Background

The Global Head of Talent of a financial services business had seen the rapid changes caused by fintech. He was aware there could be some exciting possibilities using AI and technologies such as Virtual Reality to help him around talent and career development. He approached the HR TECH Partnership to assist him set up a Talent Accelerator. Specifically, he was looking at using machine learning solutions to help identify and validate talent pools and build future capability.

Challenge

Some of the big challenges the Global Head of Talent faced were typical to any large international business:

• The industry was focused on a traditional approach to talent development(in-house training programmes, expensive coaching and mentoring programmes etc.)
• As he was not based at headquarters(USA), getting agreement from Procurement, IT etc. to any new digital systems was a lengthy process
• A lack of time – there were several other initiatives his team were busy with and this was not a ‘crisis’ issue

Six month programme

The Human Capital Digital Innovation Hub identified several solutions which helped him help do this:

• The Human Capital Digital Innovation Hub discussed the objective and scope of the Talent Accelerator within the constraints facing the team and agreed on the following deliverables:
  • Presentation of five AI based solutions across various aspects of the talent management process to bring awareness to the team
  • A demo of at least two solutions that could be potentially used in the future
  • Active pilot rollout of one solution across a small group of employees
• Accordingly, several solutions were presented to the Talent Management team some of which were:
  • An AI based platform that could capture ‘change readiness’ in its employees and compare it to an external benchmark
  • An AI based coaching solution that focused on one of the key values of the organisation
  • A solution using organisation network analysis(or in simple words analyzing employee communication data available through email, slack, chat etc.) to identify influencers and high potential leaders
• The Global Head of Talent decided to start with the change readiness solution as this data could help him make a stronger investment case to his business leaders
• As the pilot was part of a learning programme and not a purchase, he could get faster clearance from his IT and procurement team
• The Hub facilitated a pilot and held several learning sessions with the team to increase their understanding of digital disruption to the workforce

Outcome

The Global Head of Talent found the Change Readiness benchmark very useful to educate his business leaders around the tremendous challenge of ‘upskilling’ employees over the next few years. The Hub programme enabled the team to understand the breadth of applications available and the next steps in implementing the Talent Accelerator. They were able to articulate a stronger investment case around talent development for their millennial generation.