Experts implore HR practitioners on regular training

EXPERTS have challenged Human Resources (HR) practitioners to put in place regular training programmes as part of measures to help their respectiveorganisations stay ahead of competitors.

Speaking at the 2016 edition of the Learning Leaders’ Forum of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria (CIPM) in Lagos, Human Resource Director, Airtel Nigeria, Gbemiga Owolabi, noted that today’s business environment is faced with so many challenges of untrained staffs, adding that “there is no longer single competitive strategy that works”.

He said: “What we used yesterday is no longer relevant today,” adding that “because we now live in a disruptive world.”
Owolabi said: “There are things that we too are learning, struggling with every day. There are so many unknown factors.

“So, a single strategy will not get you very far, rather, a multiplicity of strategies to survive and thrive. Therefore, organisations need to train staffs, innovate, change and adapt to the changing environment,” he said

Owolabi, who spoke on the theme “Leveraging employee engagement through learning and development”, added that the implication is the need to keep pace with the changing world through learning.

Addressing a gathering of HR practitioners, he stressed that it is the job of the HR to enable his or her organisation achieve its objectives through people, by attracting, developing and retaining the right top talents to deliver the strategic objectives.

He said: “It is our duty to drive down the importance of training and development. You really need to sweat your people-asset, lead them well and ensure that they have the requisite ability and skill to deliver the objectives because the targets don’t come by themselves.”

For HR practitioner to create value and deliver in today’s rapidly changing world, Owolabi explained that learning and development function is “the most crucial function” in an organisation that wants to sustain its competitiveness and profitability.

A learning and development strategy aims to meet employee learning and development needs, ensure optimal human capital development, and build the business management and leadership skills for a strong executive team into the future.

According to experts, when it is well-aligned with overall business objectives, a clear and well-defined learning and development strategy provides the blueprint to develop a talent pipeline that can deliver organisational goals.
Owolabi explained that for it to be seen as crucial for survival, “it must be properly integrated into every HR process to drive productive and performance.

Its our duty, as HR practitioners, to be able to showcase the importance of learning and development.”As a practitioner in the know, he said further that it was no longer enough to come up with a schedule of routine training plan, rather, “make visible the value of learning and development to an organisation. Learning and development are no longer a luxury most organisations can afford”.

He observed that such dimension in Learning and Development is still a challenge globally. He said: “We, therefore, need to make a fundamental shift from where we are currently to a situation of today and the future where learning and development function is seen as a strategic and central function”.

Speaking earlier, CIPM President, Anthony Arabome, explained that the topic could not have come at a better time, “particularly where Learning and Development, which is the forte of the HR, is already the weeping boy of organisations”.

To develop an effective corporate training package, he advised practitioners to include resource use considerations in their learning and development strategy. “Consider whether you will have better gains from in-house training management courses and workshops or if you can make better strategic use of resources by accessing business classes at top business schools.

“The former may offer advantages such as team unity and speed of programme delivery; the latter enables you to tap into leading-edge business expertise.

“Consider the best corporate learning tools and technique within your learning and development strategy. Some of today’s best tools for integrative corporate learning include leadership exercises, leadership coaching, guided case study analysis, flexibly balanced distance and campus learning, and real-world learning in global business hot-spots”.