Lepaya Talent Talks: How Electrolux Group drives innovation through skills-based practices

Welcome to Lepaya Talent Talks – an interview series uncovering best practices for developing skills that drive individual and organizational success in a rapidly changing world.

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From the green transition to AI - many factors are making the modern work environment more dynamic. To keep pace with the change, Electrolux Group - the leading global appliance company - is shifting towards a new people strategy where skills, not job titles, are put at the center. 

We caught up with Marta Dimova, L&D Specialist, and Konstantina Held, Global Skills Manager, to dive deeper into their perspectives and experiences guiding this transformation at Electrolux Group.

So what can HR and talent development leaders learn from Electrolux Group and move from theory to practice when it comes to skills-based approaches?

Why is there such a strong focus on skills these days? What are the benefits for companies?

Marta: Roles are evolving quickly, and people shouldn't be confined to a specific role based solely on their initial job application. The traditional mindset around career growth tends to be hierarchical, where individuals wait for a promotion or focus solely on climbing the corporate ladder, often overlooking the importance of skills in their growth trajectory. 

Implementing a skill-based approach could address these challenges and potentially improve retention rates.

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It would offer employees greater flexibility to explore different functions, areas, and projects. For companies, this approach can significantly enhance organizational agility and help create structured pathways for an employee journey—from entry-level to learning and continuous growth—making the process more streamlined and transparent.

A lot of experts in the L&D field speculate that CVs will disappear and formal education won't be as important as skills. What's your view?

Marta: The shift away from CVs could happen, however, the skills acquired through formal education or jobs will remain valuable. We shouldn't focus on the path someone took to acquire those skills but rather on the skills themselves. For example, if someone has strong collaboration skills learned from a university degree, or gained through other work experiences after college, that skill is still valuable. Not considering formal education doesn't mean ignoring the skills obtained from it.

Konstantina, you recently became the Global Skills Manager at Electrolux Group - the first such role in the company. Could you tell us how this role emerged?

Konstantina:  We started with a project where we looked into skill-based learning. How can we support our people with functional and soft skills upskilling initiatives? It became clear to the team that it's more than just learning when you look at skill-based practices. It's about how you can engage people to continue developing their skills, and how you can incorporate skill discussions into ongoing feedback and development talks within the company and connect that to internal mobility efforts. It’s about making sure people get the chance to grow without focusing too much on backgrounds. We quickly realized it's a much bigger topic than just learning and that’s why we needed someone dedicated to take on this journey and transformation.

Where do you start with introducing skills-based practices?

Konstantina:  It’s crucial to always start with the problem - what are the big business issues, what are the main challenges we're facing today? And then begin with a pilot group that might urgently need solutions, such as a team struggling to find skilled talent in a specific area. How can skill-based practices help? 

So it's important to first fall in love with the business problem, and then build your solution from there.

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Test it out, but simultaneously start looking into how you can drive change and gain HR buy-in and also business buy-in. It takes time for people to grasp why skills are suddenly so crucial.

But there's no one-size-fits-all answer for success. Research shows that skill-based practices have significantly boosted productivity in agile organizations like startups. For larger organizations, it's vital to start with identifying the problem that will truly make a difference for us. It's crucial to always come back to that understanding rather than just introducing skills management for its own sake.

What is the business problem that you’re currently addressing at Electrolux Group?

Konstantina: We're undergoing a lot of transformation. It's the green transition and then there's the risk that of our baby boomers leaving and leaving a huge gap. And then also AI - it's influencing our operating models and putting us into situations where change will be constant going forward. So we have to ask ourselves - how can we start preparing our workforce to adapt to these changes smoothly, how can we bring our workforce into a situation where they can thrive.

Is there anything you do to analyze current skill gaps at your company?

Marta: We do examine reports from various sites to understand what skills are in demand and predicted to be needed next. But our current focus is on ensuring that everyone has the essential skills required for their job before addressing future external skill needs. Our approach is to first establish a strong internal skill base. So we launched a skills survey for all non-production employees, asking questions such as:

• Which soft skills do you see as essential within your team?
• In which areas would you like to upskill yourself?
• Are there any skills required for your job that you currently lack and wish to develop?

We aim to update our data before making decisions on the next skill to prioritize.

How did the internal skills survey turn out?

Konstantina: We've received a lot of engagement with over 15,000 comments in our survey, showing strong interest in the topic of skills. We asked participants about critical skills they need, focusing on both power skills and soft skills that transcend specific roles. And we also asked about critical role-specific skills individuals want to develop further within their functional areas. For leaders, we focused on essential leadership skills.

The survey provided valuable insights that will guide our upcoming initiatives, including our next power skill campaign. We now have a clearer understanding of what people are seeking, which will inform our decisions on future learning journeys and initiatives.

Was there anything surprising in the results?

Marta: It wasn't surprising what came up in terms of skills because we saw soft skills like communication and project management coming out on top, which is always the case. These have always been important when it comes to soft skills because we all use them. But it was more surprising to see technical skills, like those related to Agile methodologies, becoming more prevalent. This could be related to the current environment we are experiencing.

The survey also looked at overall perceptions. Do people believe that we're heading in the right direction and understand the necessary skills? It was interesting to get feedback on whether people know what skills they have and what they bring to the table. This was the first survey we conducted for the entire non-production organization, and we'll likely do another one after some time to track trends.

What are the next steps after such a survey?

Konstantina: After everyone answered the survey, we invited our people to join learning sessions that we are conducting now. These sessions provide guides, e-learnings, and resources to help them identify their skill gaps, interests, and motivations for upskilling. We've received tremendous engagement, with almost 1,000 people signing up for the sessions, which is a great achievement shortly after the surveys.

This is one action we're taking to give people space to learn and offer tips and tricks on how to focus on skills, especially in the context of change management.

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It's important to start incorporating discussions about skills into our people practices if we want to make a difference.

Marta: We want to ensure that whatever learning we provide to employees is exactly what they want. People want to see action after giving feedback in surveys. So next year, we want to focus on communication training to make sure people have what they need. And we'll be using the survey results for several months to plan more actions.

When you talk about launching learning initiatives that people actually need, how do you align them with what the business needs? Is there ever friction?

Marta: Ideally, they should be aligned. The question is about the needs related to one's job and its future. However, it's hard to say they will always be exactly the same because things change quite fast. For example, if we focus on upskilling in communication for three months, by the time it's completed, new needs might have emerged. This is why upskilling needs to be agile and fast.

We also analyze the survey results by levels, positions, functions, and departments to ensure there are no significant discrepancies, such as employees in finance saying one thing while managers say another. We found that the majority of responses were quite aligned, suggesting we are covering the gap between business needs and individual needs.

What would be your dream L&D initiative if you didn’t have any restrictions? 

Marta: It would be nice if whatever we do with learning is aligned with career paths and the whole ecosystem. Learning is just one aspect, but what happens afterward?

‍Konstantina: I agree. It would be great to have a connected ecosystem experience for every employee and leader regarding skills, upskilling, and development. A bigger ecosystem would help connect the dots, as our current learning initiatives are still very siloed.