Trend Personnel Development 2021: Big Data & AI in Personnel Development

Where once the search was on for the right piece of the puzzle when filling a position, today it's "What doesn't fit is made to fit!" A whole new way of approaching the topic - and just one of many trends in HR development that appose founder Marko Albrecht and blogger Stefan Scheller talk about in the new "Enable Excellence" podcast.

Turning from an operational service provider into a true strategic partner for the business – for Scheller, this is one of the most important current challenges for any HR development. "And this goes hand in hand with the question: How can I significantly support the (digital) transformation of the company?" For while the dynamics of change in the markets continue to increase, the ability to change in traditional organizations is nowhere near flexible enough to be able to govern adequately. 

Setting up the organization to be adaptable, crisis-resistant and agile - that is the great challenge.

And it is precisely in this transformation to an adaptable, crisis-resistant and agile organization that HR development plays a very decisive role. "If you take a closer look, we quickly come to the question: if we want to transform our portfolio and make it fit for the future - what skills do we need for this? And how do I find people with these vital skills for the future?"

Rethinking personnel development

This way of thinking no longer works today. We have to build skills for the future.

One thing is clear: If I find people among my employees who have the potential to quickly acquire the skills I'm looking for, that's a decisive advantage. "In the past, people used to talk about filling positions and, like a piece of a puzzle, figured out which person might fit in. You can't get there with that thinking today. We have to get more to saying, how can we make someone flexible and build skills for the future?"

And this is precisely where a problem lies in the personnel development of many companies: Often, I already lack the data that shows me which employee I can develop further and how, in order to make him - and thus the entire company - fit for the future. "I have to make this transparent and visible so that I don't continue to poke around in the fog. The very simple 'we'll just train everyone in the direction of the skills we need' approach won't work anymore."

Big Data trend in personnel development

The interplay between the Data Science Pipeline and the Competence Model quickly produces an overall picture.

This is where appose comes into play. "In a data science pipeline, the data from the CVs of all employees is collected, standardized and then made available in a clear and comparable form at the push of a button. Together with a competence model for the respective industry, an overall picture then quickly emerges: Which skills will I need for my task in the future, which of them do my employees already cover - and which of them can I usefully train and to whom?"

appose is therefore a simple tool that precedes a disruptive new trend in HR development: Big Data and AI in HR development. During this podcast, Marko Albrecht and Stefan Scheller discuss which steps are still necessary for this (and much more) - we hope you enjoy listening and learning.