Should We Offer More Training, or Give Them a Chance to Show Their Skills?

When employees fail to take on new tasks, organizations easily tend to think of training courses first. If they judge that preparation is still insufficient, they make employees take more lectures and increase the number of qualifications or assignments. However, if an employee already possesses the necessary foundational competencies but lacks the opportunity and proper connection to showcase their skills, it is difficult to solve the problem with additional training alone. This is because lacking competence and having competence that is not visible are two different issues. A 2026 NBER working paper by Susan Athey and Emilie Pelletier is a study that prompts reflection on this distinction. The researchers evaluated mentoring and task-based portfolio programs respectively for women wishing to enter the tech sector in Poland. The participants were applicants who were not working in the t…