Why is upskilling so important in the optical industry?

ABDO Sector Skills Development Officer Nick Walsh writes:

There is change afoot in global optics. This is driven by factors such as the ageing population:

In 2017, there are an estimated 962 million people aged 60 or over in the world, comprising 13 per cent of the global population. The population aged 60 or above is growing at a rate of about 3 per cent per year. The number of older persons in the world is projected to be 1.4 billion in 2030 and 2.1 billion in 2050, and could rise to 3.1 billion in 2100.

Globally, the number of persons aged 80 or over is projected to triple by 2050, from 137 million in 2017 to 425 million in 2050. By 2100 it is expected to increase to 909 million, nearly seven times its value in 2017.

Over the next few decades, a further increase in the population of older persons is almost inevitable, given the size of the cohorts born in recent decades.(1)

This will mean increased prevalence of conditions that can cause visual impairment presenting in your practices.

Technology is developing and also changing how we work in practice. In future we will need specialists in operating new technology to support the clinical teams. This will without doubt mean changes to the roles of your teams to embrace the specialisms that will be required moving forwards. The key to sustainable growth for optical practices in this changing environment is having the right people with the right skillsets offering the support and services that our customers and patients will come to expect.

We also must not forget the desire of many of our team members to develop themselves and how this can help us plan for future needs of the business. If your business plan identifies a need to expand your offer in the future, why not look to develop the rising star in your team towards this role. The ‘Grow Your Own’ route is much more cost effective than trying to recruit into those roles and of course you have someone that you have worked with for many years and understands your business and patients. Grow your own can also help your practice respond to population changes, allowing you to gradually expand capacity by developing staff skillsets, rather than making a leap into the unknown and recruiting for new positions.

Staff development contributes to staff satisfaction and in turn, delight and great service for your customers.

For the business owner, this means the time to develop your staff training plan starts now, if you want your business to grow and succeed in years to come. Learning and development (and therefore upskilling) should be a key part of any business plan. It ensures that future business plans are supported by a team ready and able to deliver them. I’m a firm believer that all individuals should have a Personal Development Plan (PDP). The following description from the Open University website describes a PDP well:

PDP supports the idea that learning is a lifelong and life-wide activity. The process of PDP can strengthen the capacity of learners to reflect upon their own learning and achievement and to plan for their own personal, educational and career development. This is a core learning process, required throughout many employment and continuing professional development contexts. (Open University).

As an individual a PDP can help you:

• become aware of skills you have

• identify and develop skills you need

• work out what you want to achieve and how to achieve it

• focus on potential study, career and personal development goals

The aim of the individual PDPs is that there is ongoing learning and development that will support the overall goal of your business plan. Well trained and engaged teams can bring value to organisations, customers and business. This can help provide competitive advantage.

ABDO is already involved in offering routes to qualifications in India and Malaysia. ABDO College offers great courses to support a range of qualifications. The great range of qualifications and courses means that the college has something to offer almost everyone, irrespective of where they may be on their career path. This gives learners the opportunity to do as much or as little as they need. They may do a single qualification at a particular level and that may be their aspiration fulfilled. They may use the first and subsequent qualifications to move along their career path to an ultimate goal.

It’s important to offer courses and qualifications to as many members of the practice team as possible to ensure the business has the right people with the right skill sets to have sustainable growth in the future.

Find out more about the courses offered by ABDO College and the WCSM at ABDO College

(1) United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs/Population Division World Population Prospects: The 2017 Revision