Trends in employee development for 2020

Traditionally - like every year - we have prepared a summary of ten most important (in our opinion) phenomena which will shape the future of the human development sector. This publication has been compiled on the basis on dozens of conversations, participation in about twenty conferences, a thorough analysis of reports that came to light over the past months. Most important information and conclusions come directly “from the field” – from our Customers as well as Trainers and Consultants, who have executed hundreds of House of Skills and e-learning.pl projects, cooperating with organizations in whole Poland.

Transcript

1. Trends in employee development for www.houseofskills.pl
2. str. 2 www.houseofskills.pl We have already made ourselves at home in the 21st century: year 2020 is straight ahead. The world is rushing, undergoing very rapid changes. We are seeking new narrations and paradigms in numerous fields of life, also in the area of human development. What can be observed is a mix of the traditional with the offer of unlimited novelties - concepts, tools, approaches. Our expectations as to the employers, managers - and work itself - are changing slowly, yet con- sistently. As far as development activities are concerned, we have already become accustomed to technological support, we constantly wait for something new, for immersion in experience, for new forms - surprises. Simplicity must go hand in hand with effectiveness. Traditionally - like every year - we have prepared a summary of ten most important (in our opinion) phenomena which will shape the future of the human development sector. This publication has been compiled on the basis on dozens of conversations, participation in about twenty conferences, a thorough analysis of reports that came to light over the past months. Most important information and conclusions come directly “from the field” – from our Customers as well as Trainers and Con- sultants, who have executed hundreds of House of Skills and e-learning.pl projects, cooperating with organizations in whole Poland. Have a good reading! Michał Zaborek, President of the Management Board
3. str. 3 www.houseofskills.pl Employee centricity 1
4. str. 4 www.houseofskills.pl We are living in times when either you effectively concentrate on your people or you will be in trouble or, more illustratively, face unplanned challenges. Despite symptoms of slowdown, we are still experiencing a period of economic upturn. A deficit of qualified workforce is still noticeable in many sectors . What is needed in the era of continuous change and fake news is authenticity and credibility. The younger gen- erations will not buy phony stuff. Organizations have no clothes - and are clearly visible on the Internet. People feel a growing need to find a sense in what they are doing and in how their companies operate. All the above are the reason why employee experience (regardless of employment form), related to the employer relationships, is becoming one of the hottest challenges for HR departments and management boards in conscious organizations. The employee is the center of attention. This does not mean that the employee only puts forward demands and the employer wonders how to satisfy them. The point is to create appropriate experiences at work, build an engaging environment, act with a feeling of sense, gather feedback on a regular basis, interact and enjoy partner relationships with the manager and colleagues. This is becoming far more important than a package of social benefits. The concept of em- ployee centricity is not new but the combination of the aforementioned phenomena will make it difficult for companies that fail to implement an appropriate approach to compete with other market players. The spectrum of challenges in modern companies has recently been expanded by inter- actions with people , also with those who are not employed by the organization. Compa- nies that perceive their present, past and prospective employees as a source of ideas, innovations and possible revenue will achieve an added value in return, provided that they learn how to effectively manage the employee experience process. 1. The PwC report published in 2019 reveals that the gap in the labor market will increase by 2025: in the next 6 years the demand for employees will increase by ca. 1.5 million people/jobs. See Growing gap in the labor market in Poland: how to bridge it, https://www.pwc.pl/pl/media/2019/2019-01-22-luka-rynek-pracy-2025-pwc.html. 2. Employee centricity - a neologism introduced to the text for the purpose of naming a new phenomenon and emphasizing its importance. 