Welcome to Skillstoberfest: join our month-long skills celebration

We’re spreading the word about the cheers-worthy benefits that skills strategies have to offer

It’s not your imagination—skills are in the spotlight. Gartner named skills management as one of the most important technologies for HR leaders and findings from Deloitte reveal that 98% of executives plan on moving towards becoming a more skills-based organization.

The visionary companies that are embracing skills strategies at enterprise-scale are reaping incredible results. In fact, they’re 107% more likely to place talent effectively and 52% more likely to innovate. Not to mention the massive gains in engagement and retention that come with empowering employees to continuously expand their skill sets.

Since we think these game-changing results are worth celebrating, we’re creating a holiday of our own to pay homage to the power of these skills-based transformations: Skillstoberfest. For the next four weeks, we’ll be cheers-ing the tools and best practices that bring these initiatives to life—and you’re invited to join us!

What is Skillstoberfest?

Skillstoberfest is a month-long celebration that brings the spirit of Oktoberfest to the skills and talent management arena. Much like the Bavarian festival from where it gets its name, Skillstoberfest runs from late September to late October and brings people together to network, exchange ideas, and of course, share a few beers (or Skillsners).

Whether you’re already a skills pioneer or stuck in a pretzel, Skillstoberfest is for you to learn, connect, and explore what skills transformation means for today’s businesses.

What’s on tap: How to celebrate Skillstoberfest with us this fall

If you’re interested in getting your hands on a pint of Skillsner and upgrading your skills strategy this fall, you’re in luck. There are plenty of ways to join the Skillstoberfest festivities, including:

#1. Stay up-to-date on the latest skills strategy insights
Curious about skills benchmarking? Want to know how to uplevel your upskilling strategy? We’re answering all of your burning skills questions in a series of skills-focused blogs coming out within the next month. If you want to dive deeper into the topics at the heart of today’s skills conversation, check out The ultimate guide to the skills-based organization and our research report on workforce skills. If you’re looking for all the skills content you need in one place, make sure to subscribe to our weekly newsletter, Gloat’s Humble Opinion, for some special Skillstoberfest content.

#2. Spread the skills love on social media
You’re not going to want to go off the grid the next few weeks, because we’ll be sharing plenty of skills wisdom on our LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter channels that you won’t want to miss. Keep an eye out for some eye-opening statistics that highlight the power of skills-based strategies, quotes from leaders at companies that have successfully become skills-based organizations, and video clips from our favorite skills experts.

#3. Celebrate with us at UNLEASH World
We’re finishing off our Skillstoberfest festivities with a bang at UNLEASH World on October 17 & 18. Join us in Paris for two days of strategy sessions, networking, and discussions that will showcase the technologies and practices that are reshaping the future of HR.

Hear from skills trailblazer Markus Graf, VP and Global Head of Talent at Novartis, about the steps Novartis has taken to put skills in focus in his session, How AI is Upleveling C-Suite’s Skills Transformation.

Don’t miss Skills: The Foundation of a Dynamic Organization, where we’ll sit down with Kathi Enderes, SVP of Research at The Josh Bersin Company, to discuss findings from their soon-to-be-released research report. You’ll be the first to hear the game-changing insights that Josh Bersin’s team is about to reveal, which promise to revolutionize HR strategy for years to come.

Cheers to skills: our favorite skills quotes to share this Skillstoberfest

Get into the Skillstoberfest spirit with insights from the most seasoned skills experts across the market:

• “The global workforce is in an exceptional and almost paradoxical scenario. On the one hand, millions are unemployed, but on the other, there are rapidly evolving skill needs that remain unfilled. The missing link is a clear pathway to reskilling and upskilling and an understanding of where skills could lie.” —Al Gore, former Vice President of the United States and Chairman of Generation Investment Management
• “As we start to double down on skills, I think we will ultimately get a better understanding of the work that we need people to do and then understand what people can do and what they are doing. Consequently, we’re going to see workforce planning shift to become more continuous.”—David Green, Executive Director at Insight222
• “It’s becoming more important to think from a skills-based lens about your learning and development and hiring practices. The way you give work to people is becoming more about deconstructing work into tasks and then flowing skills to these tasks to unlock greater agility and flexibility.” —Chitralekha Singh, Associate Partner at Mercer
• “What we really need to do is access a skills network from within and sometimes outside of the organization. But to do that we need a new system to be able to organize that because it’s really difficult for one person to find the right skills, especially from outside of their immediate network. And so we’re starting to see AI and automation playing a bigger role to help make that connection.” —Lewis Garrad, Partner at Mercer