Kim Seeling Smith, founder and CEO of Ignite Global, describes the factors that influence the future model of learning and development in the workplace
Kim Seeling Smith is a keen observer of evolution in human resources and organisations. The founder and chief executive of Ignite Global, recipient of HRD’s 5-Star Learning and Development (L&D) Award, believes that even though the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the benefits of remote and hybrid work arrangements, the “future of work” concept has been building up over several decades.
Seeling Smith says the future of work is informed by three disruptions whose impact goes beyond the workplace and spills over to society. First is technology, such as automation, which is reshaping the roles of people in organisations. Second is “the tension between globalisation and localisation,” which manifests in economic, geopolitical and environmental changes, and prompts organisations to introduce greater innovation and agility into their structures. Third is “the rise of the empowered workforce,” which has led to a disparity between the demand for and the supply of talent, calling for organisations to rethink their methods of attracting, engaging and retaining their employees.
According to Seeling Smith, in the future, an organisation’s success will depend on its purpose and values that inform hiring decisions and measuring accountability for workforce performance. Another factor is decision-making in the face of limited or conflicting information, as well as the ability to correct wrong decisions. Open and honest communication is also needed to boost engagement during challenging times and give employees a sense of certainty. For management, a crucial factor is prioritising the team’s wellbeing to prevent disengagement and minimise employee turnover.
“We have to be bold enough to reimagine our old-school people practices,” says Seeling Smith. “A lot of the way that we hire and retain our staff was actually developed in the Industrial Revolution for a very, very different workforce in a very, very different age. So, we need to think differently about these things and we need to question everything. Make sure that what we’re doing is actually right, is actually catering to that empowered workforce, because they have the control, because they have the options.”
Ignite Global, she says, helps organisations “move from disruptable to indestructible” by providing relevant advice and focusing on the entire employee lifecycle – emphasising culture change; leadership development; and how to attract, select, and retain the right people. To address these issues, Ignite Global offers L&D programs such as Mind Reading for Managers, which provides solutions to ensure high levels of motivation and productivity in the workplace. To help organisations conduct hiring and retention effectively, Ignite Global offers the SPOT On Hiring System, a preparative proprietary model that Seeling Smith developed based on her 15-year experience as a recruitment consultant.
Seeling Smith says she’s excited about the opportunity to reimagine L&D in the workplace and embed behavioural change through experiential learning. “People have a very short attention span in this Information Age, where information is just coming out faster than we can process it. So, we need to develop a very diverse suite of offerings, and we need to develop programs that encompass learning... But I think we need to reimagine how we do it by learning from videos or reading or lectures, and then applying [the lessons] on the job, as well as mentoring and coaching, and employing as much experiential learning as we can bring into it.”