3. The term employee experience is related to other terms entrenched in the theory of management: employee engagement and customer experience. See N. Dhingra, J. Emmett, M. Samadani, Time for an EX intervention, https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/the-organization-blog/time-for-an-ex-intervention.B. Wigert, S. Agrawal, Employee Burnout Part 1: The 5 Main Causes, Gallup 2018, https://www.gallup.com/workplace/237059/employee-burnout-part-main-causes.aspx. According to the results of the Global Human Capital Trends 2019 survey carried out by Deloitte among nearly 10 thousand HR and IT leaders and representatives of the manage- ment staff and members of management boards of the largest organizations in 119 coun- tries, including 300 from Poland, 84% of the respondents regard employee experience as an important issue, while 28% of them as one of three most urgent challenges they were facing in 20191. The survey by MIT, in turn, compared enterprises whose employee experience ratings were in the top quartile to those with bottom quartile ratings. The results are presented below2. 1 E. Volini et al., Leading the Social Enterprise: Reinvent with a Human Focus, Deloitte 2019, https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/ focus/human-capital-trends.html. 2 K. Dery, I.M. Sebastian, Building business value with employee experience, “MIT CISR Research Briefing” 2017, vol. 17(6). 1. Twice as high innovativeness, measured by percentage of revenue from new products and services launched over the past two years. 3. Profitability higher by 25% in comparison with profitability of competitors. 24% 58% 73% 2. Twice as high customer satisfaction, measured based on the Net Promoter Score (NPS) adjusted for the sector. 14% 32% 51%
5. str. 5 www.houseofskills.pl Ongoing feedback as an alternative to appraisal systems 2
6. str. 6 www.houseofskills.pl Diverse opinions are voiced about traditional employee appraisal systems (most often exe- cuted in an annual cycle), both in terms of their impact on business results and of personal experiences of a manager and an employee. The quality and effectiveness of appraisal conversations depends to a large extent on the manner of preparation and communication of the process at the company, the existing organizational culture, the friendliness of the applied tools, the skills of managers. In the era of agile work, innovations, virtual teams, matrix and international structure, mul- ti-generation environments, the application of rigid and formalized employee appraisal pro- cedures is becoming insufficient and often unsuitable and counter-productive. Employees need frequent, regular feedback - permanent navigation, while enterprises seek methods and tools that meet the current needs better. Companies modify appraisal systems by using, for example, applications supplying cyclic feedback or “on demand” information, from both superiors and colleagues. Most often tech- nology fulfils a supporting function, enabling a more frequent exchange of opinions between managers and employees. Organizations are slowly abandoning the traditional, retrospective appraisal and ranking system. They introduce practices of more frequent check-in conversations about work goals and effects. In the long term, they bring more benefits by preventing effects of decreased commitment. Employees themselves may initiate such a meeting and define, together with the manager, the type and scope of support necessary to accomplish a goal or task. Procedures of conversations concerning reasons for leaving the job (exit interviews) at nu- merous enterprises are enriched with practices of regular meetings concerning the employ- ee’s future and development perspectives (stay interviews). They permit proactive man- agement of individual motivation of employees and identification of the need of changes in advance in order to retain talents and avoid undesirable turnover. Challenges faced by organizations are related to a large extent with the quality of feed- back and of manager conversations. The time and manner of conversation facilitation, the accuracy of observations and feedback, the positive energy for actions and changes as a result of the conversation are still crucial success factors in manager’s work, but gain a new dimension in the VUCA world. According to the research by Wakefield Research and Reflektive1, 94% of managers are convinced that employees are satisfied with the existing performance appraisal system. In reality, most employees believe that the processes are obsolete (61%) and insufficient (62%). Over 90% of employees need real-time feedback concerning the quality of their per- formance and development opportunities. At the same time, 67% of top-tier managers admit that they remove negative information from appraisal forms because too much time elapsed between the recorded event and the performance appraisal meeting. 1 New Study Uncovers Major Gap in Employee and Employer Expectations for Performance Management and Growth, 2018, https://www.reflektive.com/press-center/press/new-study-uncovers-major-gap-employee-employer-expectations-performance- -management-growth/.
