My Take-Aways from Talent Connect: Familiar topics - new context?
I just returned from an exciting week in Phoenix where I had the pleasure of attending #TalentConnect. I am a lifelong learner and events like this provide a valuable platform for co-creation and sharing among peers in the talent industry. A huge thank you to all my colleagues at LinkedIn who made this event possible and to our customers and speakers.
This year I am walking away with an overall feeling of reflecting on familiar topics in a new context. But is the context really that different? I am sharing my take-aways below and would love to hear from you all!
It’s a marathon and not a sprint!
When I look at our Global Talent Trends Report and reflect on the conversations I had with talent executives at Talent Connect this week, it stands out to me that we are still talking about the same topics (GenAi, Internal Mobility, Sluggishness in Hiring, Skillbased Talent Infrastructures, Integration of the HR Tech Stack, Human Skills). Does that mean we have no new insights? No Innovation? I observed a different level of energy this year at Talent Connect which made we wonder if we are all getting tired. It is a marathon and not a sprint and we need to embrace this as an ongoing change journey which requires us to build endurance and resilience. I personally loved listening to Mel Robbins when she introduced us to the 5 second rule which is very relevant in this context.
Human Skills – Have we forgotten how to use them?
We talked a lot about the Human Skills required as we see the advancements of GenAI. Human Skills is not a new topic, and we all have them within us – but maybe we have forgotten how to use and apply them? KimLoan Tran, PhD spoke about her 2-year journey at Allstate in building an agile learning culture underpinned by a skill-based infrastructure and technology. She highlighted two skills that were particularly important on her journey: The ability to partner across teams/ boundaries within her organisation as well as co-creating the solution with key stakeholders and users.
During a Roundtable conversation with Talent Executives hosted by me and John Vlastelica we talked about what human skills mean in our organisational contexts. Here are some of the skills that we all agreed are relevant:
LinkedIn’s Aneesh Raman talks about the 5 Cs in this context which I really like: Curiosity, Compassion, Creativity, Courage & Communication.
I personally see two additional skills that will be important for the future:
Teaching people how to learn: It seems we are all looking for technology solutions as the holy grail to enable us to change at the pace that is needed - however, teaching people how to learn will be a key enabler here. Our L&D teams cannot scale at the pace that is needed to keep up with the change in skills and we need to enable the system and the individuals within the system to know how and what to learn and where to find the right information or application.
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Adopting an engineering mindset: When talking to my peers in the industry I am learning more about how roles in the talent space are changing and evolving in the context of GenAI. This requires us to be more technology focused in our approach to learning and I can see the need for us to adopt an engineering mindset to be able to work with and apply the technology in the most effective way.
GenAI is not taking our jobs, but people, who know how to use it, will be!
I don’t know how it feels to you, but I started to pick up an “AI fatigue” when talking to talent leaders at Talent Connect. My boss Jennifer Shappley talked about “Ch…Ch….Changes” ?? and how hard it can be for us to lead in a time of ongoing change. There seems to be excitement about the opportunities, but how to get started seems difficult.
2.5/10 companies have not begun on their AI journey; and most organizations are curious and excited about AI’s potential but are stuck on how to make that potential a reality in the day-to-day of work.
Applying GenAI in the flow of work was a topic that featured in many of the sessions at Talent Connect highlighting ?the importance of moving from strategy to application. A highlight in this respect was the keynote by Allie K. Miller !
Taking an Anthropologist Perspective
In our Global Talent Trends Report I am talking about the need for taking a systemic approach when creating readiness for AI adoption.
Providing opportunities to apply gen AI in the flow of work (the what) needs to be combined with a focus on human skill development, in particular growth mindset, innovation, and resilience (the how). Underpinned by a culture of continuous learning, from new hires to senior executives (the who), “learning to learn” will become a critical skill for organizations as they develop talent that can adapt to the fast-evolving workplace.
And beyond that I think it might be necessary for us as talent leaders to approach the topic of AI readiness from an anthropologist perspective. What is going on in our organisations, what are employees feeling, thinking and doing? What works well already and where do they get stuck? What do they need from each other and from their managers? What do managers and leaders need? …..
This work usually requires time, which is hard to find these days! How can we be scrappy to just get started?
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Thought Leadership @LinkedIn | Journalism | Brand and Integrated Marketing
3 周It's a marathon for sure -- except when you're sprinting from roundtable to fireside chat to panel! Thank you, Stephanie, for adding to so many valuable conversations at Talent connect and beyond!
Helping Organizations Develop Their Leaders - Leadership Facilitator, Keynote Speaker, Podcast Host
3 周Stephanie Conway Thanks for sharing your thoughts and takeaways. Definitely resonates, especially your insights from KimLoan Tran, PhD's session as well as the fact that many of these initiatives (internal mobility, skills, career development) are not in fact new. This was definitely something that came up in conversation many times. It does feel that for many of these, while they are not new the context is different, and not to mention, some of the playbooks we used to rely on don't necessarily work in the same way (as a result of the context) I do think, especially for those in the enterprise space, it does really underscore the importance of having great stakeholders and bringing people on the journey with you - "many hands make light work" but also because in those really difficult times and moments, it helps to have some peers with you working together toward a big goal. Also, sorry that we did not get a chance to connect. I think I saw you from across the room but we were both walking in opposite directions. Next time!
Senior Customer Success Leader @LinkedIn | Systemic Business Coach
3 周Thanks Stephanie for taking the time to share your thoughts and take-aways. It definitely makes me feel a little bit like having been there myself.
Advocate for Diversity and Belonging | Programme Manager, Employers for Change | Ex-Googler |
3 周Thanks for sharing the insights from such an interesting event. There was so much about having an entrepreneurial mindset before, interesting to think that we all need to add a more engineering or tech mindset to it now. So overall ability to learn and adjust really seem to be the main skills to have. I would be curious also to learn how in such an event marginalized groups are involved and included.
Lovely and provocative summary, Stephanie!