Moving from skills talk to skills action requires more than good intentions; it demands a clear strategy. This session combines strategic guidance with enterprise-level implementation to show you how to build a skills strategy that actually moves the needle on skills and business impact.

This session offers an opportunity to hear how skills strategy develops in an organization in both theory and practice: We will start with the foundational elements of skills strategy development, covering how to align skills initiatives with business priorities, build the necessary infrastructure, and sequence use cases for maximum impact. You'll learn the difference between skills theater and skills transformation and how to avoid common pitfalls that derail early efforts. 

Next, we will examine a case study, learning how Land O’Lakes approached building their skills strategy from the ground up. We will share the methodology for establishing skills infrastructure, their approach to selecting and sequencing use cases, and the business impact they've seen so far. We will even share candid lessons learned about what worked, what they would do differently, and how Land O'Lakes is evolving their strategy as they scale. You will leave with a strategic framework for developing a comprehensive skills strategy aligned to business priorities and practical guidance on scaling from pilot programs to enterprise-wide skills practices.

In this session, you will learn to:

• Design a skills strategy that connects organizational capabilities to business outcomes
• Evaluate infrastructure requirements for implementing skills-based practices at scale
• Sequence skills use cases strategically to build momentum and demonstrate value
• Identify critical success factors and common failure points in enterprise skills transformation

While this session is appropriate for any audience, background on the definition of a skill and the benefits of skills data to an organization will be helpful, as they will not be covered explicitly in the session.