7. str. 7 www.houseofskills.pl Teamwork – new challenges of the leader 3
8. str. 8 www.houseofskills.pl Over decades, organizations in Poland have focused on development of human man- agement competencies, placing the center of gravity on one-on-one relationships. However, we are living in a world of teams: whether permanent or established tempo- rarily for specific projects, their presence in enterprises is natural. At the same time, teamwork in the Polish culture encounters natural difficulties. Strong individualism (Pol- ish national trait), spotlight hogging and fierce competition prevail: Poles learn them from the very beginning of school education and then preserve them in successive social and professional circles. Traditionally, leaders are required to deliver hard effects but at the same time to display a holistic approach to their teams. Therefore, the challenge is to efficiently create and develop systems in place at the company (for example, methods of compensation or motivation) such that they are in line with the characteristics and needs of teamwork. The leader should understand the dynamics of human interaction, be aware of work with a system of relations, and take care that they can exert influence on the whole team. Technological tools come to the rescue but they can only support an effective boss, not replace them. Certain enterprises experiment with the holacratic and turquoise approaches but more fundamental topics still pose a challenge to others. Following guidelines from head of- fices and global fashionable trends, many organizations expect their teams and leaders to be continually flexible and respond in an agile manner to environment and customer requirements, which often only compounds the scale of challenges where groundwork is needed. In such situations it will be helpful to take development measures aimed to enhance team leader’s competencies. The second key component is ongoing development measures, which include periodic diagnoses combined with an appraisal of the current commitment level and review of team challenges. Responsibility for executing these measures lies with the leader: the more aware of the challenges the leader is, the better the outlook for the team and the anticipated work effects. According to a survey by Deloitte, 31% of the respondents claim that their companies operate entirely or almost entirely based on the teamwork model, while 65% of them report that teamwork constitutes a certain element of the structure, going beyond the vertical hierarchy, which is still the basis for the business activity1. As part of Aristotle Project, Google examined teams in terms of effectiveness2. It proved that the most important factor contributing to effectiveness was psychological safety: the conviction that no-one in the team would be punished or humiliated for sharing an idea, asking for help, reporting doubt or admitting to a mistake. The re- maining factors (enumerated by importance) are: dependability, structure and clarity, meaning, impact. All these phenomena are significantly influenced by the leader and their team leading skills. 1. E. Volini i in., Leading the Social Enterprise: Reinvent with a Human Focus, Deloitte 2019, https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/insights/us/articles/5136_HC-Trends-2019/DI_HC-Trends-2019.pdf. 2. Guide: Understand Team Effectiveness, Google, https://rework.withgoogle.com/print/guides/5721312655835136/.
9. str. 9 www.houseofskills.pl Emotionally agile leader 4
10. str. 10 www.houseofskills.pl We all talk about the pace of changes and VUCA, most often in the categories of needs and requirements concerning flexibility, adaptation, speed, accuracy of observations, con- tinuous learning or creativity, while less often about the emotional costs. Transformations, chaos, unpredictability of the future are reasons why mental resilience as well as stress, emotion and burnout management play a crucial role increasingly more often. The survey by Gallup4 conducted on a group of nearly 7,500 full-time employees reveals that 23% of them feels burnout at all times or very frequently, while further 44% experience burnout sometimes. We need understanding, authenticity, attention and real presence of another person at work more than ever before. Employees whose leaders are “available” emotionally can manage stress, pressure and burnout better, which translates into fewer absences, higher commitment and better performance. When enumerating the social competencies of leaders which have become more signifi- cant lately, we speak more often not only of emotional intelligence but also of emotionally agile leadership. Agile leaders must develop their own capability of emotional adaptation to the changing situations and understand the emotional needs and states of their people, be able to correctly judge the context and individual perspective of a given person in a giv- en situation. Emotional agility requires a leader to reflect and ask themselves the following question: “Can I actually understand what my employee feels and experiences to find the correct solution, different than before?”. The leader must act with courage and sensitivity so that they can add a new meaning to negative experiences in an emotionally difficult situation to open new perspectives for the team and build a positive energy. This is an “extra mile” of emotional intelligence, a dynamic approach that makes it possible to build a workplace based on values, empathy, motivation and feeling that work makes sense. A step forward towards emotional wisdom. 4. B. Wigert, S. Agrawal, Employee Burnout Part 1: The 5 Main Causes, Gallup 2018, https://www.gallup.com/workplace/237059/employee-burnout-part-main-causes.aspx. According to a survey by Gallup1, employees experiencing burnout are very often or almost always characterized by increased likelihood of their absence at work due to sick leaves (by 63%) and leaving the current employer (2.6-fold). Over 28% of Poles experience stress at work a few times a week, while every fourth Pole every day, as shown by the Workforce View in Europe survey con- ducted by ADP2. Most stressed employees in Poland are people employed in the financial and medical sectors, while representatives of the IT sector complain about stress least often. 1. B. Wigert, S. Agrawal, Employee Burnout, Part 1: The 5 Main Causes, Gallup 2018, https://www.gallup.com/workplace/237059/ employee-burnout-part-main-causes.aspx. 2 The Workforce View in Europe, ADP 2019, www.adp.pl/workforceview.
