The Value of Talent was the name of my book on talent management published in 2010. The theme was that the demands of a changed world were driving the evolution of Talent Management.
In just ten years, those words ‘demands’ and ‘changed world’ have taken on completely new meanings. I don’t need to spell this out. However, the central notion of the book, that we must value all our people and support them to be continually learning and adapting is as true as ever.
When learning and development is well crafted and appropriately pitched, it brings people together, lifts their spirits, focuses on the positive, focuses on the future, makes the seemingly impossible possible, and most importantly helps people develop new skills and generate new ideas. All of these characteristics are sorely needed at this time.
Whilst it is hard to see further than tomorrow, there are some things we can predict and around which we can craft inspiring learning solutions:
- People focused leadership skills will be even more critical to keep people engaged, on track, and in good mental health
- People will need to keep adapting and this requires outstanding learning agility
- People will need to find new ways of solving old and new problems and this requires great teamwork
- People will need to stretch themselves further, taking on higher workloads and covering wider spans of responsibility to make up for absent colleagues, or shrinking headcount.
Word on the block is that learning and development has fallen off the list for most businesses. It’s just not happening. I can understand how that is. Budgetary constraints are the first deterrent. However, this is a false economy, as the cost of not training is worse than making time to achieve the benefits listed above.
Having the time and energy for training is another deterrent which again is a false one, as learning and development can help make people work smarter.
Please contact us to discuss how learning and development can help your organisation. We are happy to have an exploratory chat to help you identify needs.
©Janice Caplan 2020