Geschreven door Kars van Weeren | July 18, 2018
The careers of today are hard to compare to those of a generation before. In a previous blog about always-on learning we described how employees are expecting more and more from the possibilities of personal development in organizations. Besides that, there is more technology involved and employees change jobs more often. Because of this, careers are increasingly looking like a succession of learning experiences. Instead of the job itself, personal development now takes central stage. So, personal development is becoming more and more important for employees. As an organization, how do you distinguish yourself in this field?
Since organizations rely for a big part on their employees, it is important that there are possibilities for personal development within the organization. Custom training programs are a big part of this development. These training programs and other possibilities for personal development also contribute to the motivation of employees. Ultimately, there are many aspects to facilitating the career of the future. For a large part, the satisfaction of employees will be dependent on how organizations deal with this.
Skills in the future
Initially, it was expected that only technical skills would become more important, in practice however, this turned out not to be true. Besides technical skills, social and cognitive skills are also becoming increasingly important. These skills can’t be automated. At the same time these skills can be extremely useful in combination with the increase of technology in different industries. Research by Deloitte suggests that many organizations are aware of this as well. The research states that cognitive and social skills are seen by organizations as the most important skills of the future. In many jobs, the next few years will be important to find the right balance between technology and human skills. It should be taken into account that skills that might be relevant now, could be unnecessary in a few years.
Training programs in the future
The training programs in an organization should be customized for the required skills. However, it turns out that often this doesn’t happen: 54% of employees says that they are not provided with training programs that focus on the skills of the future. Besides that, it is essential that training programs are aligned with the career paths of the employees. In general, employees want broader training programs that might benefit their career possibilities. However, Deloitte’s research suggests that many training programs are focused on personal growth opportunities within the organization itself. While this might make sense from the perspective of the organization, it doesn’t make the employees any happier.
HR in the future
HR will be transforming in the future as well. Where administrative tasks will mostly be executed by automated systems, the focus on ‘the human in the organization’ will only grow. The well-being of employees in and outside the workplace is becoming more and more important. Moreover, in the future, HR seems to be transforming into the so called Human Being Management, which will be solely about the individuals within an organization. This form of management really fits with the described development in the report from Deloitte. With a focus on the human being, it is important that the communication skills of HR-staff are sufficient. Training programs can contribute to accomplishing this. In the ideal case a real learning culture emerges in the organization where employees are constantly learning and practicing new skills. Everything in order to operate as smoothly as possible in an ever-changing working environment.
Do you want to know more about training in the digital age? Read the blog and discover why, especially in this time, training is so important!