Do Your Employees Know The Path Forward?
January 22, 2025
January 21st, 2024 – By Jeff Reid, COO & CPO of SkillCyclele
The beginning of a new year is a time of reflection and planning, and for HR leaders, it’s an opportunity to focus on building essential HR skills. While much of the HR profession revolves around enabling the growth of others, this is a chance to consider your own development and prepare for the changes that may lie ahead.
Learning is just as crucial for HR leaders as it is for any other individual. According to AIHR’s State of HR Upskilling Report, 79% of HR professionals do not have the competencies necessary to solve the people problems that organizations are likely to face in the next five years.
Technology shifts, tighter budgets, and increasing demands mean HR leaders must be ready to do more with less. Evaluating your own skill set can help you meet these challenges and continue making a meaningful impact within the organization.
Let’s take a closer look at the value of self-improvement for HR leaders and explore:
HR professionals are well-versed in assessing employee skills to ensure workforce readiness, but how often do they carve out time for their own development?
Openness to continuous learning is one of the six leadership traits McKinsey identifies as essential for excelling in an increasingly complicated and uncertain world.
Conducting an honest skills inventory allows HR leaders to:
A deliberate commitment to translating knowledge into practical workplace application builds durable skills. New concepts, even for HR pros, may remain theoretical rather than transformative without consistent practice and real-world application.
Skill-building is most effective when supported by a community of accountability. For HR leaders, this means committing to their growth and seeking feedback and guidance from peers, mentors, and even their teams. Meaningful development comes from repeated practice, through successes and setbacks, until new behaviors become second nature.
Ongoing skill development will help you grow in confidence and capability, allowing you to advocate effectively for yourself, your employees, and the organization.
In a time when every department is being asked to contribute measurable value, HR leaders must be able to do the same. Assessing and addressing these areas will equip you to lead through change and position yourself as a trusted strategic partner.
HR leaders should prioritize building skills in these three critical areas to stay ahead of how quickly things can change in any organization.
Now is an excellent time to get better at communicating HR’s strategy and planning through data. HR reporting skills are becoming increasingly essential as organizations expect every function to demonstrate its impact on business outcomes.
Reporting isn’t just about gathering numbers — it’s about storytelling through tangible HR metrics. The ability to analyze data from various sources and present a clear, compelling narrative about HR’s contributions to revenue and strategy is a game-changer.
To get funding and support, HR leaders must demonstrate a clear link between their actions and the results they achieve. Mastering reporting enhances your credibility and helps position HR as a critical driver of business success.
Familiarize yourself with key HR metrics, practice turning data into actionable insights, and refine your presentation skills. Tools like dashboards or visualization software can help bring your story to life.
Success isn’t doing the same thing well, on repeat. Organizations no longer operate on static, year-long strategies.
Instead, most companies must embrace change and pivot as needed to ensure high performance. Change demands agility, and HR leaders must have capacity ready when priorities shift, or data suggests a new direction.
Adaptability skills don’t just help you keep up with other organizations or what you did last year. Instead, they enable you to embrace change and stay ahead. From responding to market shifts to new technologies to workforce changes, HR leaders who can embrace change are better prepared to lead through uncertainty.
Being adaptable enables you to seize opportunities and solve problems proactively, keeping your organization resilient and competitive.
Develop a mindset of continuous learning, focus on managing shifting priorities, and practice making real-time adjustments to strategies. Staying engaged with cross-functional teams can also provide fresh perspectives.
Many HR tools have existed for some time but aren’t used to their full capacity. However, with the integration of more advanced features, including AI, into HR platforms, effective technology use is no longer optional.
HR leaders must deepen their understanding of the tools they use to optimize existing resources and avoid unnecessary investments in point solutions.
Technology should work for you, not the other way around. Knowing your systems inside and out helps you maximize features like AI-driven insights, integrated learning and development tools, and performance management capabilities.
A strong command of HR technology empowers you to streamline processes, reduce busy work, and drive better results for your organization.
Stay informed about product updates, participate in vendor training, and explore ways to use your HR tools more effectively. Collaborating with IT and other tech-savvy colleagues can also accelerate your learning.
Investing in your development as an HR leader creates a ripple effect that benefits you, your team, and the rest of the organization. Honing your skills in reporting, adaptability, and technology will better prepare you to navigate complex change and drive lasting impact.
Remember, developing your HR skills will thrive on practice and accountability. Look for opportunities to apply your learning and engage with others for feedback and support to reinforce your new skills.
As the new year begins, reflect on your strengths, identify areas for growth, and commit to continuous learning. Your efforts today will enhance your career and help your organization thrive through change.
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