11. str. 11 www.houseofskills.pl Environmentally responsible organizations 5
12. str. 12 www.houseofskills.pl July 2019 was the hottest month in the history of measurements, as reported by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration5. Glacier melting accelerates, we are witnessing fires at an unprecedented scale, the area of Amazon rainforest is dwindling. Threats resulting from rapid climate changes are no longer a theoretical issue but a real problem. These changes affect the environment, business and, above all, people. According to a survey by the Polish Ministry of Environment, 90% of the respondents think that climate changes are a very serious problem. Most often we want to pro- tect the environment with view on health and future generations6. The environmental awareness of Poles is growing, also at work. Social responsibility of the organization for which we work, its impact on the society, the natural environment, the planet is of increasingly greater importance to employees. The environment-related topics are particularly important to the generation of Millenni- als, who will account for ca. 75% of the global workforce by 2025. The representatives of this generation care for social and environmental issues, need to feel the sense, want to work at organizations that contribute to spreading welfare7. Prospective em- ployees begin to equate the attractiveness of the employer’s brand, the increase in revenue, the profit generation with the organization’s care for the environment. Many organizations apply the pro-environmental approach by introducing energy-ef- ficient and eco-friendly standards. Leaders face the challenge of building workplaces that are attractive to employees and candidates also in this regard. Their role will be to serve as an example, to apply good practices and to promote an organizational culture oriented towards care for the environment. Examples of issues that are extremely im- portant to customers and employees are the response, at the organization’s strategy level, to climate changes or the reduction of carbon footprint. The idea of environmentally responsible business is becoming a growth driver and a key component of employer branding: it may help acquire and effectively retain talents. 5. Global Climate Report – July 2019, National Centers for Environmental Information 2019, https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/201907. 6. Report on the tracking survey of environmental awareness and behavior of Polish residents, Ministry of Environment 2018, https://www.gov.pl/web/klimat/badania-swiadomosci-ekologicznej. 7. The Deloitte Global Millennial Survey 2019, Deloitte 2019, https://www2.deloitte.com/global/en/pages/about-deloitte/articles/millennialsurvey.html. 83% of Gen Z respondents perceive organization’s success in non-financial categories. Expectations of young employees are not aligned with the stand- point of the business concerning the current priorities of organizations: > 33% of the respondents are of the opinion that organizations should aim to protect the natural environment and to make efforts to improve it, while only 14% of enterprises declare that this is their current priority. > 39% of the respondents perceive the improvement of the social envi- ronment, education, provision of information, prevention programs and promotion of health and wellbeing as organization’s goals, while only 25% of the surveyed employers regard the above as the current goals1. 1. Responsible company 4.0 as an expectation of new generations entering the labor market, Deloitte 2018, https://www2.deloitte.com/pl/pl/pages/zarzadzania-procesami-i-strategiczne/articles/odpowiedzialna-firma-4-0.html
13. str. 13 www.houseofskills.pl Digital aid: less is more 6
14. str. 14 www.houseofskills.pl The terms “digitization” and “artificial intelligence” are mentioned in the media and reports in all contexts. Digitally aided learning processes have been applied for over two dec- ades. Our e-learning.pl brand was established in 2001. We launched the first web portal with electronic versions of training material, surveys and diplomas over 10 years ago. At the same time, any kinds of development process support tools are commonplace rather than a novelty right now. They have become relatively cheap to create, widespread and easily available. We have proceeded from the stage of “novelty” and “curiosity” to the stage of wide popularity. Many organizations struggle with an internal oversupply of electronic systems and tools. One of our customers is a good example here: we discovered about 35 different IT sys- tems which had to be used by