Four Steps To Skills-First Transformation

The transformation to skills-first talent management offers enormous potential, and managing the change can be a challenge for many companies. Grads of Life experts offer an overview of what it takes to successfully transform your approach to talent management.

Why do so many promising business transformations fail? For many organizations, the answer lies not in the ambition or quality of the initiative, but in the absence of effective change management.

Shifting to a skills-first organization—prioritizing skills over credentials in hiring, development, and advancement—is no exception. The transformation to skills-first talent management offers enormous potential (and a significant return on investment), but companies often face steep challenges along the way.

• Cultural Resistance: Employees may hesitate to embrace skills-first practices, doubting their effectiveness or fearing the loss of familiar, status quo systems tied to degree attainment.
• Technical Integrations: Implementing systems to track and develop skills can be daunting without plans and structures in place to facilitate seamless, disruption-free integration.
• Undefined Success Metrics: Without clear benchmarks and targets to define and monitor progress, an organization’s ability to recognize the effectiveness and impact of its skills-first efforts can be nearly impossible.

While not an exhaustive list, the above challenges shed light on the need for a structured and thoughtful approach to change management. Skills-first transformations are not overnight adjustments—they require time, consistency, and a clear strategy to succeed. Research suggests that projects with excellent change management strategies are seven times more likely to meet their objectives, and are far more likely to ‘stick’, in part because organizations take care to ensure employees understand the impetus for change and how they will be impacted. When organizations demonstrate strong leadership commitment to change and actively listen to employees to integrate their feedback into change management planning, employees are more likely to feel genuinely invested in the process, increasing the likelihood of successful and lasting transformations

To overcome these barriers, organizations must focus on four critical tenets of change management. Over the coming months, Grads of Life will be releasing a series of resources for employers navigating the shift to skills-first — so here’s an initial preview:

1. Defining the Change: Start by clearly articulating the rationale behind the shift to skills-first. What is changing and why now? How does it align with your organization’s goals? What exactly will change for your employee base and what does the future state look like?
2. Stakeholder Engagement: Building trust is key to reducing resistance. This means involving the right people, gathering feedback, and addressing concerns early and often.
3. Leadership Accountability: Transformations are 5.8 times more likely to succeed when CEOs communicate a compelling change story and 6.3 times more likely when senior leaders echo aligned messages. Leaders must set the tone— and take ownership of a project as big as skills-first transformation.
4. Communication: The right messages must be delivered to the right people at the right time. Transparent and consistent communication tailored to each audience and level within an organization is essential to building trust and reducing uncertainty.

While defining the change must come first, the remaining tenets are fluid. Each organization’s unique factors— culture, available resources, and communication systems—will influence the order and emphasis of these elements.

What does this sort of change look like in practice? Our forthcoming resources also include an overview of the Change Adoption Curve, which provides a framework for understanding how employees engage with the process of big organizational change. The curve begins with awareness, when employees first recognize the proposed change and the need for it. This is followed by understanding, as they see how the change contributes to the organization’s mission and vision. Next is acceptance, where employees actively support the change and are willing to share its value with others. Finally, they reach ownership, confidently embracing the change and sharing its successes with their colleagues.

Successful skills-first transformations require more than good intentions—they rely on careful planning, decisive leadership, and active engagement at every level. Over the first few months of 2025, we’re excited to dig deeper into the strategies and tactics that make for a successful shift to skills-first talent management, so stay tuned for more as we begin to roll out more detailed tools and resources. By focusing on a clear change management strategy and supporting employees throughout the process, organizations can overcome barriers and create a robust skills-first culture.