Dear
HR Bravehearts,
Congratulations
on having battled one of the toughest times in workplace history. While a lot
has been put into practice for streamlining and actualizing digital
transformation, your work has just begun.
As
we settle further into 2021, employees and leaders alike will look up to you
for humanizing the new world of work we have embarked upon. As you find
innovative solutions for workforce skilling and capability development, you
will have to develop a new skillset too. As you clock in more ROI, more productivity
and more savings, you will have to deal with challenges of employee engagement,
culture realignment and change management. You will have to #DisruptTheNEW, and do it
now!
Dear HR Bravehearts, buckle up, you are now
in the driver’s seat
Owing
to the pandemic and remote work, the adoption of digital learning has seen an
exponential rise. It is not just how
the learning is delivered but there has been a paradigm shift in ‘what’
learning needs to be delivered to the employees. As businesses realign their
goals to stay relevant and agile in these unprecedented times, developing
multi-functional skills, fostering inter-team collaboration, nurturing
high-potential leaders are being prioritized. Honing leadership skills such as
emotional intelligence and empathy is also given importance as organizations
require leaders to navigate their workforce through these trying times and
beyond. The onus is on you to make these happen at a pace that is rapid and relevance
that is on point.
Dear HR Bravehearts, make technology your BFF
While technology becomes a necessity in the virtual world of work, don’t let it cripple you. Use it only as an enabler to achieve your end goals and objectives. Remember, people need people, not tech disguised as the shiny new thing. So find ways to humanize processes and tools.
Leverage
technology to make the task of recruitment, payroll, employee training,
performance evaluation, rewards & recognition, employee engagement more
manageable. While it may be tempting to choose the highest-rated or
least-expensive solution, it’s important to do your research and find the tool
that’s right for your business’s needs.
Dear HR Bravehearts, make learning the new working
The
only way businesses could survive and thrive in the uncertain times was by
upskilling their workforce to adapt faster and better.
2021
will be the year when Digital Learning
Platforms with capabilities for Virtual
Instructor Led Training (VILT), Integration
with third party tools, Offline
Mobile Learning, Social
Learning, and Artificial
Intelligence will make inroads into organizations of all shapes and types.
It
will also be a year when buy-versus-build content calculus will shift in favor
of Ready-to-use off-the-shelf
content as the need to be agile and relevant dials up.
In
all, employee capability development will become tablestake for all companies.
Dear HR Bravehearts, overhaul the employee
experience
With
our homes becoming our makeshift or even permanent workplace, you will have to go
beyond managing just a finite 9-5 employee experience to a 365x24x7 life
experience of the employee as employees no longer work from home, but work for home too. Elements like work-life
balance, wellbeing, connection, and collaboration will be crucial both for
employee satisfaction and the optimization of business outcomes. So as you
build these programs into the fabric of your company culture, lead with empathy
and compassion. Your people will need a pillar to lean on in tough times and a
leader that puts them first in all situations.
Dear HR Bravehearts, fail fast and fail
forward
For
you, success will have a new meaning. It will encompass navigating through a
complex and rapidly changing environment.
It will no longer only be a case of “what got us to here, won’t get us there”,
but “what worked last week, won’t work this week”. To deal successfully with rapid change, you
will need rapid experimentation. And with rapid experimentation, comes failure
and learning, which is an essential part of growth and forward movement. So
develop curiosity and willingness to learn. Oftentimes from failing fast – a
strategy of trying something, getting fast feedback, and then rapidly
inspecting and adapting.
Dear HR Bravehearts, don’t leave your own
skilling behind
In
today’s world, technological skills are no longer a bonus, but a necessity for
every HR professional. With technology evolving at breakneck speed, you need to
be more agile now than ever before. Be it finding the right talent on social
media or virtual onboarding or handling employee grievances in a non-physical/
phygital setting, digital
skilling is a must-have in your arsenal.
Not
just tech skills, take time to develop future skills too. Findings from BPP’s
report Skills for the future: Asia
Pacific identifies the below skill
set for the HR of the future.
As my letter comes to a close, I, once again, congratulate you on everything you have accomplished, and wish you the very best for the months to come. If you think I can add to your journey in any way, connect with me on LinkedIn/ drop me an email. In any case, I will be rooting for you all the way to the finish line. Lead on!
Best wishes,
Your learning partner & well wisher
