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“We want our talent to be global talent – to speak and think like global talent, to be competitive in the market. HR needs to be promoting their talent out there," one speaker noted at HRO's debut conference in Jakarta, Transform Talent Indonesia.
The present business climate in Indonesia has highlighted flaws in the workforce strategy and constraints in competing globally. The most significant obstacle faced is attracting, nurturing, and retaining skilled employees. Additionally, high unemployment rates, coupled with reported skill mismatches amongst recent graduates, have resulted in a dwindling pool of available talent for businesses.
Despite these challenges, business optimism is high, and most industries are growing. Digital transformation is underway, and employers are keen to raise the level of competencies for their products, people, and processes, in order to compete at global benchmarks.
Recognising the importance of future-proofing Indonesia’s wealth of talent, and elevating talent strategies to demonstrate region-wide excellence, HRO had the pleasure of launching our first-ever conference in Indonesia —Transform Talent, on October 25, 2023, in Jakarta, bringing together more than 130 HR leaders and employers from across Indonesia to exchange insights and optimise their people strategies.
Highlights and key learnings derived from some of the sessions are shared below:
Kicking off the day was a session on making Indonesia’s talent competitive on the global stage. Taking us through this session, our speaker reaffirmed HR’s role in making this happen, as ambassadors for the workforce.
“Our competition is not just with Indonesia; We (our organisation) don’t need to be the champion of the Indonesia landscape, but we need to be able to bring our talent to the global stage and make Indonesia competitive globally.
“We want our talent to be global talent – to speak and think like global talent, to be competitive in the market. HR needs to be promoting their talent out there,” he added. For instance, when a global project opens up, this is where HR can put their hand up and propose having their local talent be a part of this project.
That aside, the leader also acknowledged the benefits of having expats in the workforce, noting the knowledge we can learn from them. "But what matters is that we know how to leverage them and still provide enough opportunities for our local talent, to ensure our talent competitiveness," he highlighted.
Along the day, some of the other interesting sharing picked up included:
Quick tips on how to build positive EX:
One of the panel discussions in the day was on championing the workplace experience. As part of the conversation, our panellists shared a few things leaders can consider in building a positive experience for employees:
- Build the mindset of ‘customers first’ — If you can’t make your internal ‘customers’ happy, how would you do so for your external customers?
- Psychological safety: Foster an environment where your people feel they are safe and belong to the organisation.
- Ensure you have an understanding of the local culture, especially in a country as diverse as Indonesia.
- A positive company culture is the key to building a positive EX – and it takes a village, but it is what will help engage and retain people.
- What’s also important is understanding what matters to your people, and also, importantly, what matters to the business, and balancing both to get the best of both worlds.
What, in that vein, do our leaders think make up a desirable workplace experience? For one, it could involve having a workplace where the employees and the leaders can collaborate on one shared mission to achieve the company’s goals. The key is in building consistent communication to ensure we are all on the same page, and see how we can work together.
What's also important is making the workplace one that is trusted, friendly, accessible (in terms of people), and where transparency in communication is practised.
Re-evaluating performance and talent management practices
In a case study session, according to our speaker, one question leaders should ask when looking intot heir performance and talent management practices is: Does everyone in my organisation have the ability to make conversations around performance?
As he noted, winners in this journey are focused on outcomes, not boxes and lines: Today, successful businesses are organised for innovation & speed?
They also rely on a continuous bite-sized performance cadence; and finally, they look at learning and growth holistically. In terms of how leaders can increase the prevalence & quality of performance conversations during the employee lifecycle, he shared:
- Onboarding stage – increase prevalence of such conversations
- Performance stage – improve quality of performance conversations
- Retention stage – increase outcome per individual over lifetime
Finally, they look at learning and growth holistically, factoring in experiences, exposure, and education.
When it comes to promotions, the conversation today is no longer about the [job] position - it is now about the skills the talent can bring to the table, our speaker on this topic pointed out.
Then, comes the position based on the skills the talent possesses. An example of some steps leaders can take in approaching this is as follows:
Step 1: Ask yourself: Where does your fulfilment meet your purpose?
Step 2: Ask questions to find out your personal purpose
Step 3: Check-ins & feedback with the line manager, anytime
Step 4: Your career profile – Make yourself visible
Step 5: An opportunity board – It sarts with you, your decision and regular check-ins with your line manager.
Step 6: Continuous learning
Apart from the above, some of the most memorable food-for-thought shared by one speaker was: Through it all, we as leaders must make sure everyone [in our workforce] understands what success looks like, so they are motivated to work towards it. Ensure not just the management knows the picture of success and what it looks like, but everyone in the company does. It’s HR’s job to communicate this effectively – be prepared to convey the message at least eight times before the message gets through everyone.
And aptly summing up everything, was a quote by another leader: "Before we help our employees grow, we need to help ourselves grow."
Human Resources Online would like to thank all speakers, moderators, panellists, and delegates for being valuable contributors to this event.
We would also like to extend our gratitude to our sponsors & partners for making this conference possible:
GOLD SPONSOR: Workday
SILVER SPONSORS:
Luminare Consulting
Mesh
Photo: HRO
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