PETALING JAYA: The role of human resources (HR) leaders and professionals has evolved significantly and now plays a critical role in helping businesses deliver desired outcomes to shareholders.
FGV Holdings Bhd group chief human capital officer and Malaysia Institute of Human Resource Management (MIHRM) deputy president Razman Radzi said the role of HR professionals in the past were largely transactional and process-oriented, rather than being outcome driven.
“HR historically acted as gatekeepers and their traditional role included manually processing staff’s leave, overtime, and other process oriented tasks. Currently however, about 80% of routine HR processes have become automated. Today it is about transformative HR which is outcome-based.
“There are three major types of outcomes, namely business, talent as well as diversity, equity, and inclusion outcomes,” he said at The Star Chief People Officer Summit yesterday.
Razman added that HR is one of the key drivers in a business and for HR professionals to be effective business leaders, they have to think and act like chief executives (CEOs) of business solutions companies.
“As an HR leader, you are not just wearing the HR hat, but you are also wearing the hat of a business leader.
“This means that you must be very broad in terms of your vision and fully understand what the business is all about. A HR leader needs to know the financials, supply chain issues and customers’ needs of a business,” he said.
Razman further noted that managing a multi-generational workforce is one of the biggest challenges in organisations today. Hence, a HR leader must be cognisant of these issues as well as be sufficiently adaptive and agile to encourage unity in a company.
“This is where engagement comes into play. As a HR leader, you need to be able to engage with people of all levels, understand what truly matters to them, and find common ground,” he said.
On this note, Workday senior director, solution consulting, Asia, Wong Pei Woan said with real-time analytics, organisations can gain real-time insight into the workforce sentiments as well as workforce trends.
This real-time visibility also allows the HR and the organisation to pivot their HR strategy that will impact their business positively.
“HR leaders play an instrumental role and have to have a strong voice in the adoption of technology such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning and data analytics.
“This adoption needs to be taken into account such challenges that may arise, for example, organisational changes and also potentially skills gaps challenges as well,” she said.
Talent development specialist at Petroliam Nasional Bhd Farha Burhan believes coaching is one of the greatest skills required for leaders these days and ultimately, it is not about the coach but the coachee.
“Coaching is about helping someone unlock their own potential without directly telling them what to do. The goal here is not for us to help them solve their problems, but in guiding the coachee to come up with their own solutions by asking the right questions, as the answer often lies within themselves,” she said.
With regards to the talent landscape in the country, Farha said job hopping, apart from the lack of soft skills, is one of the main challenges that the workforce faces.
“We have a lot of talent in the country, evident by the fact that there are many graduates out there who are unable to find work. The problem organisations face is in identifying the right people who possess the necessary soft skills like problem solving and the ability to work well with others.
“Job hopping is also another issue. On paper, it may look like you have worked at various places, but the short tenures suggest that you did not fully mature in your role before moving on to the next job.
“I believe it takes about five or six years for someone to really learn and master the area they want to specialise in,” said Farha.
Meanwhile, Accenture Malaysia country lead Learning and Leadership Malaysia Syahrul Azmi said generative AI (GenAI) is a game-changer for professionals in learning and development as well as HR.
“It enables the learner and the learning designer to personalise and to contextualise materials in a way that it makes sense for every single learner. Not only that, GenAI also allows us to do it at speed and at scale,” he said.
From conversations with CEOs, Syahrul revealed that 94% of respondents say that their employees are ready to learn GenAI skills. Hence, the challenge for HR professionals is how can they meet the enthusiasm of their employees to this end in a way that is efficient and effective.
“We would not be able to meet the exciting demands of the workforce if we carry on the traditional models of HR. The one-size-fits-most approach that we have relied on for decades, including classroom training and catalogues are helpful, but they are not going to deliver on these new skills at the speed that is required,” he said.
Syahrul added introducing GenAI into the learning environment in organisations can bring about three main benefits, with the first being learning that is always on and affordable.
The second and third benefits include role based, real-time simulations enable tailored learning as well as accelerate development time and speed of delivery.
“One of the biggest conundrums on any learning is its relevance and skill transferability. The toughest part about learning is how do we then get those conversations and discussions to take place in the classroom, and make sure that makes sense on the field, at work and in actual conversations.
“Now with GenAI, it has become so real, that you can actually mimic conversations and channel different personalities and responses, to make it as real as possible for you,” he said.
Poon, E. (2024, November 15). Transformative HR – the way forward for businesses. Corporate News, The Star. Retrieved from https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2024/11/15/transformative-hr—the-way-forward-for-businesses
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