Talent Development Beyond Traditional Training Programmes
Technology led innovation has disrupted every company and it has altered the market landscape. Responding to such practices can enable us to survive, albeit success depends on innovation itself since this innovation era will constantly reward those companies that continuously reinvent with agility, risk and experiment. In order to innovate and transform there have been three pillars- advanced technology, processes and talent pool, explained the panel of experts at BW People Nurturing Talent for Future Conclave 2023.
“Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) help us understand the skill and competence gap from the business perspective. Further, technology also enables hyper-personalisation of a learning intervention for people. Additionally, it gives insights about content consuming behaviour,” said Deepak Dobriyal, senior vice president, Talent Management and Corporate HR, Birlasoft.
Dobriyal further emphasised that skills are not only at the centre of HR, but it is also at the centre of the business, that is what enables the revenue. It is imperative for organisation to analyse the skills mix and career path, as each role has three dimensions- functional, behavioural and skill combination. Once you have this three-dimensional information, it helps to cascade it to each individual in the organisation.
Highlighting talent management beyond traditional training programmes, Agniwesh Thakur, Director, Deloitte said, “While deploying the talent to the projects, there have been a lot of ‘fit gaps’, leaving with the option of replacement or talent creator. Business demands multiple qualities in a person; however, the talent is not there. From writing accurate job descriptions to finding relevant talent, AI has enabled us to mitigate that dynamic challenge.”
Talent acquirers and HRs also need to leverage through learning new-age IT skills such as Java, AI, blockchain and companies should essentially invest in upskilling. Classroom learning along with the job is difficult, hence such technology-led learning creates an opportunity to upskill the in-house resources, added Thakur.
Rubi Khan, Head- OD, Talent and Diversity, HPCL Mittal Energy, emphasised on the importance and inculcation of the growth mindset in the organisation stating, “There are certain challenges such as supervisory hoarding, building talent amid competency gap and no sponsorships from business. As HR practitioners we need to have a huge tenacity to drive talent development within the organisation, we need participation from leaders and that has to be a part of their key responsibility areas (KRAs) and key performance areas (KPIs). Additionally, the culture should focus on creating fungible leaders, enabling talent mobility and considering talent resources.”
The session concluded with the final comments by Abhishek Kumar, Head of People, Ericsson Global Services. He shared, “Technology is our pulse and it is pivotal for us that continuous learning is there in our core system because we are experimenting with 6G, 7G, spigx connectivity and telecom connectivity. It is very imperative for us to have a very well-defined learning programme. We define our business strategy and then HR strategy inculcates the complete employee life-cycle management. Until it is entangled together, it is not going to work in spite of talent acquisition, talent management, and workforce planning strategy.”
Kumar further explained about his organisation's AI-enabled programme called ‘degree’, which empowers the job role dynamic and keeps in loop with changing job roles while defining the required job skills.
The session was chaired by Rashmi Mansharamani, chief human resources officer, Wave Group, Chairman CII (HR & IR) WUP
