WWW.HRMONLINE.CA
N O I T A C U ED 2015
E D I GU
orate p r o c , g in d coach n a s look at A a B s e M k o a t t s s. HRD course n t io r t o p h o s y n m a Fro d so m a h 2015 r e in v w e o n n s k a h o t need learning what you HITTING THE SPOT: L&D IN FOCUS p. 2
CASE STUDY: BELL CANADA p. 10
MBA PROGRAMS p. 18
SUCCESSION PLANNING p. 6
CASE STUDY: AMWAY p. 14
HR’S ESSENTIAL SKILL REQUIREMENTS p. 20
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EDUCATION GUIDE INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS CENTRE Professional Development
OVERVIEW
Your workplace is changing . . . are you? Most work environments today are dealing with constant change. New millennials in the workforce are seeking different rewards than their older co-workers, and evolving technology is changing the way we all do our jobs. How do we adapt to these shifts and build teams that foster collaboration? Queen’s University IRC (Industrial Relations Centre) tackles these challenges head on. We offer a wide range of one-day, multi-day and custom programs that give you the skills you need to navigate through a sea of change. Make 2015 a year of positive approaches to your changing world. Visit our website to download our Spring 2015 - Spring 2016 Program Planner, or contact one of our professionals to discuss how we can support you and your teams. LAST CALL!
There’s still time to register for the 2015 Workplace in Motion Summit April 16, 2015, Toronto, ON
Workplace in
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Call us today at 1-888-858-7838 or visit our website at irc.queensu.ca
Call toll free: 1-888-858-7838
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UPCOMING SPRING 2015 PROGRAMS Negotiation Skills April 19-24, 2015: Kingston Organization Development Foundations April 20-23, 2015: Calgary Advanced HR April 28-30, 2015: Toronto Mastering Fact-Finding and Investigation April 28 - May 1, 2015: Toronto Dispute Resolution Skills May 3-7, 2015: Kingston Strategic Workforce Planning May 5-6, 2015: Toronto Managing Unionized Environments May 12-14, 2015: Fort McMurray Change Management May 12-14, 2015: Toronto Labour Arbitration Skills May 24-28, 2015: Kingston Talent Management May 27-28, 2015: Ottawa Linking HR Strategy to Business Strategy June 2-4, 2015: Calgary
Email: irc@queensu.ca
Web: irc.queensu.ca
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EDUCATION GUIDE
CORPORATE EDUCATION IN CANADA
2015 L&D SNAPSHOT WHAT EMPLOYERS WANT…
KEY PRIORITIES
73%
Canadian employers are having difficulty finding people with key essential skills. One survey of BC employers with workforces of 130,000 or more found that:
50%
of Canada’s corporate leaders believe leadership development is their most important challenge over the next 12-18 months; 67% think they’re at least somewhat ready to meet this challenge
Employers want people with ... 60% Diplomas and certificates 57% College and university degrees 35% Trades certificates
of Canada’s corporate leaders believe overall workforce capability is important; 73% are confident in addressing this need
In addition ... 70% of employers say that skills requirements have increased over the past decade 57% say that skills gaps are worsening as employees retire Source: Skills for Success: Developing Skills for a Prosperous BC, The Conference Board of Canada
Source: Human Capital Trends 2014, Canada Edition, Deloitte Canada
ESSENTIAL SKILLS 72% Critical thinking and problem-solving
38% Oral communication
35% Literacy (reading, writing, document use)
YEAR-ON-YEAR CHANGE IN TRAINING SPENDING 20 15 10 5 0 -5 -10
33% Working with others
29% Computer use
28% Continuous learning
17% Numeracy
Source: Skills for Success: Developing Skills for a Prosperous BC, The Conference Board of Canada
-15 -20 2006
2007
2008
2009
• Organizations across North America spent $1,169 per learner, on average, on L&D initiatives • This varies by company size and industry. Tech companies, for example, spent $1,847 per learner • Mature companies – defined by Bersin by Deloitte as being on Levels 3 and 4 of their maturity model – spend $1,353 per learner, or 37% more than the least mature groups. Broadly, companies can be classified as:
2010
2011
2012
2013
Level 1 – Incidental training - $990 per learner Companies in this group spend on regulatory, compliance, job-specific training Level 2 – L&D excellence - $1,071 per learner Companies at this level have started to build their infrastructures, and more training is required on processes and systems Levels 3 and 4 – Performance improvement & organizational capability development $1,353 per learner These organizations invest more in leadership development and function-specific training, such as sales and customer service training
Source: The Corporate Learning Factbook, 2014, Bersin by Deloitte
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EDUCATION GUIDE
OVERVIEW
L&D EXPLODING
THE MYTHS
The old adage holds true in L&D: fail to plan, and plan to fail. It’s impossible to build a company-wide L&D strategy without first getting some fundamentals right
L&D IS A critical aspect of modern organizations, both large and small, and in both private and public sectors across Canada. As business conditions, business practices and the application of technology constantly evolve, and the pace of change in all three areas accelerates, most, if not all, of the nation’s workforce will need to constantly learn new skills. Critical questions remain, however. How can these skills most effectively be learned? Can they be effectively taught? And perhaps more important, while it’s a given that employee L&D is a large and
indeed essential part of the modern economy, why is this function often not given the prominence it deserves? Many of the answers to these questions lie in the fact that the benefits of corporate training for an organization have shifted. Once, training was simply seen as a means of slowing attrition. That said, it is surprising that many organizations persist with the view that the chief benefit of L&D is simply ‘more satisfied employees.’ It is true that job satisfaction leads to both strong morale and motivation, but it is also true that one of the major shifts in
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Fresh insights Results of a new study reveal details about L&D functions, trends and practices, from the size and nature of budgets to types of training, how training is measured, and the benefits of training to employees, organizations and society. “Some findings from this research were as predicted,” explains Graeme Philipson, former researcher with Gartner and Yankee Group, who conducted the research for knowledge experts TP3.* “Training budgets, for example, are roughly the same or smaller than last year’s, and training functions remain largely underresourced. And most organizations, even large ones, do not have a formal training budget. That’s not to say training isn’t conducted, but it’s done on a project or ad-hoc basis.” Key budget findings were as follows: yy 17% of respondents had budgets of $100k–$500k yy 16% reported budgets of $1m+ yy 55% didn’t know – either had no formal budget or it was ad hoc Surprisingly, more than half of all respondents did not know what their training budget was. In many cases this was because their organizations had no formal budget – training was said to be funded on an ad-hoc or project-specific basis. However, it is possible that respondents preferred ‘discretion over disclosure’ in terms of sharing their budget figure with researchers, rather than actually being unaware of it.
