Aligning Skill Development With Business Goals Crucial For Success

How can HR professionals identify the skill gaps in areas for improvement within the existing workforce? 

Things are changing very fast. So with all these changes happening all around us, especially after COVID, there is a huge amount of transformational change all around, whether it is an external business environment or internal,  So what necessitates now more than anything else, has become a necessity for any organization to always look at internal talent pool first before looking outside.

So, this means you have to keep your talent ready for internal growth opportunities in a well-planned manner rather than in a knee-jerk reaction, which usually used to happen in many companies earlier. You should have X percentage of talent ready with you from an internal source, and the internal pool itself, rather than always having to look outside. So that's the background. Second. in our context, we have grown from almost three and a half times. If I have to, put a number across both on the top line as well as in terms of headcount, we have grown more than three times in the last three years time. And we continue to grow at a rapid pace in for next three to five years. And the same is the case with the industry, in which we operate, which means we will continue to have more such positions to be fulfilled Whether they are now any as any organization progresses, you have to segregate those.

Future requirements are in two parts. One is that, organically, we will get some roles that are easy to build internally, meaning that I have X number of frontline managers roles today. So if this X number is going to be X plus Y in future and I'm able to plan and move ahead in that direction.

How do I build internally? What kind of assessment centres, and what kind of development programs do I run? I keep the internal talent pool ready for at least 40 to 50% of those requirements. The next set of rules are more niche and they're like, something new which has come up or which might come up over a period of time.

But once you identify those opportunities, once you identify those gaps which normally you do as part of your business planning, as part of your annual strategy or as part of your three to five years business plan, which you. Try and visualize for your organization that, okay, in future, what different I will need in terms of my capabilities to fulfil what I'm trying to do as part of my business.

So now those roles are difficult. to fulfil, sometimes even externally. So how do you prepare your people to at least gear up to take up those responsibilities if not for an entire new set of capabilities, but at least for some of them? You have those backups created. So how now after this context now how how it should be done?

There are various methodologies. So one is, of course throughout the year, you keep on refreshing your talent pool, quarter on quarter or at least. Once in six months you earmark and identify your internal talent pipeline at various levels basis your requirements. And then once you have identified those employees as part of the pipeline then you decide as an organization how and what you want to build them on for the future.

So those capabilities are derived in two parts. One is your functional capabilities, and the second is your competence in leadership to handle higher roles. So once you identify those people, then you build a plan. Now those plans can be in the form of individual development plans or those plans can be part of job responsibilities projects or new especially your enterprise-level projects where you give them exposure either on cross cross-functional level or on new areas of expertise.

Learn and prepare for higher responsibilities and as and when you have such roles available,  there is a pool sitting internally, which you can bank on as and when you get to those roles and responsibilities available to you and doing 360-degree feedback which we carry out for a select set of people over a period of time to find out if there are any, improvement areas to be built up now those 360-degree feedback surveys interesting point is there is that how do you customize those surveys to cater to? The kind of development needs that you are trying to build over a period of time.

So those could be your set of competencies. Those could be your set of leadership behaviours, which you want to develop your people on, etc, etc. So once you gather feedback from all the respective stakeholders, then you build a plan for how to develop these people. Then, of course, you have employee surveys. You also have performance appraisals. You have ongoing enterprise-level projects. where you involve and build this talent. So you also have ongoing running programs like, we have one such program which we called as Club Ignite, which helps people at a certain level too, participate in the ongoing mentorship program. Now that program allows you to participate cross functionally. So it is not with your own functional head. It is like with an opportunity to interact with at least three to four different functions over a period of one year these from those particular functions which will be eventually helpful to you to develop yourself into new roles involving more complexity. So these are some techniques which eventually help organizations to build a pool internally.

Now, another interesting aspect here is that there is a set of the talent pool, which constantly requires upgradation because other than organic or even niche capabilities, there is another part which is changing very fast which is like your technical skills, right?

People working on technical jobs, irrespective of whatever level bands they are working in, require a different approach for them to upskill themselves on a regular basis. And those kinds of programs are normally more effective if you have flexibility in terms of people being able to choose those programs and, you know, go through those development programs at their own ease, which means there is flexibility to opt for those programs individually and then completed over a period of time with flexibility rather than going and doing it in groups or groups.

So we have a similar set, which, we call a learning gym. So where, people can opt for such upgradations from time to time as per their flexibility, and availability, These upgrades keep on happening in their functional areas, which is mutually beneficial both for the talent as well as for the organization, right?

What are some of the technical skills or just the skill requirement that has changed over time that you're looking at from the perspective of a CHRO from the candidates that are trying to join in?

So one is that for any role in any organization, especially with a company like us, which is directly serving customers. So we are largely a retail-focused organization, that connects with customers directly. So one of two aspects is very key here. One is a sense of customer obsession.

So how do you build that? 

And the second is that. irrespective of whatever function you are joining in. So, do you have a mindset that you need to be digitally savvy?  And normally, there is a feeling, which used to be there earlier, that, okay, if it is digital, it has something to do with IT. Or if it is digital, it is something for the engineering people, but now everyone in the company has to have that ability to think and apply digital or at least use digital applications, which are there in today's data-based mindset.

The third, which we inculcate after the person comes on board is that we index heavily on skill on execution. Because as we grow fast, obviously, we require our people to be very, very adept at execution skills. And that is required at all levels.

So those are skills that are earmarked and put in place as part of what we call it an online learning briefcase. So that briefcase will have all the skills available to you at any point of time in our LMS, where people can go and upgrade themselves. 

We often see that at organizations, employees have been comfortable in this space and comfortable with the traditional practices that they've been following for years. They are a little resistant to change when we talk about upskilling, right? They're very comfortable with the existing skill set that they have. So how can leaders address this challenge and motivate? 

Employees need to embrace the new opportunities that are coming up. Yes. So there are two parts to it. One, as an organization, how you're as an organization, your culture and ecosystem, how does it show, if somebody asked me that you upscale yourself? So then the normal question as an employee, I think that if I upskill myself, then what will happen? So those answers have to be clarified in everybody's mind. Number one. So for example, in our case, we say that, okay, anybody who has worked for a particular period of time doing the same role will have an opportunity to get into a new role.

Okay. Now, once you define these, once you define these you know the processes as part of your culture, then everybody looks forward to that. If I'm doing the same role, is it adding to my experience beyond three years, four years, or five years? And how do I get, if I have to get into a new role, then obviously I have to upscale myself?

So once structurally, as I said, structurally, you have to solve for that. If I do this, then what? Right. Second is as a leader, if you know, if I'm cognizant of the fact that there is an internal talent pipeline, which as you know, whatever function I may represent, but overall I'm part of the leadership team for the company, right?

So I'm also responsible for upgrading my talent. So this means that if I have to build an internal talent pipeline,  it is my joint responsibility to make sure that my team members upgrade themselves because unless and until they upgrade they will not be able to either take higher responsibility or will not be able to transition into different roles and internal jobs, which get posted from time to time.

Most of our viewers are HR professionals, employers, and employees, any last piece of advice from your side?

People might have hundreds of skills when it comes to new age, skills to possess, but what is key to you as an organization to succeed? So try and build,  HR strategy in a way that it becomes part of business actually.

So once it is part of our business strategy, once it is part of our business strategy, everybody looks at it in a uniform way rather than looking at it differently. The subject of development, the subject of building skills, and enhancing skills have to be taken as enterprise priorities to succeed.

Note: The automatic transcription has been lightly edited for a better reading experience. Some names and parts of the transcription may carry inadvertent errors that we are in the process of editing. Thank you for your understanding.