The top trend in the Deloitte Human Capital Trends Report for 2019 was the need for organisations to change the way people learn. The report highlighted three broad trends in how learning is evolving; it is becoming more integrated with work, it is becoming more personal, and it is shifting slowly towards lifelong models. Our very own Ian Bailie, Managing Director of myHRfuture recently spoke to John Sumser at the HRExaminer about the changing nature of learning and the role that myHRfuture as a learning experience platform, is playing in the continuous learning space.

In this blog we’ve summarised some of the key themes present in this discussion, and you can listen to the full interview below.

What is the challenge facing HR?

The Human Resources profession needs to change. It must become more digital and analytical to deliver greater business value. The digital age has brought with it sweeping changes to the way that employees and workers interact with each other, the way that work itself gets done and the amount of workplace data that when analysed properly can create tremendous amounts of value for organisations.

As a consequence, there is an increasing need for HR professionals to become digitally and numerically literate – to acquire the skills necessary to process, produce and leverage digital information. When HR professionals, as core Business Partners, are analytically and digitally more literate, they will possess skills that will put their organisation in the best possible position to deliver greater value to all stakeholders.

While the need to create a learning culture is important within most organisations, recent research found that only 10% of organisations have actually managed to create them, with just 20% of employees demonstrating effective learning behaviours at work. It is becoming quite clear that there is a much bigger challenge that many HR functions are attempting to conquer right now, and that is prevalent in the research and work carried out by Insight222. Ian explains: 

“That during conversations with (people analytics) clients it became quite clear that one of the biggest challenges they were facing was around the topic of HR enablement and the broader HR population”

Before being able to effectively create a learning culture they first needed to understand as a whole “how do we help HR really upskill, particularly around skills like people analytics and becoming more data-driven and digital”. 

So, now we understand the challenge that many organisations are facing, and this is creating an analytical and data-driven HR function – the question arises as to what are the skills that HR professionals need to build to help them become more analytical and data-driven? 

What are the HR skills of the future?

Research carried out by Insight222 in early 2019 identified six key skills that HR professionals felt they needed to build in order to be able to effectively support their organisations through this period of transformation. Ian explains what these six skills are. 

“With this research we found that there were six areas that HR professionals most wanted to grow their skills in, first and second were people analytics and workforce planning. The third is digital HR and HR technology, fourth is design thinking and then the fifth and sixth are consulting and influencing, and stakeholder management as well.”

Ian explains that off of the back of this research and understanding of what the core skills required to enable HR are, he was able to build the myHRfuture academy, using these skills as the key focus for the platform.. However, he is quick to note that enablement is more than just training, it is about meeting the learner where they are, it is about creating a learning experience that is personalised to each individual and allows them to learn in a way that suits them.

While every HR professional does not need to be data scientist, there is a level of knowledge around data, statistics and being able to really interpret data, translate it into insights and have a data driven conversation with a leader, that is absolutely critical for the future of HR. As a function, HR must become more evidence based and in order to do that, the HR professionals that make up that function must be capable of having such conversations with the business and leaders, thus there is a need to build this digital savviness that has not always been required of HR professionals in the past.

“HR also needs to understand the digital impact to the business. The impact that we're seeing from a future of work perspective, from the way that every business is needing to adapt and evolve so much more quickly than they used to as well, and how HR can support with that. And I think the more HR can get in front of it and HR professionals can build their knowledge in some of these areas. The more impactful we can be as a function” 

Ultimately the role of HR is to help the organisation win in the marketplace, if we can as Ian suggests get ahead and build our knowledge in some of these areas, we can be more impactful as a function, allowing us to be more impactful in helping the business be successful.

How are learning habits changing?

There has always been the need from employees for ongoing learning and development and organisations have always attempted to provide employees with both the necessary tools and skills required to be able to do their jobs effectively. In an environment of rapid change, increasing complexity, and growth in digital technology, the need for continuous learning and ongoing training has never been more important. However, in the research carried out on the HR skills of the future, 48% of respondents stated that they spent no time at all using formal online training provided by their organisation. This is thought to largely be due to the archaic and outdated learning and development opportunities put forward by many organisations. In an article published by Forbes, research they carried out indicated that 47% of people feel dissatisfied by learning and development initiatives at their workplace. This has led individuals to move away from traditional methods of learning and look for alternatives that will help them not only build new skills but will enable them to embrace the concept of continuous employability. People are learning by watching YouTube videos, by listening to a podcast or by reading articles. There are now a plethora of ways to learn and technology is further aiding this learning revolution.

 Ian explains that one of the key things myHRfuture underpins is the mindset of continuous learning:

“What we've tried to do with the platform is to provide an environment where we're really facilitating that concept of continuous learning, where you can dip in every day and you'll find a new content getting added all the time. Or you could just come in a couple of times a month and spend a longer period of time in there. But by doing that, what we are also able to then see, as you said, across large organisations, some people might be spending a lot more time reading articles and listening to podcasts than they are actually taking training courses. Other people might just be devouring the training and working their way through that. It really depends on the individual. It depends on what you want to learn about. It depends on your skill level. And ultimately depends on what questions you're trying to answer.”

According to LinkedIn Learning “58% of employees prefer opportunities to learn at their own pace and 49% prefer to learn at the point of need.” In order to create a culture of continuous learning, and to really support HR’s transformation to become more digital and data-driven, organisations must supply their HR professionals with a new type of learning content, which can be offered in bite-sized and informal ways, in line with HR professionals’ needs to upskill in their own time and at the point of need.

Get certified in the HR Skills of the Future

The myHRfuture academy is a learning experience platform for HR professionals looking to invest in their careers. We have many online HR certifications that are designed for People Analytics professionals and HR Business Partners to help them build their knowledge and get a People Analytics certification or a certification in Digital HR and understand how to become more digital and data-driven. All of our online HR certifications reflect the core HR skills you need to develop for the future, giving you a professional edge while providing evidence of the skills you’ve mastered, helping you get ahead and press PLAY on your career