Eight in 10 HR professionals say their organization is not committing adequate resources to the professional development of their HR teams during a time of rapid technological and organizational change.
“How we train and learn matters,” said Amy Dufrane, Ph.D., CEO of HRCI. “Our ability to meet the future depends on it. Professional development is not just ‘nice to have.’ It is essential to manage a workforce that will look and behave very differently with each passing year.”
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HRCI recently examined how HR professionals approach learning and development; where they feel most and least prepared; and what organizations can do to build stronger, more future-ready teams. It found that 95% of HR professionals participated in professional development last year, and 98% expect to do so this year. Seven in 10 HR managers consider professional development important or critical to organizational success.
Many organizations, however, have not made technology training a top learning priority.
Although half of HR professionals say implementing new technologies is the area where they feel least prepared, fewer than one-third identify technology as a top professional development priority. This highlights a disconnect between the skills organizations need and where learning investments are being made.
The report suggests several practical ways to build a stronger professional development strategy.
- Identify needs, priorities and outcomes. Professional development will be far less productive if the HR team operates without a clear understanding of the purpose of their learning and—equally important—the needs most critical to the business.
- Create a menu of learning options. Curate options in a range of formats, price levels and time commitments, all centered on the organization’s priority needs and outcomes. Within that framework, offer employees choices, knowing all are aligned to team and organizational goals.
- Build individual learning plans. The most effective plans align learning with an employee’s long-term career goals, helping build the skills and experiences needed for future roles. Creating a development plan is a direct investment in both retention and engagement.
- Embed learning inside work. Build learning opportunities directly within the job rather than outside of it. The goal is relevant, real-world experiences, with no gap between training and daily practice.
- Increase feedback across channels. One way to augment learning is simply to increase feedback on a regular basis, both from managers and peers. Much can be learned by sharing ideas and perspectives.
“HR professionals love to learn, and organizations should capitalize on that,” Dufrane says. “This means more than just increasing spend or adding opportunities. It means aligning training and development with strategic needs in the organization so that we are acquiring the skills needed to adapt. Organizations that do this correctly will have a real edge moving forward.”
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