“Personal development must render itself unnecessary in order to have a future” – a provocative thesis that comes from within its own ranks! In this article, we summarize the problems in today’s personal development. And we outline ways to cope with the necessary changes: with entirely new roles for personal developers!
One fact is indisputable: with the increasing digitalization, not only production and communication processes are changing. The handling of “human resources” is also affected by the transformation – not least due to new requirements, competencies, and learning methods.
Under the buzzword “Personal Development 4.0,” this change is being discussed in many voices. Rarely have I encountered such a clear voice as that of Christian Böhler – well aware, he himself is a personal developer – in his contribution “Disrupt HR!” (Print or podcast at managerSeminare).
“Personal development has outlived itself!”
Böhler describes personal development as a pacifier that HR departments need to wean themselves off: “For the way further education is conducted there and the qualification of employees is promoted has become outdated. The “pacifier” is not just a particular format, procedure, or tool, but personal development itself. Because it does more harm than good.”
With his opinion that personal development in its current form is outdated, Christian Böhler is not alone. A current survey by managerSeminare supports his statement: at least 65% of respondents believe that personal development will only exist in a modified form in five years.
It is clear that personal development in its current form seems to have no future. But where does this sudden shift towards redundancy come, when PE has taken on an increasingly larger role in most organizations over the past decades?
Possible causes of death for personal development
In his article, Christian Böhler directly lists several “diseases” of today’s personal development. Fundamentally, PE has two basic tasks – which it no longer fulfills sufficiently:
The building of competencies, which consists among other things of knowledge, values, and experience.
The provision of relevant assistance for employees – precisely in the form and at the time when it is needed.
The crux: Personal development in its current form is “part of the problem, not part of the solution. PE is to blame for the fact that many employees still do not know how to deal with computer science, do not understand digital processes, and cannot cope with networking” – says Böhler.
The biggest unresolved problems of today’s PE were also addressed in a survey – which yielded very clear results: The main problem of PE is the fixation on its own processes (50%). In addition, there’s a lack of courage (46%) and insufficient knowledge about one’s own employees (44%).
The three biggest unresolved problems of personal development today: process fixation, lack of courage, and too little knowledge. // Source: managerSeminare Opinion Monitor
“Personal development is part of the problem, not part of the solution!”
Several reasons lead to the fact that HR departments today can no longer (adequately) fulfill the required tasks:
The entire construct “personal development” is too rigid for the agile world: PE is simply too slow in its previous processes to recognize and meet the changing needs of employees early enough. Ideally, needs should be identified before they arise and lead to problems.
Most personal developers lack the digital and professional competencies they are supposed to convey. Competencies consist not only of knowledge and skills but also of values, motivation, experience, and mindset. (More on the competency approach at managerSeminare)
Personal development takes place in most companies strongly separated from everyday work – without this connection, employees lack the opportunity to gain real experiences. Today, not seminar rooms are needed, but “opportunities to experiment and gain personal experiences.”
“Instead of focusing on learning success, it’s about making personal experiences!”
This tough blow can indeed be frightening: Will you soon become redundant as a personal developer? Will the entire area of “PE” simply be abolished? In a way, Christian Böhler’s answer is: Yes! “If one takes all of this seriously and thinks it through to the end, it could well be possible that companies will manage without PE, as one understands it today.”
The emphasis is on “as one understands it today” – for personal developers, entirely new opportunities to become relevant again open up:
Personal developers can gain relevance through a new focus, more competencies, and knowledge. // Source: managerSeminare Opinion Monitor
It is up to the personal developers themselves to refresh their own skills and to better understand their target group, the employees. This then results in a complete realignment:
When new spaces for self-directed learning and experiences are created, employees should not be left to their own devices. “On the one hand, one abolishes oneself, on the other hand, one fills the emerging gap” – says Böhler.
Long live personal development! – New roles for personal developers
What exactly filling this gap should look like is a matter of diverse opinions. Below are three concepts briefly outlined:
Personal developers as “People Partners”
Christian Böhler sees the possible role of a People Partner: At the center are the needs of the employees, consulting, and support. Your goal as a People Partner would no longer be to initiate the learning process, but to enable your employees to learn in a self-organized manner – for example, through resources or a suitable learning environment.
Small individual roles for PE
Apart from People Partners, there are many other roles for personal developers to consider. The network “Bildung plus” in Switzerland identifies as many as 6 roles. Among them
the “Provider”, who develops and implements offers for competency development.
the “Broker”, who finds external providers, plans cooperations, and mediates between external and internal individuals.
the “Facilitator”, who develops competencies for self-directed learning and designs the framework conditions for successful learning (very similar to the People Partner).
The complete overview of all roles and possible areas of responsibility can be found in the presentation in the article
