The future of people development/OD and how it will affect us all

Plan for today

• The Ulrich approach to HRo What is it?o How it works - issues and possible solutionso What next?

LUNCH

• Lessons from the past• What does the future look like?• What does it mean for us as people developers?

What is it?

Business Partner

Service Centre

Centre ofExcellence

Ulrich’s 3 legged stool

Roles, knowledge and skills

Who? Role Knowledge needed Skills needed

Business Partner

(BP)

First point of contact for internal client

Generalist, with expertise in needs analysis to identify COE contacts for client issues

Relationship building

Influencing skills

Communication skills esp. questioning and listening

Service Centre

(SC)

Transactional delivery

HR knowledge not essential.

Process skills

Project management

Centre of Excellence

(COE)

Non-transactional delivery

Deep expertise & resource management to address client needs per business priorities

Delivery skills

Relationship building esp. with BPs

Ability to challenge if needs require greater articulation

What other variants of Ulrich have you come

across in practice?

How it works – issues and solutions

Client feels remote from

COEs & needs are

lost in translation.

Ensure BP forms an effective conduit –

not just ‘gatekeeper’.

How it works – issues and solutions

Lack of functional knowledge

in SC means needs not adequately

met.

SC staff grouped by function to develop

understanding.

How it works – issues and solutions

Staff turnover in SC is very

high.

Grouping SC staff by function and

thorough induction can mitigate service

delivery risk.

How it works – issues and solutions

If recharges in place,

client feels they can get better value

by going externally.

Put procedures in place to prevent

client doing this.

How it works – issues and solutions

COEs carry out tasks not directly

commissioned by client.

Procedures such as SLAs can be put in

place to prevent this.

How it works – issues and solutions

COEs think support

requested by BPs will fail to

address underlying

issues.

COEs need ability and skills to

challenge client (via BP).

What other issues have you come across in

practice?

And how have they been addressed?

What next?

Two developments

• Grow back of HR into the business.

• Increase in ‘intelligent administration’.

What next?

Ulrich’s review 10 years in….

“There is no better alternative!”

Where model has failed it is due to HR professionals:• lacking capability to become BPs.• being too enmeshed in transactional admin.

What next?

A different stool!!

• Perform Enhance current business performance

• Grow Enhance planned business growth. Build talent to

accelerate pace of change

• Adapt Building organisational adaptability (to survive in

unpredictable times)

What other developments have you come across?

Looking backwards and forwards

Lessons from the past

In groups:Think back to your earliest involvement in HR/ Personnel/ L&D/ Training

Create a timeline from then to now, charting the key changes you’ve witnessed e.g.• Organisational structure• Infrastructure• IT• How we “train” people• Things that have supported you • Things that have challenged you

What does the future look like?

In groups:Now extend the timeline to 2025!

What changes do you foresee?

Be prepared to report back on both the past and the future!

What does the future look like?

• Is L&D becoming an outdated term?

• The technology question!! And blended learning?

• Time pressure – more in less time!

• Trainer as curator

• Business coaching from externals

Is L&D becoming an outdated term?

• Organisational Development?

• Talent Management?

• Knowledge management?

• Centralised function v responsibility of all?

• Who creates “content”?

So who are our customers?

Advantages of Virtual learning

• No space cost/restrictions

• Can be any length

• Events become resources

• Can move from centre to social to User Generated

Content

What’s important in delivery?

What order should they be in? 1 is most important and 9 least

Who should be involved and when?

Before During After

Manager

Workshop leader

Learner

Broad & Newstrom (1992) Repeated in 1998 with similar results

What’s important in delivery?

Who should be involved and when?

Before During After

Manager

Workshop leader

Learner

1

2

3

9

5

8

4

7 6

Broad & Newstrom (1992) Repeated in 1998 with similar results

The Trainer as curator

Clive Shepherd

Four strategies for providing learning

http://onlignment.com/2010/09/strategies-for-learning-and-performance-support-a-summary/

The trainer as curator

Exposition• Subject expert to learner• Essentially one way• Trainer determines info conveyed• Event, online content or offline content• Good for independent leaners who can discern for themselves• Great for those who can cope by themselves• Likely to be lower cost

The trainer as curator

Instruction• Still trainer centred• Process rather than content driven• More learner engagement• Helps learner make connections with prior knowledge• Opportunities to practise new skills with feedback• More responsive to needs of individual learners• More time and cost intensive

The trainer as curator

Guided discovery• Inductive process - leads the learner towards insights and

generalisations• Specific learning objectives are rare – each learner takes

something unique/personal• Includes simulations, case studies & teambuilding activities• Also includes coaching and action learning • Learner needs enough knowledge and experience to make a

reasonable attempt • Best when the topic is less black and white, • Best when you want more than a superficial commitment• More time and cost intensive

The Trainer as curator

Exploration• Most learner-centred approach – pull not push• More just-in-time than just-in-case• Simple and relatively unstructured learning design• What learner takes is individual & largely unpredictable• May play a small part in a formal course • Can include unconferences & “asynchronous collaboration” • Trainer smoothes the way for learners to find resources and locate

like-minded peers• Trainer provides repositories, search engines and social media tools• Not suitable for novices and dependent learners or for important top-

down initiatives

What does the future look like?

In groups:• Share your thoughts on the area you've chosen

• What are the broader implications of this?

• What are the implications for us as people developers?

Be prepared to report back to the bigger group

Conclusions

• What has particularly struck you today?

• What will you do as a result of today?

• Any topics you’d like covered in future meetings?