2015 is drawing to a close, and many in HR will be asking themselves, “What will 2016 hold for me?” This year has been another year filled with business challenges on many fronts, locally and globally. Australia has grappled with the ‘end of the mining boom’, there has been instability on the political front, consumer confidence has been shaky and our connection with the global market means we are increasingly beholden to our trading partners’ performances. Top line growth has been hard to find and as we have seen, bottom line growth has been targeted via efficiency measures. Yet, HR teams in Australia are uniquely positioned to significantly impact their organisation’s performance, albeit via further change!
But what does “further change’ really mean for HR practitioners and at a personal level, is that going to satisfy you and your career goals, or at least support you to achieve them in the longer term?
Career satisfaction is important to both individuals and organisations. Research points to a clear link between career development, job and employer satisfaction and employee engagement, work performance and retention. At an individual level, you also owe it to yourself and those who rely on you to ensure that your career satisfaction is achieved.
Fortunately, effective strategic career planning is a key activity to take control of your career, not leaving your future up to chance, but enabling you to influence, manage and direct the controllable elements. Identifying:
- Objectives and milestones;
- Target markets
- Key skillsets required
- Personal brand messages
- Education and other considerations
You can develop specific action plans to guide you. Importantly, flexibility and plan reviews need to be included to ensure your plan can adapt to changes, such as government changes, unforeseen market events, a change in boss, organisational restructuring and so on.
In 2016 the Human Resources organisation structure will continue to come under focus. Ulrich’s model will continue to be adopted and where possible, leaders who advocate the model, will continue to adapt their organisation’s HR structure to better achieve true business partnership and target employee experience measures as an HR metric. At an individual level this implies questions about specialisation verses generalisation and the implications on longer term career considerations.
The summer break provides a great opportunity for many to reflect on their personal career plan, and if you have this opportunity, document your thinking, discuss it with a respected peers and make the changes you see fit to better support the achievement of your career goals.
All the best for a safe and merry festive season to you, your families and your organisations. If you would like to share your 2016 career goals with us, feel free to connect with a deliberatepractice representative.