It is surprising that many organizations persist with the view that the chief benefit of L&D is simply ‘more satisfied employees’ L&D CHALLENGES
20%
Limited budget
15% 9% 9%
Limited time
Management commitment
Unsuitable training materials
The biggest challenge faced in corporate L&D departments is a lack of resources – essentially, time and money. Training is one of the first line items on the corporate P&L to be trimmed when times are tight, and today’s training budgets are getting tighter and are more likely to be declining than growing.
MEASUREMENT OF ROI ON TRAINING 35 30 25
%
L&D dynamics is the increased focus on cost savings that upskilling can deliver in terms of attracting, recruiting and onboarding new staff as unhappy staff depart. The development of a mobile workforce and therefore a more nimble, agile organization has emerged, in recent research, to be yet another key benefit of continuous learning to organizations and the nation at large – and a benefit that is absolutely critical in today’s competitive environment.
20 15 10 5 0
Increased customer responsiveness
Increase in productivity
Don’t measure Don’t measure (but should) Informal judgment, no metrics
Increased job satisfaction
Increased revenues or profitability
Ad hoc metrics Formal metrics
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EDUCATION GUIDE
OVERVIEW There is also a perceived shortage of good training professionals and, in some areas, suitable training content, while respondents also reported that they couldn’t the time needed to train staff when they were already busy in their frontline. This resourcing component is common in all organizations, but particularly in smaller organizations.
Phiillips’ analytics
What’s the return? A key reason why training is underresourced is that it remains difficult to determine the ROI on training dollars. “Few organizations have formal processes to measure training’s effectiveness, but even for them it’s often difficult to tie outcomes back to the training itself – so much so that nearly one in four surveyed organizations does not measure the ROI of its L&D activities,” Philipson says. All told, while ROI metrics are possible in some areas such as workplace health and safety, generally speaking it is difficult to establish a firm link between the cost of training and its benefits. Conversely, the study showed a strong belief that training results in a better skilled, more satisfied workforce – a far cry from the days when training was simply seen as a means of slowing attrition. Today, many L&D professionals believe training is self-evidently
{
Kirkpatrick’s analytics
{
beneficial, and that formal yardsticks are not needed to measure its effectiveness. Study respondents rated ‘satisfied employees’ as L&D’s chief benefit, while higher revenues and profitability were not rated as highly as direct benefits. “We found this result surprising and, it must be said, disappointing,’’ Philipson says. “When higher profitability is rated by all groups as the least-important benefit, it illustrates that L&D is seen to be decoupled from profitability. Perhaps this is due to the perceived ‘intangible nature’ of its benefits, or the lack of clearly identified ROI measures,” he adds. What is clear is that not enough L&D departments formally evaluate the success of their training and professional development programs. However, there is a model for measuring training ROI, thanks to the work of Kirkpatrick and Phillips (presented here in simplified form). Finding the numbers to plug in is the hard part, but the math is easy once the benefits of learning investments are quantified. Using the Kirkpatrick model, for example, would include selection criteria such as the cost of learning programs, the importance of the program in meeting business goals and the extent of management’s interest in the outcomes of training
and upskilling activities. These and other factors, such as measurements of training’s intangible, or ‘soft,’ benefits – while most difficult to measure – greatly influence the ultimate monetary measure of ROI. Preferred L&D types Many findings support long-held assumptions, such as that on-the-job training is king. “Classroom, computer-based training and other forms of formal and informal training all have their place, but there’s no substitute for learning by doing,” Philipson says. Another key finding of the research was that mobile devices and the advent of BYOD (bring your own device), though becoming much more popular in the workplace, are not yet regarded as suitable for training, even with younger employees. Management and senior staff prefer seminars and conferences to on-the-job training, although the latter was the preferred method by a very small margin. Once again, unstructured PC-based or mobile online learning were the lowest-rated methods. More than half of organizations surveyed expect their senior managers to have at least an undergraduate degree, and nearly half expect such a degree from professional staff. Some even expect it from entry-level staff,
IMPORTANCE OF TYPES OF TRAINING
ROI
Did the training investment pay off?
RESULTS IMPACT
Did the implementation of the training program impact business results?
Did the learners deploy what they learned on the job?
LEARNING
Did the learners learn the content?
SATISFACTION
Did the learners like the training program?
On-the-job training
7.9
23.6
67.4
Classroom training
7.9
25.8
18
47.2
Structured online or CBT/PC based
13.6
13.6
34.1
33
Seminars and conferences
14.6
42.7
30.3
10.1
Unstructured or ad hoc online - PC
27
18
33.7
3.4
Unstructured or ad hoc online - mobile-device based
37.2 1 – not important 2 3
23.3
4.7 1
4 5 – very important
4
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PREFERRED TRAINING METHODS – MANAGEMENT AND SENIOR STAFF Seminars and conferences 16.4
29.5
47.5
On-the-job training 4.8
27.4
37.1
30.6
Classroom training 6.5
38.7
11.3
41.9
Structured online or CBT/PC based 16.7
30
30
18.3
Unstructured or ad hoc online - PC 33.9
33.9
16.9
8.5
Unstructured or ad hoc online - mobile device based 33.9
33.9
12.5
7.1
Actively dislike
Like
Don’t like
Preferred method
Don’t mind
but very few positions need no qualifications – with the exception of sales roles, in which performance is everything. Busting myths Other results were surprising. “Evidence suggests that the so-called skills shortage is overrated. Most respondents feel reasonably well-served by the skills of their employees
Graeme Phillipson
Senior management
39.0
48.3
46.6
Technical staff
21.3
33
31.1
44.3
Junior management
14.6 17.5
21.1
45.6
Sales
17
5.7
KEY TAKEAWAYS Questions raised by the research include: yy What can be done about the finding that 40% of employees who show up for training don’t want to be there?
yy How can L&D encourage employees to drive their own learning while also taking advantage of what’s offered through structured learning events?
54.2
Professional staff
3.4
and are inclined to believe there’s a skills shortage in the community generally – but not necessarily within their own organization,” Philipson explains. Another key finding was what respondents rated as an employee’s most valued attribute. “By far the most important is ability to adapt, rated ‘very important’ by 73% of respondents and ‘important’ by virtually all the remainder,” Philipson says. “As businesses change, employees must adapt quickly, and their ability to do so is rated ahead of even academic or trade qualifications, which, while often important, can be seen as static qualifications in a rapidly changing world.” Finally, L&D is a central aspect of modern business, but it’s also acknowledged that L&D’s benefits are difficult to quantify. “Clearly, the fact that L&D professionals cannot yet provide solid evidence of their value to the organization remains a significant weakness for the profession,” Philipson says.
yy If adaptability is the most sought-after employee attribute, can adaptability be taught?
