L&D's fast-track transformation a highlight of 2020

But you shouldn't feel bad if you didn’t learn something new while on lockdown – it’s been an 'overwhelming' year

BY Nurhuda Syed 09 Jul 2020

You shouldn’t feel bad if you don’t come out of lockdown without learning something new, says an experienced industry leader.

While the ongoing crisis has led to an increased demand and accelerated transformation of L&D, Philippa Penfold, CEO and co-founder at People Collider “categorically disagrees” with the idea that you’re bad at time management and/or lack discipline for failing to pick up a new skill or two.

“It takes headspace to learn and so many of us in HR have been really overwhelmed [amidst the crisis],” Penfold said. “If it’s not with work, it’s with the family at home, and the schooling at home.”

Opening yesterday’s (8 July) virtual HR Leaders Asia summit, she was joined by close to 300 HR heads and thought leaders, who met to share insights into the impact of the pandemic on HR, leadership and the overall world of work.

Penfold then introduced to the stage John Antos, vice president strategy & marketing, Asia Pacific at ADP, who set the tone for the day by sharing some crucial takeaways from the ongoing crisis.

“I think many businesses wouldn't have foreseen it either,” Antos said. “But what I think this has allowed us to do is being in a pandemic, it’s really a human crisis, and it’s really also a crisis for humanity.

“A shared experience globally — and I think that makes it special. It creates an opportunity that we didn't have before, to really examine what really matters.”

He observed that staying at home and being in lockdown over the past few months has allowed us the “mind space” to think about essential questions like:

What really matters and what’s meaningful to us?
What relationship do we want to have with the work that we do?
What do we want the workplace to look like when we return to office?

Besides the chance to sort out our priorities, Antos believes that 2020 has given us the opportunity to devote the time and space to actually “absorb” what we’ve learned, as well as lessons from fellow industry leaders going through similar shared experiences.