Work is continuously changing. For HR developers in companies, more and more trends are becoming apparent: In addition to strategies for digitalization and new work, soft skill training is gaining importance. Learn in the article how HR developers 4.0 will become learning companions in the future.
This Means HR Development 4.0
As an HR developer, you work in a field that is already very future-oriented: On the one hand, you continuously assess the need for new competencies in your company. On the other hand, you develop future strategies to meet this need. However, HR development itself is also changing!
New terms like Education 4.0, Trainer 4.0, or Further Education 4.0 show that HR developers must prepare for new fields of work in the future. The “4.0” describes the anticipated changes in the learning and working world in the coming years.
What does this “4.0” mean? In reference to Industry 4.0, the fourth industrial revolution through digitalization, experts use the suffix 4.0 when they talk about future-oriented competencies. This usually involves processes related to digital intelligence and automation. A detailed explanation of 4.0 can be found in this article.
My colleague Hans Peter wrote about the requirements for HR development 4.0 over two years ago. The trends mentioned back then are more relevant now than ever. A new perspective is worthwhile!
Trends in HR Development: Education 4.0
Currently, three very large trends can be observed in HR development, which partially extend to many other areas:
Soft skills are becoming increasingly important.
Digitalization fundamentally changes ongoing processes.
Work itself requires new forms - keyword New Work.
Due to these major changes, the role of HR developers is also changing: They stand in the tension between man and machine as well as between increased self-responsibility and new teamwork. Today, or at the latest in 5-10 years, HR developers are increasingly functioning as learning companions.
But how can you, as an HR developer, respond to these trends? And what does it mean to be a learning companion?
Conveying Soft Skills as a Learning Companion
Soft skills are becoming increasingly important, among other reasons, because hard skills are easier to learn: Google answers almost all my questions, and YouTube explains steps for numerous skills. However, how I handle this information falls within the realm of soft skills. This is exactly what still distinguishes us humans from machines: abilities such as persuasive communication, leadership strategies, or teamwork.
See also: Revolutionizing the training industry with soft skill training
Soft skills are becoming increasingly important in the age of digitalization: Abilities like leadership or communication are best taught from person to person.
How the Need for Soft Skills Changes the Role of HR Developers
The difficulty with soft skills lies in the long-term change in action: It's simply not enough to know which strategies I use to lead employees effectively. I must apply these strategies in my daily work - and that is only possible through practice.
As an HR developer 4.0, you will therefore offer training that ideally works “on the job”. A one-day crash course makes sense for hard skills like Excel, but it simply isn't enough, for example, in leadership training or in communication strategies.
Instead, employees need to be supported more frequently than in the past in soft skill training over the long term: Weekly practice and tips for very concrete current cases are invaluable here - and lead to real changes in action.
Using Digitalization as a Learning Companion
Digitalization is the trigger for many new processes - for example, for the increased demand for soft skills mentioned earlier. For many, the term “digitalization” is both very vague and associated with a certain aversion: After all, it means a fundamental change in many areas of life.
It is helpful to recognize, particularly the opportunities and positive aspects of digitalization: For example, employees from various branches can exchange ideas much more easily and participate in joint training without having to travel across the country.
Digitalization is diverse: Our entire work and living environment is changing through the possibilities of digitalization.
How Digitalization Changes the Role of HR Developers
HR developers and other Learning & Development professionals increasingly see themselves through digitalization as learning companions or learn coaches, as Joachim Niemeier from the Corporate Learning Community writes. He refers to a study by scil in which 225 HR developers were surveyed.
Central Results of the Study:
In 2018, companies were insufficiently digitalized.
Companies, and especially HR departments, know too little about digitalization and corresponding methods.
At the same time, HR developers rate their own change management skills very highly.
HR developers view digitalization predominantly positively.
This means: As an HR developer 4.0, you see digitalization primarily as an opportunity to enhance human skills (keyword augmentation). In doing so, you focus your training on the tasks that people can perform better than machines: The aforementioned soft skills.
Living New Work as a Learning Companion
The third major trend is called New Work and summarizes how work in companies should look in the future. This affects HR developers 4.0 doubly:
As an “enabler” of new working processes: In your role as an HR developer, you contribute to reshaping work in your company.
As an employee: Alongside your specific role, you are also a regular employee. New Work affects how you design meetings, from where you work, etc.
Examples of New Work: Flexible workplaces, collegial leadership, meetings with active participation, home office, increased self-responsibility of employees.
New Work also means a restructuring of responsibility: Each employee must learn how to structure their daily work meaningfully.
How New Work Changes the Role of HR Developers
In the context of New Work, employees are increasingly becoming active contributors in the company: Instead of only following instructions, they are increasingly involved in decision-making processes. This new attitude towards work is likely to change the perspective on further education as well.
As an HR developer 4.0, you will therefore look for further education concepts where participants are increasingly self-responsibly learning. This also fits with the previously mentioned trends of soft skills and digitalization: Employees must learn how to handle the greater freedoms of New Work properly.
(Further) Education 4.0 in Companies Summarized Means:
Due to digitalization, the part of work that only humans can perform comes into focus in further education.
Employees are increasingly working agile and self-directed with New Work.
Employees need support on how they can live New Work: Soft skill training.
In the future, HR developers will likely function as learning companions or learn coaches. This will require further education concepts tailored to the conditions of soft skills, digitalization, and New Work.
Making Education 4.0 Possible Now: Supporting Training Online
The three trends mentioned have already changed further education today. Within 10 years at the latest, digitalization and New Work will have progressed to such an extent that sustainable soft skill training will become an indispensable part of corporate further education. Education 4.0 therefore requires a concept that makes the above-mentioned framework conditions possible.
This concept has existed for many years and is gradually gaining more attention among HR developers: Blended Learning refers to the learning strategy of furthering employees in a mix of classic face-to-face training and online-controlled self-study phase.
The face-to-face time (seminars, workshops, webinars) is primarily recommended as a joint kickoff and conclusion: Here, trainers provide their participants with the necessary information and motivation. The human closeness fosters the necessary bond between trainer and participant.
The online phase aligns perfectly with the idea of New Work: On an online platform, participants receive short learning impulses over weeks that they can work on independently - whenever and wherever it fits into their workday.
Learn more now about the concept of Blended Learning and take a look at the three common models Springer, Reiher, and Sandwich. We have provided a graphical overview for you to download.