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS 3.4
“Few organizations have formal processes to measure training’s effectiveness, but even for them it’s often difficult to tie outcomes back to the training itself”
34.0
yy Does job satisfaction come from being empowered and motivated, or is it a motivating work environment that creates job satisfaction?
5.7
Entry level
41.0 None High school Vocational training
18.0
11.5
8.2
Some academic qualification Bachelor’s degree
*TP3’s research surveyed 120 L&D professionals, representing most industry sectors and many organizations with more than 500 employees. The white paper of the full research is available at www.tp3.com.au.
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EDUCATION GUIDE
SUCCESSION
SECURING THE FUTURE Even though it’s a critical part of talent management, succession planning still eludes many organizations. HRD reveals the proven strategies that ensure future talent needs are addressed WHEN MOST HR executives think about succession planning, their minds turn to aging Baby Boomers and wondering who will take over for departing retirees. The government of Alberta, however, realizes that an effective plan is more than just leadership replacement – it’s an enterprise-wide strategy crucial to the talent profile of the entire organization. “From a sheer data and pragmatic perspective, when I think about succession planning, it isn’t just about retirements,” says Lana Lougheed, deputy minister of leadership and talent development. “It’s about being prepared by supporting current leaders, growing the next generation of leaders within the organization and working to create a workplace that allows us to attract the best and brightest to join our organization.” This progressive and holistic view is rare. According to SHRM’s 2010 Workplace Visions, despite the fact that 39% of North
American companies have ‘zero’ viable candidates in the case of a sudden CEO departure, boards only spend about two hours per year on succession planning. With strategic thinking and alignment with business goals, however, HR can use succession planning as a tool to acquire and retain talent, and as a way to ensure that the
company remains sustainable for decades. Baby steps While a good succession plan is multifaceted enough to capture all aspects of talent management, at a minimum baseline, it is essential for company leaders identify which jobs are critical to an organization’s success.
What is your organization’s biggest talent management issue? Global
Americas
Europe
Asia- Pacific
Lack of skilled talent for key positions
28%
29%
22%
36%
Shortage of talent at all levels
20%
16%
24%
21%
Less than optimal employee engagement
15%
15%
16%
13%
Too few high-potential leaders in the organization
14%
19%
10%
12%
Loss of top talent to other organizations
10%
7%
15%
8%
Lagging productivity
9%
7%
12%
9%
4%
7%
1%
1%
Other
Source: Talent Management: Accelerating Business Performance, Right Management
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HRD_
“The TWU MBA has been instrumental in advancing my career.” Susan Byrom, MBA ’10 Senior Manager, Community Investment Envision Financial
Master of Business Administration D Leadership development with a global focus D Flexible schedule for working professionals D Three innovative specializations: Managing the Growing Enterprise International Business Non-Profit and Charitable Organization Management
twu.ca/mba
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MIR full pag
MIR full pag
EDUCATION GUIDE
SUCCESSION “Many organizations are so focused on the next quarter that they aren’t thinking about what they need to do in three, four or five years’ time, and what type of people they’ll need to support the business” Paul Juniper
“Even if you don’t want to be comprehensive or link to organizational strategy, you do need to know the critical jobs whose losses could put the company at risk, and have an idea of what to do if the people in those positions were to leave,” says Paul Juniper, director of the Queen’s University Industrial Relations Centre [IRC].
SCENARIO PLANNING AT SHELL • Computer modeling projects economic, political and energy shifts that may occur in the next half a century • Considerations include power struggles, depletion of resources and population trends • Certainties are identified first, and these are then used to forecast potential variables • Shell views the future from various perspectives, or ‘lenses,’ which can be used to guide HR strategy and workforce management Source: Shell.com
While many companies assume that critical jobs consist exclusively of senior or executive positions, Juniper notes that this is not always the case. Organizations also frequently employ workers with a unique skill set or knowledge base that does not made it up the hierarchical ladder. These employees, who range from sophisticated IT professionals to client-facing roles
with particular consumer insight, should follow Elliott Jacques’ ‘manager once removed’ model. Under this framework, supervisors should oversee and provide mentorship for the development opportunities of employees situated two levels down from them. “Sometimes you get a manager who blocks people or wants to save employees for themselves, and not let them higher up in the organization,” Juniper says. “It’s important to review their performance plans once a year with a manager-once-removed to make sure the organization is aware of the best people in the company.” Crystal ball substitute Complicating the situation is the fact that critical roles are constantly evolving, and may no longer be essential months or years into the future. To address this, Juniper recommends that HR take a page out of Royal Dutch Shell’s playbook. “Shell has been doing scenario planning that examines what the future of the world could look like in 50 years, and what that means for the company,” he says. “Many organizations are so focused on the next quarter that they aren’t thinking about what they need to do in three, four or five years’ time, and what type of people they’ll need to support the business.” Although Shell conducts intricate computer modeling to forecast the energy needs of tomorrow, organizations only need simple analytics to gain an idea of prospective talent needs (see sidebar at left). “Companies have a massive amount of data they’re not making use of. If you know the age structure of the organization, you can
take the chart and push it out five years to see who’s likely to be there and who isn’t,” Juniper says. “You can also use your turnover rate, both voluntary and involuntary, to project what may happen as well.” Public service model In Alberta, demographic shifts have caused the province to take an extensive, enterprisewide approach to succession planning. The percentage of employees under the age of 34 has grown from 16% in 2006 to 23% today, while based on retirement trends, up to 20% of assistant deputy ministers may retire in the next one to two years. The provincial government is hoping to address this by examining data across all departments to determine which positions are at risk, what the government’s bench strengths are and which areas may require further development either through reinforcement or external talent acquisition. It’s considered an ongoing process, beginning at the interview stage, when applicants are encouraged to outline their aspirations and formulate a professional development plan. Then, career consultants are available throughout all sectors of public service, with Lougheed personally overseeing development at the executive talent management level. “I meet with every deputy minister individually to talk about their needs and challenges within the organization, and have in-depth discussions about where we may have risks and what approaches should be taken to address those,” she says. A recent area of focus involves the policy discipline, which had been insufficiently staffed for several years prior. The government of Alberta implemented a dynamic three-part solution consisting of the establishment of an intern program to recruit talented university graduates, a comprehensive training program, and mentor and cohort support. They are also looking at ways to further accelerate development for individuals in this field and in other key disciplines, such as economics. “It’s all about finding that balance between the corporate needs, organizational needs, and employees’ needs and aspirations, and matching those in a way that allows success for everyone,” Lougheed says.
