, "Nurturing remote-ready skills requires the right behaviours and environment." By following these steps, organisations can make a start towards upskilling their employees to work effectively from anywhere.
1. Create the right conditions for learning
"To encourage skills development from afar, organisations need to create the optimal conditions," says Myton. "Everyone needs to speak the same language and understand what to use when." This extends to providing tools and equipment, and creating guidelines on how different platforms are used.
Consider:
- What are your remote communication norms? How do you communicate them?
- How are employees encouraged to self-develop?
- What digital infrastructure and tooling do you need to support skills development?
2. Upskill managers
"The real skill is advocating for your employees, their success, their skills, abilities, and achievement," says Myton. "This will be a critical skill in remote leadership that we are not yet training managers for."
3. Nurture connections to enhance knowledge-sharing
According to a 2023 study, knowledge sharing works best when employees feel they're in a trusting environment.⁶ Facilitating genuine ways to connect remotely will help build connections between teams and encourage skills and knowledge-building across the organisation.
By following these steps and investing in these areas, organisations can maximise the potential of remote work and build a more adaptable, skilled, and competitive workforce for the future.
By following these steps and investing in these areas, organisations can maximise the potential of remote work and build a more adaptable, skilled, and competitive workforce for the future.
¹ World Economic Forum, 'Skills-gap crisis: 4 ways the public and private sectors can join forces to reskill workforces at scale', January 2023.
² World Economic Forum, Future of Jobs Report, May 2023.
³ Jonn B. Henke, Samantha K Jones, and Thomas A O’Neill, 'Skills and abilities to thrive in remote work: What have we learned', December 2022.
⁴ Álvaro Lopes Dias and others, 'Workforce agility: How to manage knowledge and innovation in a remote work environment', International Journal of Agile Systems and Management, January 2023.
⁵ McKinsey, 'A blueprint for remote working: Lessons from China', March 2020.
⁶ Samantha M Keppler and Paul M Leonardi, 'Building relational confidence in remote and hybrid work arrangements: novel ways to use digital technologies to foster knowledge sharing', Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, July 2023.
² World Economic Forum, Future of Jobs Report, May 2023.
³ Jonn B. Henke, Samantha K Jones, and Thomas A O’Neill, 'Skills and abilities to thrive in remote work: What have we learned', December 2022.
⁴ Álvaro Lopes Dias and others, 'Workforce agility: How to manage knowledge and innovation in a remote work environment', International Journal of Agile Systems and Management, January 2023.
⁵ McKinsey, 'A blueprint for remote working: Lessons from China', March 2020.
⁶ Samantha M Keppler and Paul M Leonardi, 'Building relational confidence in remote and hybrid work arrangements: novel ways to use digital technologies to foster knowledge sharing', Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, July 2023.
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Written by
Matilda French
Content Marketing Intern
Matilda has a BA Hons degree in Creative Writing and Film and Screen Studies and is using her love of storytelling to create informative content that helps workers get the most out of their digital tools.
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