Courage in the Face of a New Skills Economy
by Melisa Joeleo It Consulting ServicesWith technology and automation now ingrained in individuals' daily
routines and data changing how decisions are made, the skills needed for
in-demand roles are shifting. According to Deloitte's latest human
capital research, 47 percent of HR and business leaders consider
developing new career trajectories and skills to be very important. The
caveat? More than 54 percent say they don't yet have programs in place
to build the skills of the future.
In order to thrive in today's world of work, organizations need to take a new approach to talent management.
Rather than relying on tried-and-true job descriptions, HR managers
must expand their search to candidates from non-traditional backgrounds
with the elasticity of mind needed to grasp new skills. To assure
organizations are able to continue to succeed, HR organizations must
lead the changes to how we develop and deploy our workforce.
As
we move toward a workforce in which adaptability is highly valued, HR
leaders must work to build strong cultures of learning that empower
employees to cultivate the skills they will need in the future. By
re-imagining learning strategies, organizations can better engage and
empower employees to take control over their learning and career development.
It takes courage to re-think once dependable processes and upend
traditional learning approaches, but in order to grow and thrive, change
is necessary.
The Pace of Change Is Accelerating
It
took 50 years for cars to surpass the horse and buggy as our primary
mode of transportation, yet it has only taken Uber two years to decrease
cab usage by 65 percent in San Francisco. Futurist and Chief Engineer
at Google, Ray Kurzweil, explains this phenomenon with the claim that
"technical change is exponential, contrary to the common-sense
'intuitive linear' view. So we won't experience 100 years of progress in
the 21 st century—it will be more like 20,000 years of progress (at
today's rate)."
Similarly, technology now has an exponentially
increasing impact on how HR leaders approach learning and development in
the workplace. In his TED talk, Changing Education Paradigms, Sir Ken
Robinson observes that as we continue to send our kids to school to
replace an older generation of workers, our approach to education is
trapped in late 18th century thinking: we still rely on a standardized,
industrialism-based model of education.
“The problem is, they're
trying to meet the future by doing what they did in the past," he
explains. “The current system of education was designed, conceived and
structured for a different age."
Today, however, there's an
increasing awareness of a need for a demand-driven approach to
education—developing skills that employers in the workplace will
actually need, rather than dispersing a broad range of skills that may
not be applicable in today's workplace. In the new digital age, skills,
not hours in a classroom, are candidates' greatest assets.
Strategies to Ensure Buy-In from Employees
As
the competition for top talent continues to increase— 92 percent of
employers expect an increase in competition for talent this year—HR
leaders are looking for new ways to attract talent externally, develop
leaders for succession, identify high-performing employees and increase
engagement.
Mercer's 2017 Global Talent Trends Survey
identified six key areas of focus for HR to support and retain
employees. Strategies such as giving leadership roles to younger
employees, moving talent between developing and mature markets and
creating reverse mentoring programs helps build a pipeline of leadership
talent, assist workers in continually developing their employability,
and ensure that work goals have a tangible impact. Additionally,
creating accelerated career development programs for high-potential
employees, rotating people into functional roles early in their career,
and providing opportunities for functional managers to gain business
exposure helps gain needed skills and boost retention.
But in
order to bring these areas of focus to life, it is important for
organizations to re-think their strategy around communication. As
connected as we are, effective employee communication is still a
challenge. Employees now commonly work from home, on the road or
telecommute—in-office meetings, email blasts, and posters are no longer
effective alone.
To keep a dispersed workforce connected,
employers must deliver timely, relevant, and customized communication
that is easy to access and digest—bite-sized learning content that's
mobile-friendly or delivered in video form works well. Built-in rewards
and recognition are high on the priority list as well—a mere 3 percent
of organizations say their rewards programs are very effective in
motivating talent. Because employees generally prefer to have
flexibility, autonomy, and meaning in what they do rather than receive
concrete benefits like money. Effective reward and recognitions should
include continuous performance management, the opportunity to attend
events and conferences, flexible work options, or other meaningful
rewards.
Organizational Data Is Efficient but People Data Is Effective
For
years, HR leaders have put too much emphasis on the transactions that
facilitate compliance and account for costs. But a transaction
data-focused model creates silos—workflows become entirely
compliance-focused and efficient rather than effective. Plus, this focus
causes organizations to overlook the bigger opportunity: employee
relationship-building.
In our economy, where skills drive
results, we must shift our approach to more personalized expectations.
Rather than basing hiring or career-growth decisions solely on
organization data, HR leaders must start using a different
decision-making context, one that is based on candidates' and employees'
skills. Relationship-centric solutions that are powered by real-time
people analytics data—interview debrief data, performance review
results, and employee survey information—can help HR leaders make the
transition.
By focusing on people analytics, HR can start
delivering the personalized experience that employees need. While
traditional results and data remain crucial to organization success,
people-based data is increasingly gaining significance. A people-focused
model will lead to beneficial relationships between teams and
leadership that will, in turn, create the employee stickiness we need in
our new economy.
This Article Source is From : https://www.td.org/insights/courage-in-the-face-of-a-new-skills-economy
Sponsor Ads
Created on May 15th 2018 06:40. Viewed 548 times.