Q Q P P ( (
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T a T a a
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HRD_
MIR full page March 2015_Layout 1 15-03-09 7:52 PM Page 1 MIR full page March 2015_Layout 1 15-03-09 7:52 PM Page 1
Queen s University Queen s University Professional Master of Industrial Relations Professional Master of Industrial Relations (PMIR) (PMIR) The Queen’s PMIR is a graduate program that is designed for relations, leading to the Theprofessionals Queen’s PMIRinisemployment a graduate program that is designed Master of Industrial Relations degree. for professionals in employment relations, leading to the Master of Industrial Relations degree.
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Takes a multidisciplinary approach to the study of employment relations that incorporates labour law and Takes a multidisciplinary approach to the study of labour relations, human resources management, employment relations that incorporates labour law and organizational theory and design, and personnel economics. labour relations, human resources management, organizational theory and design, and personnel economics. Offers an advanced educational Offers an experience with faculty who are accomplished and Offers an advanced educational Offers an leading scholars and prominent diverse group of experience with faculty who are accomplished and policy advisors. colleagues. leading scholars and prominent diverse group of policy advisors. colleagues. Provides a part-time schedule that allows full-time work to be combined with part-time graduate studies. Provides a part-time schedule that allows full-time work to be combined with part-time graduate studies. Explore all that the Queen’s PMIR has to offer you at
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The Queen’s MIR degree provides a significant career advantage and a recognized foundation for career advancement The Queen’s MIR degree provides a significant career and leadership. advantage and a recognized foundation for career advancement and leadership.
m i r. q u e e n s u . c a m i r. q u e e n s u . c a HRD_Education Adsizing.indd 06-09_SuccessionGuide_Revised planning-SUBBED.indd 9 4
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EDUCATION GUIDE
PROFILE
MANAGING THE MIDDLE:
L&D AT BELL CANADA
Angel Prescott-Brown reveals Canadian HR Award winner Bell Canada’s trail-blazing leadership initiatives for middle managers MANY ORGANIZATIONS consisting of 50,000+ employees earn a reputation for being impersonal or faceless enterprises. At Bell Canada, however, engagement levels are high – and leadership initiatives are a key driver behind this trend. One of the features that makes Bell’s program so unique is that the company invests not only in client-facing roles and senior executives, but also the oft-neglected leadership cohort comprising the organization’s middle managers. “In early 2013, through survey results and anecdotally from our directors and senior managers, we recognized the need to increase leadership bench strengths at the CP3 level,” says Angel Prescott-Brown, senior manager of leadership development for Bell Canada. Instead of starting from scratch,
“Someone might be an amazing project manager and have great business acumen, but their self-awareness and people agility could be way off the radar” Angel Prescott-Brown
Prescott-Brown and her team decided to springboard the new program from the behavioral framework already in place as part of the company’s ongoing performance management processes. This was a good launching point, since “we assess people not only on the objectives that they’re able to achieve, but also on how they achieve those objectives.” Using that mechanism, known as Bell Leadership Success Profile, the telecommunications firm was able to create a dynamic program that addressed the company’s two existing pathways – one for middle managers who are people leaders and another for professional individual contributors. Building a foundation The first step for a senior manager, and a
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core tenet of the program, lies in a rigorous assessment of the manager’s strengths and weaknesses. “We started with a foundational element, which consists of a two-day course that includes a 360 review to allow a full view spectrum of one’s behaviors, strengths and opportunities,” Prescott-Brown says. After this comprehensive skills evaluation, the leaders explore the core competencies needed to excel in their positions. For people leaders, Bell emphasizes communication, self-awareness, performance management, coaching, and career development. For the professional group, competencies include process improvement, analytical thinking, and decision making, and also how to communicate tasks without formal authority. “The foundational part of the program is really about creating that baseline of behaviors that we expect all of our managers and people leaders to be displaying,” Prescott-Brown says. Although this facet of Bell’s L&D strategy was originally intended for senior manager leaders who had only served in their role for less than five years, the company found that the foundation training was beneficial to managers of any tenure. “A lot of leaders start with the foundation program just because of that 360 review feature. They didn’t know what issues were preventing them from making it to the next level,” Prescott-Brown says. Advancing skills Once senior manager leaders have completed the foundation portion of the program, they move on to the advanced pathway, which is designed to overcome derailers and master relevant skill sets. “When an employee receives their 360 review, they’re able to discuss their own personal results over two days of the foundation program to identify what needs need more focus. For example, someone might be an amazing project manager and have great business acumen, but their self-awareness and people agility could be way off the radar,” Prescott-Brown says.
The Bell Canada team at the 2014 Canadian HR Awards
In addition, leaders receive specialized leadership training in areas such as how to manage conflict, what career development coaching looks like, problem solving, effective ways of presenting to senior executives and how to help reporting employees recognize their own personal derailers. To ensure that the training is implementable and not simply dismissed after a seminar, the advanced pathway is based on the best practice 70/20/10 model. Bell refers to this as the ‘three Es,’ where 10% of learning takes place in the classroom (Education), 20% is extracted from mentoring or special projects (Exposure), and 70% happens with on-the-job learning (Experience). “We’ve mapped it out very clearly to help leaders define what their challenge is from the 360 review, and what the recommended learning solution is,” PrescottBrown says. Positive feedback Although this developmental initiative is only 14 months old, there have already been numerous indicators of success, both internally and externally. “When you look at the questions such
as ‘Would employees promote training to their colleagues?’ and ‘Do they feel that their learning was enabling them to move to the next step in their career?’, all of our [positive] survey feedback is 90% or higher,” says Prescott-Brown. In addition, this program achieved a 4.5 on the engagement survey for learning programs (the training benchmark is 4.3), and the Net Promoter Score (NPS) score reached a stellar nine out of 10. Employees also have been vocal about their satisfaction with the program. Out of the 1,800 senior manager leaders who have completed the pathway, the majority were able to cite concrete instances of how they implemented their training into the workplace and their individual career development. In fact, the program is currently expanding into the manager level, and preliminary results show similarly promising data. “It’s been a really banner year, and we hope to continue the strength of programs for the next level,” says Prescott-Brown. “At the end of the day, it’s all about equipping leaders to make our business strategies a reality.”
