Building Technical Capability the Right Way
Exhibit 2: The Role of HR and Business in Capability Development
Start with Step 1 Not with Step 2
Before an organization decides to introduce learning aid in the form of trainings, projects, literature, etc., it is critical that the initial building block of articulating the required knowledge expectations is laid down with a strong foundation. Most organizations fail to appreciate how fundamental this step is in the larger approach to building technical capability and move abruptly towards reviewing their training modules and modes of delivery. Without explicitly, intentionally and unequivocally articulating knowledge and skill requirements through collaborative sessions within each technical function, the true identification of learning gaps can hardly be achieved.
Build a Case for Innovation
While accommodating employee aspirations to move vertically, horizontally and diagonally is a hard challenge to surpass, on the bright side, it yields an impactful concomitant benefit. By facilitating cross-domain upskilling of talent, an organization effectively enables its employees to leverage their multi-disciplinary knowledge to:
1) Collaborate more effectively by understanding functional processes and hand-offs
2) Identify possible synergies existing across businesses, functions and regions
3) Drive process innovation by having a broader perspective on the business and operations
4) Drive product innovation by understanding the needs of the customer through multiple lenses (across multiple brands, various product offerings, different markets, etc.)
This proposition to business leaders is bound to bring a healthy stakeholder alignment. This strategic alignment becomes particularly important for global multinational diversified conglomerates, giving them the opportunity to cross-leverage talent across all their entities, thus building a high performing knowledge enterprise.
Key Components of a Technical Career Framework
Career Philosophy: Offering employees dynamic careers goes beyond designing an internal job posting policy and process. The leadership team needs to rethink the organization's fundamental philosophy on 'careers.' similar to how a rewards philosophy helps an organization align its Total Rewards Strategy to the broader business and HR strategy, a career philosophy defines the key tenets of what careers mean in the context of the nature of business and operating model. There are three key benefits to developing a career philosophy:
1) It helps the leadership team articulate a distinctive value proposition that enables the attraction and retention of talent with the desired capabilities
2) It helps current and prospective employees understand what to expect from their career journey at the organization
3) It provides a framework within which the HR function designs, administers and evaluates effective career management programs
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