#TLDR: Four challenges being addressed by #PBJAM that deliver effective solutions for #professionaldevelopment in the #modernworkplace
Thankfully, there is no dearth of resources, toolsets, and approaches to #professionaldevelopment. However, despite all the available tools and resources, #modernworkplace is witnessing #greatresignation and low #employeeengagement. Higher pay and flexible working arrangements are a given, but hard to compete on especially if you are not the top dog in your sector. Even Google, (which is a top dog in the tech sector or for that matter overall world), experiences an average employee tenure of fewer than 2 years! And we can safely assume that Google does not lack resources or tools. For the rest of the companies, the outlook is even grimmer! As per the latest #BLS data, there are 10 employees leaving jobs voluntarily every 6 seconds!! And average #employeeengagement is at less than 40%. So what is happening?
#PBJAM discussed the #professionaldevelopment in the #modernworkplace with many people leaders, HR leaders, and individual professionals in North America and Europe over the past few years. Here is what we found to be the common asks across industries, age groups, and cultural backgrounds.
Accessibility: Yes, even in this age of technology and mobile platforms, accessibility to professional development is still exclusive and driven mainly by the bosses rather than the individual professionals. Unless the company makes certain opportunities and avenues available to employees, access is difficult.
Individualization: Professional development is unique to each individual and hard to generalize. Still, we see most professional development resources that are generalized and canned cookie-cutter approaches/toolsets. Why? Because cookie-cutter approaches are #scalable. Though 1:1 coaching and mentoring work great, even in such relationships, the #mentoringbias plays a big role, and mentees are consciously (or unconsciously) coached in the image of the coach or mentor. In the #modernworkplace, it is highly necessary to find out what individual needs for #professionaldevelopment are and then, #empower the individuals to address them
Visibility of Outcomes: We heard this time and again. Most professional development resources offer certifications, continuing education credits, and even diplomas/degrees. Great to add to resume and mount on the office wall, but hard to visualize actual outcomes. The people leaders told us that it has been a challenge to measure what exactly changed and what benefit accrued to the company mission at the individual level from #professionaldevelopment apart from certificates and training binders that normally end up in drawers or shelves.
Sustainability of Learnings: The #modernworkplace is full of #change and #learnings from various training programs are hard to sustain in face of operational noise. Sometimes, this is because of the theoretical nature of learning and sometimes it is because of difficulties in retaining the complexities of learning. Irrespective of the reasons, the end results are the same... low level of retention of soft skills learned for the majority of the employees.
At #PBJAM, we are actively working to provide practical solutions based on these common asks. We are building #PBJAM as a tech platform and ecosystem with the long-term goal, the #BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal), being "Empowering every professional to take charge of their own development via novel, simple, effective, and science-based approaches".
Curious about how we do it? Experience #PBJAM yourself! #professionaldevelopment in the #modernworkplace, driven by #science and #individualized for you! Have you talked to your manager and HR partner about enrolling in PB JAM?
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