“Personnel development must make itself superfluous to have a future” – a provocative thesis that comes from its own ranks! In the article, we summarize the problems in today's HRD (human resource development). And point out ways to deal with the necessary changes: With completely new roles for personnel developers!
One fact is undeniable: With increasing digitization, not only are production and communication processes changing. The handling of “human resources” is also affected by change – not least due to new requirements, competencies, and learning methods.
Under the keyword “Personnel Development 4.0”, this change is being discussed in many voices. Rarely have I met such a clear voice as that of Christian Böhler – notably a personnel developer himself – in his article “Disrupt HR!” (print or podcast at managerSeminare).
“Personnel development has outlived itself!”
Böhler describes personnel development as a pacifier from which HR departments must wean themselves: “Because the way further education is conducted there and the qualification of employees is promoted has outlived itself. The ”pacifier“ is not just a specific format, procedure, or tool, but personnel development itself. Because it does more harm than good.”
Christian Böhler is not alone in his opinion that personnel development in its current form is no longer contemporary. A recent survey by managerSeminare supports his statement: after all, 65% of respondents believe that personnel development will only exist in a modified form in five years.
It becomes clear that personnel development in its current form seems to have no future. But where does this sudden shift towards superfluity come from, when HRD has played an increasingly larger role in most organizations in recent decades?
Possible causes of death for personnel development
In his article, Christian Böhler directly cites several “diseases” of today's personnel development. Basically, HRD has two fundamental tasks – both of which it no longer sufficiently fulfills today:
The building of competencies, which, among other things, consists of knowledge, values, and experience.
The provision of relevant help for employees – and precisely in the form and at the time in which it is needed.
The crux: Personnel development in its current form is “part of the problem, not the solution. HRD is to blame for the fact that many employees still do not know what to do with computer science, do not understand digital processes, and cannot handle networking” – says Böhler.
The biggest unsolved problems of today's HRD were also addressed in a survey – which comes to very clear results: The main problem of HRD is the fixation on its own processes (50%). This is accompanied by a lack of courage (46%), as well as a lack of knowledge about one's own employees (44%).
The three biggest unsolved problems of personnel development today: process fixation, lack of courage, and too little knowledge. // Source: managerSeminare Opinion Monitor
“Personnel development is part of the problem, not the solution!”
Several reasons lead to HR departments being unable to fulfill the required tasks today (anymore):
The entire construct of “personnel development” becomes too rigid for the agile world: HRD is simply too slow in its existing processes to recognize and cover the changing needs of employees at an early stage. Ideally, needs would have to be recognized before they occur and lead to problems.
Most personnel developers lack the digital and professional competencies themselves that they are actually supposed to impart. Competencies do not consist only of knowledge and skills, but also of values, motivation, experience, and mindset. (More on the competency approach at managerseminare)
In most companies, personnel development takes place heavily separated from actual everyday work – without this connection, employees lack the opportunity to gather real experiences. Today, seminar rooms are no longer needed, but rather “possibilities to experiment and make one's own experiences.”
“Instead of looking for learning success, it is about making your own experiences!”
This hard blow can certainly be frightening: Will you as a personnel developer become superfluous soon? Will the entire area of “HRD” simply be abolished? In a certain way, Christian Böhler's answer is: Yes! “If you take all of this seriously and think it through to the end, it may well be possible that companies will do without HRD, as it is understood today, in the future.”
The emphasis is on “as it is understood today” – because for personnel developers, completely new opportunities to become relevant again are opening up:
Personnel developers can gain relevance through a new orientation, more competence, and knowledge. // Source: managerSeminare Opinion Monitor
It is up to the personnel developers themselves to refresh their own skills and to get to know their target group, the employees, better. This then results in a complete realignment:
If new scopes for self-directed learning and experiences are created, employees must not be left to their own devices. “On the one hand, you abolish yourself, on the other hand, you fill the arising gap” – says Böhler.
Long live personnel development! – New roles for HRD practitioners
There are diverse opinions on exactly how this gap should be filled. Three concepts are briefly touched upon below:
Personnel developer as a “People Partner”
Christian Böhler sees the People Partner as a possible role: The focus is on employee needs, consulting, and support. Your goal as a People Partner would no longer be to trigger the learning process, but to enable your employees to learn in a self-organized manner – for example, through resources or a suitable learning environment.
Granular individual roles for HRD
Apart from People Partners, a variety of other roles for personnel developers come into question. As many as 6 roles are identified by the network “Bildung plus” in Switzerland. Among them:
the “Provider”, who designs and implements offers for competence development.
the “Broker”, who finds external providers, plans cooperations, and mediates between external and internal persons.
the “Enabler”, who develops competencies for self-directed learning and designs framework conditions for successful learning (very similar to the People Partner).
You can find the complete overview with all roles and possible areas of responsibility in the presentation in the article "Current topics in corporate education management" at scil (swiss competence centre for innovations in learning).
Personnel developer as a learning facilitator
Finally, there is the concept of the “learning facilitator”. How this new role for personnel developers results from the requirements of soft skills, digitization, and New Work has been explained in detail by colleague Corinna in the article “How to become a learning facilitator”. Central to this is the connection of classic face-to-face training and digital online learning concepts – an exciting approach for HRD!
“Personnel development must get out of the old structures!”
– This is how I can summarize my personal conclusion on “Disrupt HR!” and the diverse new roles. To really make employees fit for the future, it is not enough to spruce up old structures a bit! At their core, they will always retain their rigid character, reacting slowly and sluggishly to new requirements and only meeting needs when they have already become problematic.
What personnel development needs are completely new structures that are aligned from the ground up to the new working world and comprehensive digitization.
All signs point to “storm” for personnel developers! It's best to take the initiative for change yourself and broaden your horizon: Digitally supported, multimedia learning methods are indispensable in the long run! A simple yet effective step towards modern employee training is offered by Blended Learning – the integration of classic face-to-face events with self-directed online phases.
Frequently Asked Questions and Answers
Why is classic personnel development often considered too rigid today?
Classic personnel development often works with fixed processes, planned measures, and separated learning formats. In a dynamic working world, such structures often react too slowly to new competence needs and changes in everyday work.
What problems complicate modern personnel development?
Among the biggest problems are process fixation, a lack of courage to change, and too little knowledge about the actual needs of employees. This results in further training offers that are not close enough to everyday work and current challenges.
What new role can personnel development take on in companies?
Personnel development can understand itself more as a learning facilitator, People Partner, or enabler. The focus shifts from the pure organization of training courses to the design of learning environments in which employees can learn and gather experience in a self-directed manner.
Why are digital learning methods becoming more important for the future of personnel development?
Digital learning methods enable more flexible, faster, and work-related training. They help personnel developers to better integrate learning offers into everyday work and to specifically support self-directed learning.
Updated on 05/08/2026