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EDUCATION GUIDE
LEADERSHIP
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tBETTER nthrough emegstrength-based anLEADERSHIP aM-ruocoaching baL
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INTEREST IN POSITIVE forms of leadership development, including strength-based leadership coaching, is growing – but what exactly is it, does it work, and how do leaders utilize this approach? Strength-based approaches have evolved from the positive psychology movement that reshaped applied psychology at the beginning of the millennium. Historically, psychology was accused of spending too much time focusing on what was broken and dysfunctional rather than on what made people flourish and excel. Consequently, a whole new research paradigm developed to address exactly those questions. Positive psychology has been slow to infiltrate the world of work, but that is changing now, as many executive and leadership coaches are identifying with a strength-based approach and applying it in their practices. So does strength-based leadership coaching actually work? We know from several meta-analytic studies that leadership development programs do provide positive outcomes, but there is a significant variation in their effectiveness, depending on which models, theories and approaches are used. Equally,
the evidence for the effectiveness of executive coaching at work is growing (and coaching often utilizes constructs from positive psychology and strengthbased approaches, focusing on affirmative bias, goal attainment and individualised professional development). However, there are no published studies yet that have combined an explicit strength-based methodology with a coaching format and evaluated its impact using objective and leadership-orientated outcome criteria. Consequently, I set up my own research project to address this question. So how does the high-potential leader access this approach? Identifying strengths is not enough to fully benefit from this approach, and inIEsome 73 EV CER NOITACIFThe ITREart CER cases can lead to complacency or overuse. SDRAWOT STNIOP of strength-based coaching is in the DEIdebrief FITREC Rand UOY SECRUO SER NAMUH subsequent development of the strengths identified. LANOISSEFORP Working with the coachee on how to titrate )PRHCtheir ( NOITgoals ANGISand ED strengths, align them with organizational pair them with complementary strengths in themselves or others is likely to lead to a much more balanced, nuanced and productive process that builds positive leadership capability in the leader and his or her organization.
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STRENGTH-BASED COACHING
1. Leadership coaching works. Leaders showed a highly significant increase in transformational leadership behaviours following the coaching intervention when compared to the control group. Their peers, direct reports .TSG + all05saw 2,4a $significant and, in particular, their line managers .slaem tsom dna ,slairimprovement etam margoinrptheir lla ,n oitcurtsni seduleadership lcni sihT transformational & noinU gnillorne no nbehaviours oitamroand fnileadership erom routcomes of su tc(effectiveness, atnoC satisfaction and extra effort).
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Dr Doug MacKie is an organizational psychologist and executive coach who runs a successful business psychology practice, CSA Consulting, specializing in the development of senior leaders, teams and organizations.
protocol was significantly correlated with increases in transformational leadership behaviour, suggesting the protocol was a significant factor in their improvement.
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methodology. This is an exciting finding, indicating that six sessions of strength-based coaching over a relatively short period of time, in what was already a high-performing cohort, significantly increased transformational leadership behaviour even in a snoitaleand R highly ruobcomplex aL fo environment. slatnemadnuF challenging
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5. The organizations’s ROI was significant, at 825%, and this is likely to be an underestimate, as it did not include the subsequent impact on peers and other team members.
decexe/ac.ksasu.sdrawdecoachee. .wwwThis | aisc.oneksofastheu.first sdstudies rawdtoeshow @decexe | 6868.669.603 convincing evidence of significant changes in leadership 12
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HRD_
Saskatoon
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The
Labour-Management
Relations Certificate
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Program
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EDUCATION GUIDE
PROFILE
AMWAY’S ‘READY ENOUGH’ APPROACH TO L&D With more than 21,000 workers and 92% of business conducted internationally, managing Amway’s employee base is daunting. Kee Meng Yeo explains to Jill Gregorie how he’s navigated these global challenges and helped launch one of corporate America’s greatest L&D success stories 14
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“When a vacancy opens, we look for candidates who are ‘ready enough.’ We know they’re not perfect and may have things that need development, but they are ready enough” Kee Meng Yeo BACK IN 1994, Kee Meng Yeo traded the bustling streets of Singapore, a city with more than three million residents, for a town whose landmarks include covered bridges, streams and meadows. He initially arrived in St. Louis, Mo., expecting to only reside there for a sixmonth assignment with Monsanto, a sustainable agriculture company. That six-month rotation turned into a two-year assignment, and now, more than a decade later, Yeo serves as global head of talent management with direct selling firm Amway. This is no easy role, as the position requires him to oversee the development of about 21,000 international employees – a significantly larger number than the population of the company’s hometown, Ada, whihc reported a mere 18,701 residents in the last census. This challenge has only propelled Yeo forward. His international background allows him to understand the complexities of global human capital and developing talent across geographic and cultural boundaries. As a result, he has implemented a number of initiatives that allow for employee growth at each level of the organization, as well as in every location – from Kuala Lumpur to Moscow, and Guangzhou to Mexico City. These efforts have transformed workers into leaders; they form the backbone of Amway’s success. LeAPing ahead One of Yeo’s greatest triumphs is the executive development initiative known as LeAP, or Leadership Acceleration Pro gram. Conducted every other year, it’s been recognized by Bersin by Deloitte as one of the foremost platforms in experiential learning.
