A quick survey of the impact of technology in the global workplace over the last 25 years easily points to dramatic changes throughout global corporations. Many aspects of the specific impact on corporate people strategies are readily apparent. There is one impact, however, that has largely gone unnoticed and it is leading to repercussions up and down the corporate structure.
In a recent 20-minute webinar, Butler Newman and I shared insights on:
- Relevant technology trends impacting the HCM market
- A new approach for your human capital strategy
- What people value in a modern workplace
- How to leverage the Design Point
You can download the full session here. But if you’re looking for the abbreviated version, I wanted to offer a quick look at some of the key takeaways from the webinar:
- Context is still critical. Particularly, what specific role an individual is filling and what the organization’s definition of success in that role is.
- Top Performers balance both purposeful execution and skillful human interactions. Both are essential for success. Gone are the days when simply focusing on tasks was sufficient for success.
- It is not necessary to hire only the very best A players. With a deliberate process, good performers can produce great results. Focusing on outcomes, understanding the context and equipping people with both task and human interaction skills will produce the results businesses need.
During the session, a number of questions came up, and while we were able to address most of them, we weren’t able to get to all of them due to time. Below are those questions and our best answers. This is an ongoing conversation, so Butler and I encourage you to keep the questions coming in via the comments section at the bottom of this page.
Q: Do all jobs have human interaction skills, or are there some with just task completion?
A: Not 100%, but certainly all the critical ones in today’s complex work environment.
Q: How should learning organizations use this information? What actions do you recommend?
A: We recommend a 3 step approach:
- For any given role, assess the outcomes necessary to produce excellent results
- Analyze each outcome for both task execution and human interaction components
- Evaluate existing equipping programs for gaps in preparing individuals to produce the desired outcomes
Q: How do you move people from a task environment to a human interaction environment?
A: First identify the skills needed for both task and human interaction axes. Then assess people’s readiness to perform along both axes and then develop a personal equipping plan to close any identified gaps.