What do HR Managers exactly do? Part Four - Learning and Talent Development

The fourth installment in a series of articles examining the work of the HR function.

(An analysis of what in the Dark Ages used to be called Training)

If you’ve been following the “What do HR Managers exactly do?” series, you’ll realise that we’ve reached Stage Four on the HR Profession’s Wheel of Death

Fortune – that of Learning and Talent Management.

Many organisations, especially if they are large (and rich!) enough, may have a separate Learning and Development Manager but, for most smaller organisations, ensuring that the employees in the company have the right skills will be part of the HR Manager’s responsibility.

For the previous areas on the CIPD’s HR Profession Map we’ve generally focused on the role of the senior HR manager in the organisation, but in this instance, it will be helpful to look at how a lowly HR Manager will get involved on a day-to-day basis with learning and development activities.

The CIPD’s definition of Learning and Talent Development is again very helpful: “Ensuring that people at all levels of the organisation possess and develop the skills, knowledge and experiences to fulfil the short and long term ambitions of the organisation and that they are motivated to learn, grow and perform”

So, following our trusty framework, what does this mean that the HR Manager will need to do, and what will he need to know in order to do his job?

Typical activities of an HR Manager involved in Learning and Talent Development will be:

• Working with individual employees to understand their learning and training needs, providing coaching and recommending suitable programmes and courses
• Working with managers and staff to ensure that they understand the learning and talent development plan, and their role n delivering it
• Working with third-party providers of training to monitor service levels and give feedback.
• Developing, piloting and evaluating learning and talent development initiatives for effectiveness, business relevance and cost.
• Facilitating internal learning events and workshops, developing content if necessary
• Advising and coaching managers on how to use the annual appraisal system as a way to agree development plans with individuals
• Training and coaching managers to have honest conversations with their people about their strengths, limitations, development needs etc, and in turn encouraging them to coach, mentor and support their key employees.
• Working to arrange appropriate job moves for individuals in line with their development plans.

What will an HR Manager involved in Learning and Talent Development need to know in order to do these activities?

Areas of unique (and in some cases specialised) understanding would be:

• Knowing how the company makes money, how it’s structured, who its competitors and customers are.
• Knowing how to work with an individual to assess his learning and training needs
• Knowing how to develop individual learning and talent development plans from one-to-one coaching sessions
• Knowing the difference and the potential benefits of a variety of delivery channels, e.g. e-learning, education, bespoke programmes, action learning and the internet
• Knowing how to identify and demonstrate tangible business and performance benefits from learning interventions

Suggestions for further work: One thing that you’ll notice from the summary above is the relative infrequency of the word “training” and the regular use of the word “coaching.” Research undertaken in advance of the CIPD’s Coaching at Work conference has revealed that 90% of organisations are using coaching a key part of learning and development. Read the article “Coaching on the increase” and consider what the factors are that are leading many organisation to make coaching into a key element of their learning and development plans. Also, read the definitions that have been suggested and evaluate whether there is a common understanding of what coaching is.

Coaching on the increase