all employees at everyday work. Therefore, the challenge consists in the complexity and effectiveness of tools. The situation is complicated by the fact that all of us use various electronic “aids” every day, both in the professional and in the private life. Another application supposed to support development, implementation, communication and work drowns in the flood of the already applied tools. People responsible for development will have to take all this into account when planning successive deployments. HR departments need to become familiar with the increasingly richer offer of such solutions, be able to include them in their actions and adapt them to the company’s organizational culture. We also notice first signs of abandoning full automation of pro-development measures. Certain companies apply a mixed approach, in which an important role is played by consultants operating applications and systems. The above-mentioned operation focuses on interaction with participants, animation of communities, and introduction of a real feeling of contact with a human, located on the other side of the screen. After the period of enthusiasm about novelties and the flood of IT tools we should prepare for a period of simplification and looking for an answer to the question: “Do our people use it?”. There are also questions about benefits as well as costs of deployment and use. An international survey conducted last autumn by Protiviti, a global consulting company, on the group of nearly 900 CEOs and managing directors reveals that in 2019 the digital transformation and the associated risks were ranked first as regards priorities and involve- ment of senior managers. How to carry out a digital transformation successfully? The following key factors were chosen: > appropriate technology and dedicated solutions (39% of the responses), > well prepared employees (36% of the responses). However, the future of organizations often depends on factors unrelated with technology. Employees and consumers are the key links of the transformation. Even the best technol- ogy will not ensure success if people are not convinced to and included in the change1. 1. After: Future in the era of digital change, Infuture Institute 2019, http://infuture.institute/raporty/transformacja-cyfrowa/.
15. str. 15 www.houseofskills.pl Evolution of development platforms 7
16. str. 16 www.houseofskills.pl Most large organizations have already deployed development platforms. Traditional Learning Management Systems (LMS) are replaced by the new generation of tools: Learning Experience Platforms (LXP). These names hide an extremely interesting world of capabilities, useful in the context of development. LMSs are oriented towards linear support of development processes. They focus on delivering selected and pre-determined contents: the same to all users, in a standard- ized form. They are unable to adapt resources to the recipient’s learning preferences and styles and have poorly developed recommendation mechanisms. When compared with the manner in which we use digital contents today, they are becoming more and more archaic. LXP, in turn, is the Netflix of the training world: a system that selects contents depend- ing on user characteristics and needs. LXP engages mechanisms that rapidly analyze data aggregated, for example, by type of recipient, personality profile, professional group, or skills. Thanks to that, resources can be tailored better and those enjoying greatest popularity and being most effective are selected and proposed faster. In addi- tion, platforms ask questions and use the answers (and subsequently the real use) to customize the offer to the declared preferences and competencies of the user. LXPs are oriented towards faster content finding, facilitation of access to content on the moment when it is most needed, at any place, on any device. Such an approach is aligned with needs, trends and the lifestyle. The focus is on user needs, exchange of data and practice, network-based learning. Often LXPs mix corporate resources with generally available contents and supplier contents. Personalized development clouds that give access to rich contents from various sources are created. It is the user that decides how they are used. Everyone sees and receives something different, similarly to popular movie services. Modern platforms are becoming systems of content management, knowledge manage- ment, and leaarning: all in one. A rapid market development is observable here. LXPs offer space for application of artificial intelligence mechanisms, where big data sets are available. This means that the future looks exciting.
