Recently Mercer has conducted a research on the future of HR and how to bridge the gap between employers and employees. It is a great report with key guidance for HR professionals. Mercer sees a lot of value for HR in strengthening their strategies for people development. Key priorities in this area are:

Focus on the development of skills

To build diverse talent pools organizations plan to increase promoting talent from within, meaning a high focus on employee development. Unfortunately, current approaches are falling short. Only 25 % of employees globally believe that their organization is doing enough to keep their skills relevant, and nearly one third say their employer is doing little or nothing. Employees are demanding a new value proposition that provides greater career support, combined with new flexibility in managing their work and building their skills.

Put managerial coaching skills at the center

Coaching capability is one of the Top 3 in-demand skills for managers in the next 12 months. It matters to employees to be valued and trusted as an individual and having the opportunity to contribute. This clearly places the manager at the center of the ”value proposition” equation. Most employees, however, state that their manager is not able enough to provide resources to do the job, to coach and support them, and to help them to improve their performance. It is, therefore, no surprise that coaching capability was reported as one of the top 3 in-demand managerial skills.

Inspirational Leadership and People development top the list

Employers and employees mostly agree on which skills will be in highest demand over the next 12 months. Inspirational leadership and people development topped the list. Building this type of dynamic skill is about more than just theoretical knowledge; it requires application and lots of practice.

Concluding, companies are focused in the right areas, however there is still much to be done, especially in supporting both managers and employees in their professional growth and skill building.

This is confirmed in Deloitte’s report on Global Human Capital Trends 2016 where learning is identified as one of the 10 important trends. Their research concludes there is an increasing recognition among executives and HR leaders that learning must adapt to a world where employees demand continuous learning opportunities through innovative platforms tailored to their individual schedules (Josh Bersin et. Al. 2016).

This completely resonates with eCoachPro’s proposition on embedded and innovative people development. With our academically supported methodology for online coaching we have been able to combine the best of technology and coaching resulting in a highly personal and intense coaching experience. The natural way in which people learn and develop is facilitated, resulting in faster and better results in the professional growth of professionals, addressing a lot of the challenges identified by Mercer. If you are looking for innovative ways to enhance and strengthen these challenges, drop us a note.

1 Mercer’s 2016 Global Talent Trends study http://www.mercer.com/our-thinking/global-talent-hr-trends-infographic.html
2 Global Human Capital Trends 2016 - The new organization: Different by design (Bersin, J., Geller, J., Wakefield, N., Walsh, B. (2016). Deloitte University Press.

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