Sponsored by SAP.
In today’s episode of the #WorkTrends podcast, we are going to explore AI’s role in taking employee performance into personal development. But be fore we get started, ask yourself these questioins:
In an AI-centric world, what does the future of skills-based talent look like?
How can AI help prepare managers for discussions about skills and development with employees?
Will this technology help us transform data into actionable recommendations?
We’ll find out the answers to these questions and more, so let’s get started!
Today, we are joined by Geoff Fetner, Senior Director of Product Management at SAP SuccessFactors. Geoff is a product manager with a proven track record for bringing cloud-based enterprise software to market by applying agile methodologies, making data-driven decisions, managing high performance teams, and working collaboratively with cross-functional partners. Geoff is an absolute rockstar with incredible experience, understanding how HR tech affects the market, and how it can improve your, my, our daily operations.
Skills-Based Talent Practices
Listen, Geoff, we are seeing a big shift from role-based to skills-based talent practices. Why is this movement gaining momentum, and how are organizations gauging skills proficiency?
Now, organizations are wrestling with, gosh, we’re entering an increasingly AI-centric world, and it’s just shifting and changing everything. What does it look like in the future? And I think skills become even more critical. It’s just a different set of skills. And that’s some of the conversations I’ve been having with customers, and the constant refrain keeps coming up. I’d be curious to find out what you’ve been hearing as well. But, it’s this triad of skills. We’ve got to have folks that are skilled in creativity, got to be critical thinkers, leadership, and then, they need that technical skill base. They need to be literate in AI, and understanding the mechanics of AI. And then, that third piece is the organizational knowledge, governance, regulatory skills. Those things really matter.
AI Performance and Goals Agent
Let’s go into what exactly is a performance and goals agent, right?
So, we set out to think, well, how can an agent actually get its arms around this problem? And so, we built an agent with that problem in mind. And for your listeners, if this is the first time you’re hearing this, the performance and goals agent is designed to help managers prepare quickly and effectively for these discussions. It does a great job of tapping into rich talent data. If you think about best practice … I get asked, “Geoff, what’s the best practice for talent?” And I say, “Well, it just depends on what your goals are.” But, generally, you want to create this culture of feedback. That’s how people typically grow and get better at what they do is they have a culture of giving and requesting feedback.
Transforming Skills into Development Recommendations
How does new technology seamlessly translate performance data, especially skills evaluation into actionable, development recommendations? And why is this connection such a red-hot topic right now, Geoff? What’s going on?
Well, yeah, there’s a lot going on. But, yeah, I think, and not that this is going to come as a galloping shot, but I think one of the ways we’ve seen technology driving change, of course, is you guessed it, AI. And I think about this as I share with you an interesting anecdote. About a year and a half ago, we set out to transform our performance management experience, and we do a lot of listening. We go on listening tours with customers. … But, so it’s an example of what we did in our product. We built this performance insight tool, and the beauty is, it doesn’t just look back. It doesn’t just evaluate performance. But, to your point, to your question, it’s looking at skill gaps. It might go into all of that rich talent data and identify, okay, this person’s not particularly adept at delegation. They’re okay, but they need to learn how to delegate better, don’t we all? And it recommends actionable steps for improvement.
To Learn More About AI’s Role in Personal Development
First, listen to today’s full podcast episode! And be sure to subscribe to the #WorkTrends Podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
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