Last year, I attended the LinkedIn Learning Digital Summit, where I first heard skills categorized as durable versus perishable. In all honesty, the concept knocked me a little off-balance as I had not previously looked at skills through this lens. Since then, I have continued thinking and reading about these concepts. 

Looking at skills through a durable versus perishable lens allows us to assign a potential lifespan to our skill investments. In a world filled with technological advancements, some skills will be outdated more quickly than we have seen in the past, while others will continue to stand the test of time. To remain relevant, we must bring awareness to those skills that need constant refreshing while continually investing in durable skills. I'm currently asking myself what percentage of my learning time to dedicate to durable versus perishable skills. Let's explore each of them individually. 

Perishable Skills 

No one seems to argue when futurists wax on about our world changing faster than ever. I've certainly felt the pace of change quickening over the past couple of years. It often seems to be new technology or an update to existing technology that has me learning a perishable skill. My observation is that most of the workforce has become accustomed to learning on the fly, and I liken a lot of this learning to getting used to the newest iPhone update. It happens overnight; we learn, adapt and move on.  

Several times a year, a new tool or technology emerges that requires more time and attention and that has me moving through the emotions of change. I'm usually not quite ready for it, so I only begrudgingly leave the old technology behind once I have mourned the loss of the existing technology. I intrinsically know, however, that I will be left behind if I do not adapt.  

Perishable skills have me thinking a lot about how human resource (HR) and learning and development (L&D) teams manage this type of skill development and the role of speed and cost within their decisions. Fortunately, most technologies have strong support for learning as their systems change and are updated. Understanding a vendor's training support is an essential consideration when choosing technology. I've become increasingly interested in learning platforms that include gamification, and I wonder if this is an effective way to help teams learn perishable skills. In a previous role, it was important to stay up to date on regulatory changes (policies and procedures are other examples of perishable skills). The organization I worked with used a gamified learning platform to help me learn. I didn't always appreciate the platform at the time, but it was highly effective. 

Organizations must find cost-effective ways to keep their teams current with technology, policies, and process. This type of training must be easy to access, timely and highly relevant. There are many tools and platforms that can assist with building perishable skills but do durable skills need to be looked at differently? 

Durable Skills 

While the time horizon on perishable skills is relatively short, durable skills retain their value much longer and can continue with the learner for their lifetime. Sonia Malik describes durable skills as "a base layer of mindsets and dispositions” in her blog about the future of work. During the LinkedIn Learning Digital Summit, Johanna Bolin Tingvall from Spotify argued that durable skills assist the learner in building further skills. 

At LC Extension, we are working with our Centre for Teaching, Learning and Innovation (CTLI) on a suite of learning based on our student core competencies. As we explore the work CTLI has been doing on core competencies, we realize they are all durable skills that have immense value across all types of learners, including organizational. CTLI describes core competencies in the following way: "they might be described as life skills, professional skills or employment skills." 

The core competencies are: 

• Communication
• Teamwork and Collaboration
• Critical Thinking
• Innovation
• Problem Solving
• Innovation
• Global Citizenship
• Career and Personal Development

As I have been chatting with HR, L&D teams and industry partners, skills related to the core competencies (durable skills) come up much more regularly than perishable skills. The percentage split between perishable and durable skills in conversations reaffirms my earlier observation that many but not all perishable skills are dealt with on the fly, like software updates. It is still vitally important to have learning systems and processes that support teams staying up to date on perishable skills. Still, it feels like most organizations have this under control. On the other hand, core competencies/durable skills require a higher investment of both dollars and time and feel less understood. 

Over my next eight blog posts, I will explore our core competencies with the hopes of deepening understanding and giving ideas on how organizations might build practical durable skills training. 

I'd love to hear your thoughts. Connect with me on LinkedIn or Twitter: 

Thanks Jason