The endeavour begins with a ‘mini MBA,’ whereby 15 to 21 executives, nominated by senior leadership, take part in academic training at the Thunderbird School of Global Management, now part of Arizona State University. “It’s a program that doesn’t have a lot of soft leadership lessons, or things like leadership derailers, but the focus of the content is on global strategy, both in creation and implementation,” Yeo says. Participants are divided into three groups and assigned a business challenge that parallels an obstacle Amway faces in the marketplace. One recent example is, ‘How do you accelerate and sustain business in Brazil?’ The students are then instructed to produce “practical, implementable” solutions that are concrete enough to be executed in the near to intermediate term. After class ends, attendees have four months to continue work on the project virtually. In order to simulate the global nature of most business enterprises, they are not allowed to meet in person. In addition, the academic director checks in every month or so to ensure that they are progressing on the challenge and not procrastinating until two weeks before deadline, only to “Google a few things and
put it together in a bland PowerPoint presentation.” Finally, they present their findings to Amway’s executive staff, consisting of the top 12 executives in the company. Since it is “first and foremost, a learning experience,” the LeAP participants’ findings typically aren’t implemented wholesale in Amway’s business directives. Still, strategic leaders outside of the executive staff do watch recordings of the presentations and often poach students’ ideas. “We’ve had great feedback,” says Yeo. “In fact, we just named a new chief marketing officer because the previous one became regional president for the Americas region, and the new CMO is an alumna of the program.” Looking beyond the horizon While LeAP has been an asset for the organization, it is only enjoyed by a very elite group of Amway employees. As a result, Yeo has other programs in place for the bulk of employees who are not among these top-ranked performers. To earn the designation of ‘high potential,’ Amway’s high-performing employees are assessed against the benchmark of whether they will be ready for a more
SNAPSHOT: L&D AT AMWAY • LeAP executive development – mini-MBA training followed by a four-month business challenge • Enterprise corporate university – job training from experts, employee-led classes and career mapping • Evaluation and constant improvement of L&D through the five pillars model • Investment in imperfect but high-potential employees • Commitment to workers, despite government obstruction • Promotion from within
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EDUCATION GUIDE
PROFILE
BENEFITS OF L&D • 76% of employees are motivated by growth and development opportunities • 25% of employees believe that they would be more satisfied at work if they could focus on areas where they demonstrate potential • US companies increased spending on training & development programs by 15% in 2013, representing the largest growth rate in corporate learning in seven years • Lack of opportunities in L&D is one of the most frequently cited reasons for employees leaving their jobs. In fact, 40% of workers who receive inadequate training depart from their organizations within one year
Source: ClearCompany
senior position in the next two to three years. The majority of employees do not earn this status, and Yeo works to ensure that they are not neglected. “If people are three to five years out, we still pay attention to them, but we call them ‘horizon candidates’ and keep an eye on them,” he explains. Horizon candidates are
offered development opportunities through the Corporate University, which was designed to take formal learning programs one step further “to enable day-to-day learning as you are doing your job.” “It’s trying to break the notion that learning and work are mutually exclusive,” Yeo says. Implemented in August 2014, the
Corporate University consists of an online marketplace where employees can connect with specialists, selected either by leadership or deemed experts by fellow workers. While Yeo initially received resistance on the latter, he found that as long as employees are learning, the ‘expert’ label is fine. “Initially I got pushback, and I was asked, ‘What if people are linking with the wrong experts or learning the wrong things? They might not be effective on the job or stop going to the so-called expert,’” says Yeo. “I said, if it’s helping them to be more productive and it’s aiding the company, what do we care if it’s a supposed ‘wrong’ expert?” Yeo is hesitant to label this initiative ‘social learning,’ as there are structured elements to it, including the LeAP program and functional schools that outline the competencies needed to become eligible for promotion or transfer. Still, the social aspect is undeniable. One of the program’s greatest successes is the language tutorial developed by an employee who felt passionate about Spanish and wanted to teach others. Her sessions are now attended by staff as far away as China. “We’ve started formal language classes, and they go fine for a few weeks, but by the third month, there’s only two people in the class,” says Yeo. “Instead, this tutorial is a great example of learning taking place on its own.” Pillars of learning In order to determine whether these educational endeavours are worthwhile, Yeo prefers to evaluate them with the five pillars of organizational learning model, developed initially by the Sloan Consort ium. The five pillars are: • Is learning effective, and do employees
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Planning ahead Of course, no development story is complete without the succession planning part of the puzzle. Part of building leaders, in Yeo’s opinion, is making sure they’re ready to move into executive positions when required. But ‘ready’ is a relative term. “Part of the reason we’re successful is we don’t use terms like ‘ready now,’” Yeo says. “We don’t use those words because if you say somebody is ready now, you’re likely just trying to duplicate the incumbent, who typically has [had] years to grow into who they are today.” Instead, Amway uses ‘ready enough.’ A
“If it’s helping them learn to be more productive and help the company, what do we care if it’s a supposed ‘wrong’ expert?” Kee Meng Yeo
Tale from the East Another advantage of these initiatives is that they are nimble. This came in handy when Amway faced one of the biggest obstacles of its existence: establishing a presence in China. When Amway entered the Chinese market, bad marketplace practices by some questionable companies led to the government putting in place laws that prohibited direct selling – the basis of Amway’s operations. Without being able to generate sales, the company didn’t just leave the market. Instead it spent time and resources working with the Chinese regulators to ensure that legitimate direct selling companies can earn the right to operate within the Chinese market. Similarly, on the HR front, the company needed to make adjustments to its prac-
Student satisfaction
Faculty satisfaction
Cost effectiveness
AMWAY’S FIVE PILLARS OF ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING
Learning effectiveness
major pitfall in talent management is not taking chances on employees with potential, but the company overcomes this by empowering employees to reach outside their comfort zone. “When a vacancy opens, we look for candidates who are ‘ready enough.’ We know they’re not perfect and may have things that need development, but they are ready enough,” says Yeo. This process has been so finely tuned that when Amway’s CMO transitioned to regional president, her successor was appointed and fully onboarded in a mere two weeks.
Access
acquire what they set out to learn? • Is it cost-effective; do programs operate within the company’s budget? • Is it accessible to employees throughout the organization? “This is the piece that Amway University hasn’t totally solved. There’s a large group of hourly employees in manufacturing and warehouse operations who don’t always have access to their own PCs. We try to provide access through terminals, but that’s not an ideal solution.” • Are employees satisfied with growth and development opportunities? • Is management satisfied with the financial investment? “I look at this from the standpoint of the budget. If management continues to give me money, I assume they’re satisfied.” It’s worthwhile to note that this model can be applied both to individual programs and organization-wide L&D processes. “This model allows you to look at learning as collective across the enterprise or to separately measure programs and individual initiatives. We do both,” says Yeo.
Source: Kee Meng Yeo, The Sloan Consortium
tices to suit the local management and leadership culture. One way it did this was by transforming performance reviews from individual assessments to a more collective and team-oriented process. But the biggest accomplishment was that Amway’s HR team didn’t allow the setback to affect its positive culture, even after enduring two years without a single sale. “There were employees there who looked to us for their livelihood,” Yeo says. “Our company’s vision is to help people live better lives, and simply walking out of a country doesn’t embody that vision.”
