Exclusive interaction with Lars Hyland, Chief Learning Officer, Totara

 

In an exclusive interaction with HR.com, Lars talks about the importance of upskilling and reskilling employees, the causes that are driving this need and the factors to consider when upskilling and reskilling employees, among others.

Excerpts from the interview:

 

Lars: Organizations that don’t invest in the skills and development of their employees tend to perform less well than those who do. Some sidestep the issue by focusing on recruiting ready-made talent externally. However, this is less effective when talent with the right skills is in short supply. This is increasingly the case in the face of rapid change and digitization of most industry sectors.

The World Economic Forum's report of October 2020 predicts around one billion people will require reskilling and will have to switch to new career domains as the impact of technology is felt ever more deeply. New roles will emerge, but it is imperative for organizations to develop the right programs of development and support to help their people make the transition. Otherwise, there is a real existential threat for those who remain complacent or respond too slowly.

Lars: Covid-19 catalyzed and accelerated some longer term trends already affecting the workplace. The move to more flexible working patterns, the rise of gig economy and the impact of automation were already having a profound impact on the design and structure of organizations responding to new digitally transformed business models within their chosen sectors.

The pandemic has given everyone a sharp immediate experience of what working from a distance is like. Not all organizations managed this transition well due to poor investment in IT infrastructure, particularly learning and communications technology. Too many were too brittle in the face of needing to pivot to fully remote working – and, as a result, this caused drops in productivity and wellbeing.

Those organizations that were more flexible and had the right tools made the transition much more smoothly and even thrived.

Post Covid-19, it is now recognized that flexibility and adaptability are characteristics needed in individuals, teams and the organization as a whole. This also applies to the technology choices that support their people and wider stakeholders – including resellers, supply chain and even customers.

Structuring the HR function so that it can support learning, engagement and performance management in a much more coordinated manner, using more integrated technology platforms is a strategic step most organizations will need to take in the near term in order to be better prepared for any future disruptions – and these will come, believe me.

Lars: Employers should audit their approach to learning provision and design so that it is learner-centric. That means building an intentional learning culture that focuses on building capabilities at the time of need, not just in case (when it dates too quickly to be useful and relevant). By adopting an actionable learning model as the primary method of upskilling and reskilling, the organization will also facilitate better communication and collaboration across the organization, within teams and cross-functionally. Our platform encourages the organization to organize learning around real problem solving and accelerated innovation on challenges that genuinely matter to the business.

Lars: Aligning individual, team and company's goals is essential to ensure performance and motivation levels are optimized. A key part of the performance management process should be a continuous conversation about an individual’s desired development path and how that serves the company. Nurturing a culture that is built on psychological safety – to openly express ideas and challenge prevailing views and ways of working – will provide the conditions for success, for the individual and the organization.

Lars: Our platform helps us capture these goal statements in a transparent and accessible form that can ensure manager-team member conversations are consistent in aligning with employer goals. It requires a more continuous dialogue throughout the year, rather than the traditional annual review, which leaves too much time for drift and divergence to take hold. Regular check-ins and adoption of OKR (Objectives and Key Results) models can keep things focused on what has the biggest impact on the business.

Lars: Companies that do not invest in upskilling will quite simply become less competitive and ultimately will fail. There is plenty of research that points out that companies that invest in the employee experience – and skills and capability development is a critical part of that experience – make more profit per employee than those that don’t. Going forward, talent with the desired skills will be hard and expensive to recruit, so internal development is both cost-effective and, ultimately, powerful in pushing the organization forward towards greater competitiveness.

Lars: Developing people is not an easy process. It requires creativity, communication, collaboration and smart use of smart technology. It is important to have a technology infrastructure that is flexible and adaptable when business needs shift. Ensuring that learning management, engagement and performance management processes are well supported will help employees find the right learning opportunities at the right time, connect with the right people across the organization and give/receive feedback in a timely actionable manner.

Lars: We are all continuously learning whether we recognize it or not. The challenge is to orient that learning so that it collectively benefits the organization in the most impactful way. At Totara, we were well-positioned to pivot to a complete remote-working mode as we already had the infrastructure and technology in place. We subsequently have established an engagement platform, built on Totara Engage, to further encourage sharing and collaboration across our globally located team. We have also stepped up the training and collaboration opportunities we offer to our partners and customers around the world. We actively provide learning and peer support to help our customers use our products effectively.