17. str. 17 www.houseofskills.pl Storytelling 8
18. str. 18 www.houseofskills.pl Storytelling means creation of exceptional stories. The ability to tell stories allows us to exchange information in a natural manner. People have used it for centuries to talk about their dreams, frustrations, successes and failures, about difficulties and ways to overcome them. Informing others about life-changing events lies in our nature. Stories conveying an appropriate message and values fulfil important social functions: they build ties and form the backbone of culture. In today’s excessively automated and digitally-driven world, everything “human” gains a new value. Leaders and organizations can no longer remain faceless beings. In order to survive, companies have to communicate with customers and employees, inspire and engage at a deeper level than before. Here is where storytelling appears: a phenomenon known for centuries becomes part of the key skill set of modern, effectively operating organizations and engaging leaders. “He who has and weaves the story is in charge”, said Olga Tokarczuk in her Nobel lecture before collecting the prize. True stories stimulate emotions, are catalysts of openness in conversation, open a dialog about difficult matters, concerns or objections. They build authenticity of the leader and organization, thereby reinforcing identification with and at- tachment to the organization among employees. The leader-storyteller engages, inspires, acquires project ambassadors. Stories are a social currency used for winning favor with others . They persuade people, allow us to sell ideas effectively, build a sense of community. Corporate stories exert an impact on various planes. Internal ones, for example a story of a difficult project that was finished successfully owing to non-standard actions in line with the corporate values, stories of customers, stories about the professional career of the boss, build an organiza- tional culture and serve as a motivation tool. They allow leaders to reach their employees. Outbound stories, addressed to customers, fulfil a marketing function and make a product or brand leave an emotional trace in a recipient. Stories dedicated to potential candidates effectively build the employer’s brand. Storytelling is a term that originates from marketing. Henry Jenkins, an MIT pro- fessor, media scholar and author of the term, characterizes it as a new manner of telling stories with the use of suitable methodologies. It is a communi- cation tool that enables presentation of various ideas in a multidimensional, emotionally charged manner that is attractive to recipients1. Storytelling consists in creating and conveying a well prepared story with a protagonist who has a specific goal, with a plot full of twists and turns, with a solution and a moral2. 1. Encyclopedia of management, https://mfiles.pl/pl/index.php/Storytelling. 2. S. Denning, The Leader’s Guide to Storytelling: Mastering the Art and Discipline of Business Narrative, John Wiley & Sons, 2005. 8. O. Tokarczuk, The tender narrator, Nobel lecture delivered on 7 December 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvZAXL28K2E&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR3W1DGK0OTCQ4Yk4E9hQdWx1nm-qZJ- mxMfT6sQpq5r5zYuM8KmNPEjkF8I&app=desktop. 9. P. Tkaczyk, Narratologia, Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, 2017.
19. str. 19 www.houseofskills.pl Development on the border of art and business 9
20. str. 20 www.houseofskills.pl The development service market more and more often shows a need for tools and solu- tions to be anchored in a specific professional situation that is close to the participants’ realities. It is no longer sufficient to simply convey knowledge. Training participants do not want to receive ready hints and simple solutions. They look for such work forms that stimulate emotions, permit full immersion in the simulated reality, experimentation and testing of new behaviors. The trend to create immersive experience10, borrowed from technological solutions, is broader. Participants are invited to a virtual reality also in museums and theaters. In the past, we could only look at exhibits placed behind glass at a museum, but now an exciting interactive journey is offered there, during which the recipient interacts with the exhibits and experiences real emotions. Similar processes are observable in the world of education for adults. Methods derived from the world of art are applied increasingly more often during train- ing of skills. This unobvious combination of art and business enables participants to discover their own creativity and to overcome barriers. One of examples is the appli- cation of theater techniques in the learning and development processes. Trainees as- sume various roles in the simulated reality in a psychologically safe environment, they leave their comfort zones and improvise, at the same time checking new strategies of conduct. Such educational methods are particularly important in the context of leader- ship and organization transformation. They enable total immersion, real presence and feeling of the new situation. In our experiences with customers, work using the interactive the drama method - ex- perience suspended between business reality and theater fiction - serves for inducing spontaneous reactions, learning new behaviors at a quick pace. The real emotions aroused by the interactive play in workshop participants reinforce learning and allow them to transfer the new behaviors effectively to the reality outside the classroom. 10. Map of trends 2019, Infuture Institute 2019, http://infuture.institute/raporty/mapa-trendow-2019/.
