Human Capital Strategy Model

If you are ready to move from the Kirkpatrick model to something more modern and are ready to face risks,that always come with the change, you should identify data you would collect to evaluate L&D process effectiveness.

As we know, to maximise the value to stakeholders, learning and development and knowledge management should be aligned with strategic goals of the company. In order to add value, human, information and organisational capital should match the strategy. Many large companies have implemented Balanced Scorecard approach to have aligned metrics. The best way to do it is the Balanced Scorecard framework is to develop Human Capital Strategy Model.

When using Balanced Scorecard, we need to cascade learning objectives from the financial perspective through customer and internal business processes perspective.

To develop Human Capital Strategy Model your company need to do the following:

  • define groups of strategic roles,
  • develop competency profiles,
  • compare competency profiles with current skills sets of employees,
  • develop “Human Capital Strategy Model”.

The Human Capital Strategy Model works as a base to the Human Capital Development Programme.

We won’t dive into how to create Human Capital Strategy Model as it is out of scope of digital HR topic. Let’s assume that the Model of Strategic Readiness is developed, and your company has a “Competency Profile” with set requirements for knowledge and skills.

For each competence in the Profile, we should have a Standard with the following content:

  • links to other standards,
  • developed skills,
  • set performance indicators,
  • required behaviours,
  • required knowledge and understanding.

Three essential data groups

These data sets are needed to do the following:

  • first, provide support for managerial and personnel decisions,
  • second, to mitigate risks we have identified in in the previous article.

We need the same datasets for both tasks. These data can be combined into three large groups:

  • testing data,
  • assessment data,
  • data on learning process.

Testing data

First group of data we need includes:

  • entry testing results,
  • comparison of entry testing with requirements (identifying the gap),
  • final testing results,
  • comparison of entry testing with requirements (identifying the gap),
  • progress according to entry and final tests.

This data should be obtained for each competency, that is included into Human Capital Strategy Model and competency profiles.

In our system, SNAPSIM™, only data on entry testing are used for managerial reports. Data on final testing and progress data are collected to prepare Appendix 1 to Professional Certificate.

The screen below shows how the first data set is presented in the admin area (admins are usually HR managers and L&D professionals).

Assessment data

The second group of data includes:

  • entry self-assessment of an employee,
  • entry assessment of a manager,
  • comparison of entry self-assessment and managerial assessment (identifying a gap),
  • zones of attention (points of conflict, points of growth) in final self-assessment and assessment,
  • final self-assessment of an employee,
  • final self-assessment of a manager,
  • comparison of final self-assessment and managerial assessment (identifying a gap),
  • zones of attention (points of conflict, points of growth) in final self-assessment and assessment,
  • overall progress in self-assessments,
  • overall progress in managerial (coaching) assessments.

These data should be collected for every course (practice) in the learning plan.

It is important to note that behaviours, described in self-assessments and assessments should be linked to KPIs and a learning programme.

Behaviours should support set performance metrics (KPIs) of employees. On the other hand, behaviours should be connected to knowledge transfer via learning content.

All data mentioned except data from zones of attentions (points of growth and points of conflict) is presented in the Annex 2 to the Professional Certificate.

The screen below shows how the second data set is presented in the admin area (admins are usually HR managers and L&D professionals).

Learning data

The third group of data includes:

  • data on competency increase,
  • data on skills development,
  • data on potential.
Data on competency increase

All competencies in SNAPSIM™ belong to specific competency group.

Current data on the competencies increase is collected for each competency as well for groups of competencies.

The results are visualised with the radar chart,

Data on skills development

Skills are interconnected, and it doesn’t happen very often that one skill is used in one situation or action. For example, goal-setting skills can be used in time-management, but also in delegating

All skills evaluated in SNAPSIM™ are “cross-cutting”, and their application is tracked on all activities in the learning period and not just in one learning course.

Data on potential

Potential is a type of thinking and set of practical skills that allow some employees to grow constantly, using new tools and strategies to solve ever-increasing challenges.

Leadership potential is determined by personal motivators, also called key leadership drivers, not by skills or competencies. Leadership drivers are prerequisites for the development of competencies, skills and developments.

Key drivers of leadership are expressed through behaviours and can be measured. These metrics allow to predict how successful the employee would act in different situations, with different level of certainty.

In SNAPSIM ™ we use three key leadership drivers:

  • learning agility
  • ambition
  • persistency

The screen above shows how part of the third data group (skill development) for each user is presented in the area of an admin (HR manager or L&D specialist).