---
id: "framework-reskilling-change-management"
type: "framework"
source_timestamps: ["§ Reskilling Is a Change-Management Initiative"]
tags: ["change-management", "execution-strategy", "program-design"]
related: ["concept-skill-taxonomy", "concept-talent-hoarding", "concept-destination-roles"]
speakers: ["Jorge Tamayo", "Leila Doumi", "Sagar Goel", "Orsolya Kovács-Ondrejkovic", "Raffaella Sadun"]
sources: ["reskilling"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-reskilling"
originDay: 10
articleStem: "hbr-edu-34-reskilling-in-age-of-ai"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2023/09/reskilling-in-the-age-of-ai"
sourceTitle: "Reskilling in the Age of AI"
---
# Reskilling as a Change-Management Initiative

To implement ambitious reskilling programs, companies must treat them as **comprehensive change-management initiatives**, not simple training rollouts. This requires executing multiple interconnected tasks *simultaneously* to create an organizational context conducive to success (see [[quote-reskilling-change-management]]). This framework is the operational deep-dive behind paradigm three of [[framework-five-paradigms]].

**The five simultaneous tasks:**

1. **Understanding supply and demand** — Develop a [[concept-skill-taxonomy|skill taxonomy]] to map internal capabilities against the future skills demanded by corporate strategy (see [[action-develop-skill-taxonomy]]; requires [[prereq-strategic-workforce-planning]]).
2. **Recruiting and evaluating** — Use [[concept-skill-adjacencies|skill adjacencies]] rather than degrees/experience to select candidates, establishing clear enrollment criteria.
3. **Shaping the mindset of middle managers** — Overcome [[concept-talent-hoarding|talent hoarding]] and bias by making talent development an explicit managerial responsibility and involving managers in program design (see [[action-tie-reskilling-to-performance]], [[claim-manager-resistance]]).
4. **Building skills in the flow of work** — Shift away from classroom learning toward shadowing, internal apprenticeships, and trial periods (see [[concept-train-in-place]], [[concept-vocational-residency]], [[action-integrate-training-into-work]], [[claim-on-the-job-preference]]).
5. **Matching and integrating reskilled employees** — Clearly define [[concept-destination-roles|destination roles]] in advance and provide post-training support: coaching, mentoring, and networking.

**Enrichment note.** Requires [[prereq-change-management-d10]] fundamentals. Aligns with wider expert advice that skills transformation is about organizational design, incentives, culture, and systems — not just courses.