21. str. 21 www.houseofskills.pl Learning communities 10
22. str. 22 www.houseofskills.pl Business essentially relies on quick exchange of knowledge not only contained in doc- umentation, instructions, guidelines, lists, databases, files or systems but also stored in people’s minds: immaterial and elusive. Access to information and knowledge exchange are supported more and more popular- ly and comprehensively by technological solutions. According to surveys conducted by we.connect in 2017 and 2018 , it is knowledge management that is the key goal of digital platform deployment in organizations. Sharing knowledge and experience allows us to make better decisions faster, stimulates innovation and development, reduces costs of loss of expertise related to employee turn- over, strengthens cooperation between generations. It becomes particularly significant when such changes are introduced that can only be successful if pace at which new desir- able behaviors and modes of conduct trickle into the organization is right. Success might be leveraged by a relatively small group of ambassadors of change, who proactively share their experience from their experiments with new modes of conduct. As a result, once the critical mass is exceeded, new behaviors become a desirable standard and a benchmark. As shown by our experiences from working with participants in development programs, often the subjective sense of loneliness is a barrier to introduction of changes at the per- sonal level. When we want to learn new things, we are willing to ask our boss but also our peers who contend with similar challenges and operate in a similar business environment. Learning from peers involves a significant advantage: it creates an atmosphere of psycho- logical safety, which facilitates experimentation and risk taking, and by helping others learn we become more aware of our own talents and capabilities. Construction of networks of formal and informal allies in learning processes, creation of an organizational culture that facilitates and promotes such cooperation are becoming a priority or many organizations. Introduction of a policy of open communication and easy access to mentors, launch of digital cooperation and knowledge exchange platforms, shar- ing success stories or conclusions from failures or mistakes, creation of discussion groups and support groups - all such actions will determine the pace of changes. Cliché: a learning organization means to an increasing extent: competitive advantage. 11. Enterprise Business Collaboration 2018 Survey Report, 2018, https://www.enterprise-communication-hub.com/enterprise-business-collaboration-2018-survey-report/. The survey conducted by GP Strategies1 presents methods of skill learning and development that participants in development processes are most willing to choose. Three methods indicated most often by the respondents are: > learning with a colleague/peer, mentor or a friend, who are learning new skills and knowledge (51%), > session delivered by a trainer in a classroom (50%), > cooperation with other people who want to learn the same skill (38%). 1.Voice of the Learner Report, GP Strategies 2019, https://www.gpstrategies.com/votl/.
23. str. 23 www.houseofskills.pl Responsible for execution of the business strategy, cre- ation and introduction of new consulting and training solutions. Graduate in Management and Marketing at the Warsaw School of Economics. Completed also an Executive MBA program provided by UQAM (Universi- ty of Quebec at Montreal) and WSE. Graduated from the School of Business Trainers under the aegis of the Polish Psychological Association. Vice President of the Management Board of the Polish Association of Con- sulting Employers. Co-author of the book Zespoły po polsku [Polish-style teams] and author of a popular blog about development issues – www.HRmaznaczenie.pl. Analyzes trends in human development in organi- zations. Manages know-how resources and coordi- nates actions related to knowledge sharing at House of Skills. Cooperates with trainers and consultants in various subject-matter fields. Graduated from the Fac- ulty of Psychology at the University of Warsaw with the specialization in personality development support. Completed the Extended DISC® certification course, a basic Solution-Focused Therapy course, an inter- national coaching practice course in the Netherlands. Currently a student at the Academy of Transactional Analysis. Responsible for the offer’s subject matter as well as employee recruitment and development at House of Skills. Graduated from the Institute for Social Preven- tion and Resocialization at the University of Warsaw and completed postgraduate studies in Human Re- sources Management. Boasts many years’ experience at work related to design of development solutions in organizations, among others in the International Foun- dation for Capital Market Development and Ownership Transformations in Poland - Center for Privatization, as well as Asea Brown Boveri Poland. Michał Zaborek, President of the Management Board Katarzyna Marszalik, Know-how Development Specialist Joanna Domeradzka, Development Director Our bios
24. str. 24 www.houseofskills.pl About us House of Skills is a leading brand on the Polish market of consulting and training services. We are currently celebrating our 25th anniversary. The roots of our brand date back to 1990. House of Skills was created as a result of the merger of six well- known training and consulting companies operating on the market since the early 90s: Acceptus, e-learning.pl, ISO Swedish Management Group Poland, Specialist&Friends, Telephone Doctor Polska, TMI Polska. We specialize in the development of managers and organizations. We operate so as to make investments in human development and management systems brought a real return. Development is always a change. The core and reason for undertaking development activities is CHANGE - starting to do something new, working out a different attitude, responding adequately to new situations, implementing effective strategies in everyday activities. We help to introduce real and measurable changes at every level: from employees, through leaders and their teams, to strategic changes concerning the whole organization. Our role is to make the change bring the intended result. How do we do it? > We help to properly define the purpose of change. > We take into account people and the context in which they operate. > In development projects, we focus on the points of the leverage - what will bring the highest result with the relatively smallest effort.
25. House of Skills Experience, that changes lives. More on www.houseofskills.pl