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EDUCATION GUIDE
MBAs
TRINITY WESTERN: THE BETTER WAY TO MBA British Columbia-based Trinity Western University offers MBA students the rare chance to combine flexible course offerings, hands-on training, and unique specializations THE MBA PROGRAM at Trinity Western University in Langley, BC, offers more than just a business degree. Established in 2007, the MBA allows students to choose between three distinct
specializations: entrepreneurship/intra preneurship, non-profit management and international business. Each focus is designed to produce graduates who are uniquely qualified for public or private
sector leadership, based on the track of their choosing. In addition, the courses of study are flexible and can be tailored to meet the demands of students’ personal and profes sional lives. Whereas the international business specialization is full-time and entirely on campus, the others are mixed modal, combining in-classroom study with online coursework. Trinity Western’s emphasis on access and flexibility ensures that even busy, mid-career
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TRINITY WESTERN MBA’S UNIQUE OFFERINGS • One of two universities offering a nonprofit MBA in Canada • Customized study plans incorporating online and on-campus coursework • International travel course that allows students to travel to Western Europe to meet with executives and explore local culture • Opportunities to work with faculty on research and in the marketplace • Social responsibility and a values-based education that celebrates diversity
professionals can obtain an MBA. “The original model is a 22-month program, but as with all our programs, we create customized study plans of different lengths for each student based on a personal interview and discussion with the director to help fit the program into their lives and professional commitments,” says Murray MacTavish, director of the MBA program. The application process itself is even set up to be convenient and user-friendly, allowing prospective students to file their materials easily and enter the program without hassle or delay. The personal touch Although Trinity Western provides a worldclass education with far-reaching prestige and name recognition, one of the key factors setting its MBA program apart is the personal touch that students enjoy from faculty and administrators. “Because we’re small, students interact with faculty in a much more personal way, such as getting to know them on a first-
name basis,” MacTavish says. “Some students have joined faculty in consulting projects, while others have co-authored articles with faculty. One professor even joined the board of directors for a student’s startup company.” These extensive interactions with professors, most of whom are scholar practitioners still active in the business community, is essential for gaining firsthand knowledge of how the industry operates in practice, as opposed to how it is portrayed in textbooks. “We want students to apply the projects in class to a real company, if at all possible,” MacTavish says. “If you’re creating a marketing plan or a strategic plan for class, we encourage you to work with a real company in the marketplace rather than a fictitious or artificial company. That way you end up with a real project for a real company.”
Trinity Western recognizes that social responsibility is a priority for most business practitioners in the post-recession era, and the MBA program’s emphasis on values provides an education that allows graduates to lead with purpose. “We’re teaching all the key theories and concepts you get in any MBA program, but we allow the classroom conversations to include personal values commitments that influence business decisions,” MacTavish says. “Some universities have recently added an ethics component to their MBA, but it’s often an add-on rather than foundational. We’ve been engaged in values-based business since the beginning.” Standing out As businesses continue to globalize and expand into new markets, the competition
“Students interact with faculty in a much more personal way, such as getting to know them on a first-name basis” Murray MacTavish
Values-driven business Another prominent advantage of the MBA program at Trinity Western lies in its faithbased traditions. The liberal arts university was founded on Christian ideals, but warmly welcomes students of every religion. In fact, professors encourage open discussion of diverse religious thought in order to explore how each student’s background guides his or her business decisions. “All leadership decisions are valuesdriven, especially financial decisions,” MacTavish says. “So it’s critically important that students identify and understand their values and their value framework – not mine, but theirs.”
for leadership and senior management becomes ever more pronounced. Graduates of the MBA program at Trinity Western University, however, leave the school equipped with a comprehensive, values-based education that incorporates cutting-edge research with empirical work in the field. In fact, MacTavish feels confident that MBA students can overcome challenges and champion new business practices as they continually progress in their academic training. “We strive to have relevant coursework that you can apply the very next day,” he says.
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EDUCATION GUIDE
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Managing your talent
– investing in you
Peter Szilagyi scans the horizon to highlight not just where HR needs to sharpen its skills, but how this can be done
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WHEN TALKING about the past, how often have you heard the phrase “I can’t believe how quickly the time has flown?” Alternatively, when talking about the future, how often have you heard someone say, “Next year is a long time away. I can barely plan this month, let alone next year?” When put together, these statements don’t seem to add up. Is it possible for time to move so quickly in hindsight but so slowly in foresight? Ten years ago the workforce and the HR department were very different from what they are today: the cloud was a weather pattern, Facebook was a university project, and tablets were strictly for medicinal purposes. The next 10 years promise to bring even larger and more disruptive change. While there is no crystal ball, there is fortunately
much research about the future of HR – and there’s no doubt this is important for our discipline. However, what do these insights practically mean for us today? Major trends and the ‘five hats’ There are many diverse opinions on the world of work and the future of HR. Dave Ulrich and John Boudreau have been thought leaders in this space for years. Institutions like the Harvard Business School and Cornell University, and professional groups such as the Society for Human Resources Management, have all conducted extensive research in this area. Additionally, in the consulting space, McKinsey, Korn Ferry and Deloitte are among the many firms that have consistently contributed to the debate about the future of HR.
TRENDS AND PATTERNS
This information is fascinating, but collectively, it can be overwhelming. If you read between the lines, however, there are some patterns that give direction to the actions we need to take today to prepare for tomorrow. The table below shows these patterns and the ‘five hats’ HR professionals will need to wear in the future. HR as strategist Strategy is fundamentally about how best to use scarce resources to achieve set objectives. At its core, strategy is about creatively generating alternatives and rigorously applying decision-making to define the best possible course of action. How do we practically build a strategic mindset? First, learn to be more creative. Creativity can be learned, but surprisingly
DIFFERENT HATS FOR FUTURE SUCCESS
yy Globalized: Competition for customers, suppliers and resources yy Volatile: Greater market swings and ‘environmental’ changes Business will be more...
yy Competitive: Greater pressure from the market for profitability and increased competition from acquisitions or new entrants yy Dynamic: Faster innovation and product cycles; instantaneous scrutiny from the media, regulators and markets yy Globalized: Global and virtual teams, centralised delivery centres, production hopping to lower-cost locations
Workforce will be more...
yy Flexible: Outsourced/insourced, offshored/near shored, freelanced, crowdsourced yy Diverse: Multigenerational and culturally diverse leadership and operational teams yy Talent scarce: Talent will always be ‘high in demand’ but ‘short in supply’ yy In the cloud: Delivered outside the company network
Strategist hat: HR will increasingly inform business decisions on the growth of the company and the resources required Integrator hat: HR will increasingly be a focal point in integration of new acquisitions, technologies, third-party suppliers and managing restructures Influencer hat: HR will increasingly need to influence, motivate and meld geographically, culturally and operationally diverse workforces Analyst hat: HR will increasingly use data and analytical capabilities to develop new insights into talent and performance Risk manager hat: HR will increasingly need to advise the business on complex ethical and legal challenges
yy Mobile: Delivered through multiple devices Technology will be more...
