ABN AMRO’s Saurabh Jain, ETHRWorldSEA
To make the workforce transformation easy and durable, HR leaders will need to shift the paradigm in order to take into account their employees‘ preferences for professional growth. Employers must use both reskilling and upskilling as vital ways to close potential skill gaps in their workforces. And it’s no surprise that so many leaders are setting their sights on skills, given that McKinsey found that nearly 70% of businesses are doing more skill-building now than they did before COVID-19.In an exclusive interaction with ETHRWorld International, Saurabh Jain, Head of HR, ABN AMRO Bank Asia Pacific, shared insights on how employees can upskill themselves, why leaders should focus on improving the employability of their workforce, what career development strategies could be adopted by organisations in order to attract and retain talent, and importance of coaching as an approach for personal development.
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Saurabh Jain is the Head of HR Asia Pacific for ABN AMRO based in Singapore and is responsible for driving the people strategy for the bank in the region. He joined ABN AMRO in April 2017. He has extensive experience in Human Resources with a passion for developing talent and building organisational culture. Saurabh has worked in India, Dubai, Hong Kong and Singapore. Saurabh is also passionate about coaching and is currently pursuing his professional certification (CPCC) in coaching. He is an active contributor on several industry forums.
Here are a few interesting highlights from the interview:
Q. As we have entered into 2023, personal development through reskilling and upskilling courses is a job perk that many candidates are looking for…would you like to share some of the best ways employees can upskill themselves?
To remain relevant in the current and future marketplace, we all need to continuously upskill ourselves. Employees need to identify their purpose, passion and strengths and then relentlessly spend time sharpening their skills to achieve their goals. When I say skills, I mean both technical skills and human skills. We should periodically ask ourselves if we are learning in our current job and if the answer is no, talk to your line manager and ask for additional responsibilities or a role change. Change creates great opportunities to learn and grow!
Another approach for upskilling is through networking and learning from others. I strongly feel we should all have mentors to advise us and bounce off ideas with. Mentoring provides a powerful avenue to learn from the mentor’s experience, determine our blind spots and get genuine feedback. If you like any senior colleague in your organisation or outside, reach out to them to ask for a coffee…you will be surprised that they will be more than happy to speak with you.
Last but not the least, make learning a HABIT. Identify your preferred mode of learning, as our brains are wired differently. With the proliferation of technology, high-quality content in different modes is available around us to choose from e.g. text, audio, video etc. Identify what works for you and switch to that style so that learning is FUN and not a drag! Set aside some time every day/week, it could be as little as half an hour/week to invest in yourself. For example, why not use your commuting time to work every day to learn on the go!!
Q. Would you like to outline some strategic priorities for leaders heading into this year and the actions they should take to optimise the workforce’ personal development in their leadership vision?
In today’s uncertain environment, one of the strategic priorities leaders should focus on is to improve the employability of their people both within and outside the organisation. This creates value for the whole organisation by improving employee engagement and productivity.
And even if you lose a well-trained employee, they will speak highly about you thereby improving your leadership and employer brand! Further, the world is seeing an emergence of boomerang employees who may come back and join you again in future if they had a good experience in the past!
Leaders play a key role in creating an environment that enables employees to prioritise their own development. This includes providing flexibility, well-being, inclusive culture, resources etc. Leaders and managers should also role model behaviours of lifelong learning and share their own examples to inspire their teams.
Q. In your opinion, is coaching a promising approach towards employees’ personal development?
Coaching is a fantastic tool for personal development for anyone. Coaching helps connect a person to their true self and in unlocking a tremendous amount of energy. It further allows the person to take ownership of their goals and take forward action, resulting in transformation.
As human beings, we all have unlimited potential to overcome barriers and become a better version of ourselves. Tools and techniques used by a professional coach allow this to happen. Once we are connected to our true inner self, and have clarity on our life purpose, we are in a much better position to make resonant choices and lead a fulfilling life both at the workplace and in our personal lives.
Q. What are some of the best career development strategies that should be adopted by organisations in order to attract and retain talent?
It depends on several factors, for example – the stage of the organisation, industry, career life cycle of the employee, employee motivation, and goals.
Here are some of the ideas on career development that organisations should adopt in order to attract and retain the top talent in the current talent marketplace:
- Break silos by aligning the career development strategy with the vision and business strategy/goals of the organisation.
- Provide employees with the opportunity to hit peak performance in their current roles by allocating resources, and providing development feedback and support.
- Build knowledge and skills for current roles and future aspirations of the employees. Create mentoring and networking opportunities.
- Rethink career progressions: Employees may have the perception that the path to career growth is only by being promoted vertically to a manager. Some people don’t want to be a manager, however, they fall into this trap and later don’t enjoy these roles. Therefore, organisations should create and communicate non-linear career moves as well, where progression allows people to develop in different directions.
- Lastly, leaders should take risks on people as it could do wonders. Some of the most promising career stories I have heard from employees have a lot of gratitude for leaders who showed confidence in them when they themselves were unsure. Being authentic and telling employees that you have their back could do wonders.
Q. Through development opportunities within the workplace, how can leaders make sure that the professional goals of employees align with their personal goals?
Alignment between personal and professional goals drives collaboration, engagement and business results. Leaders can take the following approach to make sure that an employee’s professional goals align with their personal goals:
- Provide opportunities for employees to determine and communicate their purpose and personal goals. This has become a hot topic after the pandemic as employees see purpose as a way to bring meaning to their work and understand the contributions they are making to the company and society.
- Simultaneously, it is important that organisations also communicate the purpose, vision and goals of the business clearly so that everyone in the organisation has a good understanding of the same.
- Building the manager’s capability to have a development dialogue with employees in aligning the two. Offering professional development opportunities and career growth paths that align with the personal interests and aspirations of employees.
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