Talent Transformation is a key factor in evolving an Organization's culture

Shweta Mohanty, Head of Human Resources, India, SAP in a recent interaction with Higher Education Review magazine shared her views on the role that talent transformation plays in preparing organizations to embrace change and innovation, how talent leaders can cultivate a culture of adaptability and continuous learning and more. Shweta Mohanty is the Vice-President/Head of Human Resources for SAP in India. With 22 years of experience in HR, she currently spearheads the HR leadership for all SAP entities across India, including R&D, sales, and services organizations.

In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, what role do you think talent transformation plays in preparing organizations to embrace change and innovation?

Talent transformation is achieved when an organization harmonizes its present talent requirements with the skills it is cultivating, while simultaneously preparing for the demands of the future. Thus, at no point can an organization declare that its talent transformation journey is complete. This notion has gained heightened importance in the contemporary landscape, where the relentless pace of technological advancement necessitates continuous adaptation and growth

The landscape is changing quickly in terms of what are customers looking for, how fast they would want you to execute and deliver. Hence, it is a topic which is of paramount importance. But even if you look back 15 years or 20 years ago, every organization has gone through, is going through, was going through a talent transformation since balance is what every organization requires.

Thus, it is an ongoing journey. You can never say you are done with talent transformation. Looking into why is talent transformation so crucial in times like this? One has to remember the rapid pace of disruption that is happening.

The talent we require today goes beyond just deep expertise. In the past, we referred to the learning model as the T-shaped model, where individuals had broad knowledge and deep specialization in one specific area. However, this approach is gradually becoming outdated. Today, what we truly need are individuals with diverse skills. This is why we now emphasize a 'vast-shaped' learning model, where the foundation is strong, and from there, learning continuously expands.

Therefore, talent transformation today is preparing your workforce for continuous learning, for adaptability, and for resilience. Organizations that are embracing these types of principles are well positioned and are in a position of strength to navigate the challenges that are going to seize the opportunities which are going to arrive in the future.

Now, what does this mean in terms of your practices? The approach to learning can no longer be confined to a single program undertaken annually. It is imperative to construct learning frameworks that are modular and bite-sized, allowing for continuous engagement through shorter, more focused modules. People do have the opportunity to experiment and they have the opportunity to apply. Thus, job shadowing, role-playing, and other factors such as having a practical experience rather than just classroom learning, are activities which are of paramount importance now and this makes it extremely critical for us to drive it going forward.

In a nutshell, talent transformation is extremely crucial for organizations, there is a need for every organization to do strategic workforce planning, and look into their people agenda, if not more, but at least twice a year to see if they are keeping pace with how the market is changing. But the most important is to ensure that there is a need for organizations to listen to the market, to the workforce, and prepare accordingly.

As organizations embrace decision transformation, there is often resistance to change at various levels. How can talent leaders cultivate a culture of adaptability and continuous learning? 

One of the biggest challenges that we observe today is resistance to change every change goes through its cycle and resistance is just one part of it.

As organizations, are we fully aware of the resistance we might face, and are we preparing for it from the start? To truly understand this resistance, we should conduct a dipstick survey with our workforce to uncover their fears. These fears could range from concerns about job security, becoming irrelevant, or feeling unprepared with the right skills for career growth. It is crucial to fully understand the root causes of this resistance.

In many of the cases, you would find that the resistance is coming from senior leaders because that requires them to completely change the way they have designed their organization today. And you can't deny the fact that everyone would love to be in their comfort zone. So moving out of your comfort zone is crucial.

Thus, risk assessment and assessment of the resistance is critical. The second part is on how you prepare for this and I always believe that you should have a solid business case on why you are doing a certain change, or why there is a need to go ahead with it. However, that business case doesn't have to be a big document; it has to help in catering to different segments of the organization.

It should focus on what is the business case for the leader. The real question is what’s in it for them? What does the change mean for leaders, managers, and the rest of the workforce? This part is critical and it must be anchored in real challenges, clearly illustrating the need for change, and showing the North Star of why the change is necessary and what we can achieve together. Equally important is identifying the support required to make this happen.

The organizations that fail with this change management are the ones who do not focus on training, up skilling, and do not put effort to ensure that they are only not talking about the change, they are talking about how to steer the organization with this change and that is very crucial.

Employee engagement is often cited as one of the biggest challenges in maintaining a positive culture. So how can talent transformation help increase engagement in today's hybrid work environment?

Employee engagement isn't necessarily tied to whether an organization is hybrid or non-hybrid. I want to break that myth. You can work remotely and still engage with your workforce in a wonderful way. You just have to find out ways in which what are people looking for and whether you can connect to them.

For instance, when we transitioned from a fully remote setup to a hybrid work culture during the pandemic, we quickly realized that no communication is too much. We made sure to keep everyone informed about what was happening in the organization, how employees were returning to the office, and what was most critical for us. We made it a point to involve them in every step of the process.

A good employee engagement strategy, is to have a pulse of the organization. What are people looking for, what is their expectation from the organization and every strategy doesn't need to touch your entire workforce. That’s an outdated mindset, where it was believed that a single employee engagement practice could apply to everyone.

Today, you are working with five generations in the organization and every generation's need for employee engagement is different. Engaging with an early talent, a mother returning from maternity leave, or someone retiring in five years requires different approaches. The segmentation of your workforce is key. Avoid applying a one-size-fits-all practice to everyone.

Focus on understanding the unique needs of each group and tailor your engagement efforts accordingly. You don't need to implement 20 different initiatives - just one or two targeted actions that bring people together is sufficient. This approach is far more effective than getting caught up in the hybrid vs. non-hybrid debate