yy Social: Collaboration and idea generation through social media yy Insightful: Through the use of big data and analytical tools
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EDUCATION GUIDE
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT Strategy is fundamentally about how best to use scarce resources to achieve set objectives
it takes some discipline. There are many resources available on creativity, and one of the central figures, Edward De Bono, has numerous books on this topic (he coined the term ‘lateral thinking’). Creativity also requires breadth, and in the business world, that means knowledge of markets, industries and organizations. You can build this knowledge by regularly reading business journals and by building your network within and outside your industry. Second, develop a sound working knowledge of decision-making processes and tools. Learn about conceptual models (ie, SWOT), business plans, and selection or evaluation tools (ie, NPV). At a minimum, you should understand how to contribute to inputs and interpret outputs. Try to practically utilize these tools by supporting business planning initiatives or building business cases. HR as integrator Integration is about the successful introduction of business change into an organization. This, for example, could result from acquisition of a new business, implementation of new technologies or the introduction of an outsourcing arrangement. How do we practically build an inte-
gration mindset? Formal training in project management is important, as is finding mentors with experience in this area. Develop a strong and practical understanding of core project deliverables, such as work plans, training and test plans, communications plans, stakeholder maps, and impact assessments. One way to do this is to ask project management specialists in your organization for a demonstration of these tools, or for them to regularly review the progress of your work. Proactively look for project roles to build your experience. HR as influencer Workforces of the future will be a melting pot of diverse geographical, cultural, generational and cross-functional teams. Successful HR practitioners will be strong influencers and negotiators at the individual, team and company level. How do we practically build an influencer mindset? Ultimately, the best way to influence is to have broad and deep relationships. You can build breadth through active networking and depth through regular contact. Don’t just reach out to people when you have a requirement or need; get to know your colleagues and what matters to them most (eg, knowing the names of their children or their favourite sporting team). There are numerous tools available to assist your individual influencing style; DISC is one such framework, and there are many others. Influencing across a larger scale, such as teams or business units, is more challenging and ultimately requires good planning and a multitiered approach. The baseline for good communication is a plan that recognizes the different needs of your
stakeholder groups and provides for regular communication through multiple channels. Social media, mobile platforms and video streaming, among many technologies, have revolutionized the way communication is delivered. It is important to stay ahead of these trends to best leverage them as they continue to unfold. HR as analyst It is estimated that the world’s information is roughly doubling every two years. In many HR departments, organizational and employee data is often stored across multiple systems and geographies. In the future, this data will be integrated and will actively talk to itself. How do we practically build an analytical mindset? One of the most useful skills you (or your team) can learn is data analysis. Sharpening skills with spreadsheets (namely Microsoft Excel or Google Docs) and various functions like vlookups, pivot tables and charts is foundational. The best way to learn these skills is through ongoing and practical application. The challenge for the future will be interpreting data for insight. While data modelling and statistical concepts are more advanced subjects now, tjeu will become areas to be familiar with in order to generate insight and support ‘telling the story.’ HR as analyst With financial and consumer markets, supply chains and technology platforms becoming ever more intertwined, the nature of business risk is rapidly changing. From a workforce perspective, as businesses accelerate to outsourcing and off-
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EDUCATION GUIDE
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
shoring, externalizing employee platforms, and encouraging social media, the challenges for HR professionals are becoming increasingly complex. How do we practically build a risk management mindset? Managing risk comes down to some fundamental principles about policy, process, procedures and reporting controls. You can build strength in policy by staying on top of regulatory changes and their practical implications by broadening your business reading and networks. Look to build skills in process mapping and understand how this translates to strong business system requirements. Finally, mastering skills in reporting and data analysis, as mentioned above, also will be important for managing risk. Applying the framework Building your capability across the five hats requires time, energy and commitment. It is important to define your objectives and create a learning plan that incorporates regular weekly and monthly activities that are reflected in your calendar. Dedicate 10% of your effort to courses and reading There are literally thousands of great resources out there, from books to blogs, videos, and podcasts. One of the great challenges now and more so in the future is handling information overload. Take time to organize your information and learn to use search tools effectively to sift through information. (For example, did you know that Google has an advanced search function?). Ask mentors and experts about the websites they find useful. Stay on top of industry trends by aggregating news and information via RSS readers and creating feeds in Twitter, YouTube or LinkedIn to channel the information you receive. Many universities now offer free courses, and YouTube has thousands of
clips on the topics outlined above (particularly tips for using Excel and overviews of new technologies). You could consider enrolling in an MBA or specialist master’s program (eg, master of project management). An MBA covers all the topics outlined above in depth, and focuses on strategic and financial acumen. Dedicate 20% of your effort to mentoring and relationships There can be little substitute for advice from an experienced colleague who has ‘done it before.’ Building your network can be daunting at first, but it doesn’t need to be. Start with the colleagues you already know – reach out to them and get back in touch. Aim to make the most of opportunities like company or industry forums and events organized by professional bodies. There are some basic rules to consider when networking. First, relationships involve both give and take. Offer to help more than you receive, and don’t only reach out because you need support. Second, look to stay in touch, even if it is a simple email to say hello. As your network grows, this will take discipline, but it is an important part of career development. Dedicate 70% of effort to on-the-job learning It is through on-the-job experience that most learning is embedded. There are always many opportunities to proactively develop skills across the five hats. A starting point might be to look at the five hats and understand how they apply to your current role. Shaping an opportunity to build skills in certain hats is another consideration. For example, building experience in Asia provides important cultural exposure for Canadian managers of the future. This does not necessarily mean living in Asia, but it could mean creating opportunities to work in virtual teams or projects focused on Asia. Opportunities such as second-
ments, temporary transfers or stretch assignments are all good short-term options to target a few hats, like influencing or integration. In today’s business world, the average time in a role is arguably about two years, and that time will compress in the future. In 10 years, that could mean five or more roles. What are the next few roles that will be important to you, and what networks are in place to position you toward those roles? Prepare now Over the course of the next 10 years, business change will happen in ever-faster cycles. This will create pressure, as will the need to deliver more with less. These are exciting times, and in this fast-paced environment, it is important to take a step back and think about career development in the context of where HR will be in the future. Preparing now – and, as Stephen Covey would say, ‘sharpening the saw’ – will help you become more efficient and effective in the years to come. Peter Szilagyi, CAHRI, GPHR, HRMP, is an experienced HR leader in talent management, transformation and change management.
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Find Your PeopleAdmin The Right-Sized Talent Management Solution With an Unparalleled Return SelectSuite® Advantage
Modernize the HR department, Reduce Administrative Burden, and Increase Effectiveness
SelectSuite® Advantage+
Provides faculty the tools that support the sophisticated academic process while ensuring HR retains oversight and control.
SelectSuite® Premier
Streamlines the compliance-driven HR organization, increases oversight, while reducing burden for complex academic environments.
“I am glad to see that more Institutions in Canada will now have access to PeopleAdmin as they understand our needs, provide outstanding customer services and as a result we have a tool which is fast, transparent and that our institution trust.” Amanda Leite Human Resources Analyst, Strategy Development Saskatchewan Polytechnic
Unparalleled Return on Investment With our unique capabilities, PeopleAdmin customers quantify their return on their investment with results not seen by any other vendor. Often times, returns are between 450% and 1250%, and are paid off within the first three months.
Visit us at peopleadmin.com/solutions to find the right-sized solution for your hiring processes.
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