The year 2020 has been one that most of us are undoubtedly looking forward to seeing in the rearview mirror. Yet, as HR practitioners, there are important lessons we can draw upon as we look ahead to 2021. As we close out a year that has given new meaning to the term ‘disruption,’ we can and should consider the old ways of working that will no longer suit us and adopt new approaches that will yield far better outcomes for our employees and organizations alike. While we can’t control or necessarily anticipate the external events happening in the world around us, we can prepare our workforces to be agile and ready to grow and flex.
Now is the time to lean in. For employees to prosper in the new world of work, we have to actively foster continuous internal talent mobility. This requires rethinking everything – from career development, learning and skill-building to the very concept of job descriptions and why sharing talent freely is in everyone’s interest – as well as taking a new view of the employee journey.
We’ll explore six ways of working better left behind and their future-focused replacements that you can put into play the next year:
pursuing creative alternatives to layoffs to retain employees
helping managers freely share their talented direct reports and why it can help your organization flourish
tossing out rigid job descriptions to help you uncover workforce capabilities you didn’t know you had
taking a flexible approach to how, when and where learning occurs to untether career development and internal mobility
trading tech-only skilling solutions with a guided approach to close the skills gap
simplifying your life by replacing multiple tech platforms with integrated technology