Five Tips to Give Leaders a Jump on the New Year
Talent development firm Chronus’ predictions for HR and staff contain lots of technology involvement. Looks like 2014 may be the year that HR catches up with the rest of the enterprise in both applying technology to its processes and using all that juicy data to analyze where efficiencies and returns are or are not occurring. HR will also be working to refine its use of social applications and development of the leadership skills that the business craves. How will that affect IT and line of business employees?
CEOs and HR executives will earmark greater portions of the HR budgets specifically for developing and retaining talent. “Programs like employee career mentoring and leadership development are becoming viewed as ‘essential’ vs. ‘optional,’ and are on the rise,” said Chronus CEO Vetri Vellore. Chronus cites a Society for Human Resource Management figure from 2013: 52 percent of HR professionals believe the biggest challenge will be developing next-gen leaders.
HR and talent development initiatives will increasingly look toward specific metrics and big data to measure employee engagement, performance and potential. “…The whole big data movement will continue advancing at a rapid rate. HR’s job will be to develop metrics and scorecards on L&D programs, tying it to employee and, ultimately, business performance,” said Chronus VP of Marketing Steve O’Brian. Chronus cites a Deloitte figure that says only 14 percent of HR organizations have delved into any significant statistical analysis, but those who have are attached to organizations that are showing a variety of indicators of strength. The analysis within HR isn’t necessarily a cause of those strength factors, but more time and analysis may show a tighter relationship, especially in the management/leadership internal pipeline.
HR departments are looking to increase efficiencies and productivity like any other corporate department. As a result, the pace is picking up in implementing automated solutions to increase efficiency. “HR customers are looking for automated workflows to help them get new programs started faster and run more efficiently. Finally, they’re looking for measurable learning outcomes as a way to tie L&D programs to productivity,” said Chronus Chief Product Officer Praerit Garg.
HR executives want ‘social learning’ to be more focused and productive. As a result, they’ll move toward structured L&D programs with social elements to maximize the effectiveness of enterprise learning programs. “Companies are finding that engaging employees in unstructured social learning programs is not productive or measurable,” said O’Brian. HR departments have indicated to Chronus that they believe social learning is crucial to business development, but very few have attempted it successfully. A blended approach of structured learning with social tools to encourage engagement is the current suggestion for better results.
If all of these initiatives remain strong, it looks like career opportunities within HR organizations for highly skilled IT pros and analysts may also be on the rise in 2014, as well.
