Digital badging, better skills, and reaching the goal!

28th February 2022

The ritual of issuing a patent by fastening a button in a metal pin or badge pin started in the year 1896 by Benjamin S. Whitehead and since then this particular rite is being practiced to notify something that is quite significant. In this digital era, everything is fast-paced and nobody waits for designing metallic pins or badges. There come digital badges that help employees to go through successful learning and development programs.

Digital badges for employees are quite effective because these indicate the accomplishment of employees. Now, people often ask that why are digital badges important to this level, if people have done something good or great, their hard work will eventually pay off. To many, digital badges are show-offs or bragging and it actually has no impact on somebody's career.

Well, the corporate trainer training program states that every individual employee deserves sound mental health, and appreciation will always keep their confidence high, thereby keeping their mental health stable. These digital badges are important because they remind employees what they're capable of. There are 4 major impacts of digital badging on employees:
 

• Employees align their personal goals with that of the organization.
• They start evaluating their potential, work on grounds where they feel they need improvement, and polish their skill sets.
• The happiness that an employee receives after being appreciated is absolutely intangible but along with accomplishment many tangible perks so await like corporate gifts, higher salary packages, or perhaps moving up the hierarchy.
• A healthy competition between peers exists that facilitates upskilling and reskilling.

Training programs on virtual learning design and delivery state that employees should always look for upskilling and reskilling themselves because technology is getting updated each and every day. In order to earn digital badges in consistent manner employees must upgrade themselves along with the technical status of the society.
 

This is how trainers encourage employees to work hard and polish their skills.

These training sessions are important because skilled trainers use corporate training methodologies and explain why learners should earn digital badges and why. Training and development aided by the assistance of trainers focus on how trainers are using their digital badges so that the learners can learn better.

Through virtual training, trainers show paths to employees how they can earn badges. These virtual sessions are conducted on a platform where trainers communicate directly with employees just like a face-to-face conversation. Training professionals should be aware of steps that learners must follow to earn a digital badge, how that badge will do wonders, and what is the ultimate goal of achieving that badge for the learners.
 

One of the sole responsibilities of trainers during this digital badge program is to elaborate employees how these badges will enlighten their careers and themselves. The learners should be provided with a set of instructions by following which they can reach the target. It is not just grabbing the goal but digital badges have been exclusively crucial when any kind of topic on a career change as in a lateral move, project change, promotion, etc., has risen.

Now then, trainers guide employees to earn badges by upskilling and reskilling themselves. Whenever an employee learns a new skill or teaches others any new skill it is called upskilling. Reskilling, on the other hand, is when an employee learns a different skill to do a different job for himself/herself, or to train someone to do a different job. Both of these skilling techniques have a notable amount of relevance in this corporate world.

The very next question that comes to the scene is why upskilling and reskilling are required. From the point of view of a trainer, which is inevitably true, that nothing remains stagnant and every skill has its own benefit. One never knows which skill is going to rock the stage and that is why learning new skills is of utmost importance.

Skill gap analysis is a big picture that requires employees to upskill or reskill themselves. Just like the term suggests, the skill gap shows the skills required by a certain workforce to deliver efficiently in order to reach the goal vs the skills being enforced by the team. It is the major duty of trainers to identify skills that are deficient and work on those so that employees acquire those skills as soon as possible.
 

Employees must realize that such skill gap analysis is done so that their personal growth as well as professional growth go hand in hand and elevate. Trainers should evaluate how well the training session has affected the minds of employees and based on that digital credentials must be given to employees. Parameters like the number of completions, performance improvement through assessment, etc., should be considered while giving digital badges to employees.

There are multiple factors stating why upskilling and reskilling of employees should be done and hence a handsome amount of money is invested behind skilling employees. Those factors are:
 

• Aiming at organizational growth.
• Retaining employees who are superb skilled.
• Needless to say, in order to overcome the skill gap.
• It helps to boost soft skills to a great extent.
• Cost-cutting can be easily achieved.
• Employees tend to engage a lot when they have earned digital badges after improving and upgrading their skill sets.

Thus, a corporate trainer training program involves professionally expert trainers who support and guide employees to earn digital badges by upskilling and reskilling themselves. To end with, since nothing remains constant, it is always wise to upgrade oneself with passing moments as time and technology demand.

Written By : Park Jin Ae