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Crack open your books, because the future of work might require you to be a perpetual student.
That’s according to Madeleine Wallace, founder and CEO of consultancy Windrose Vision. In her recent book, Thrive in the AI and Digital Age: The SEAM 4-Step Career Guide and Workbook, she shared how leaders and people professionals can thrive in an AI-powered world by becoming lifelong learners.
HR Brew spoke with Wallace about what people pros can learn from her book.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What can HR pros learn from your book?
The book was designed for HR professionals, so they can guide their employees, and also for the individual, who wants to continuously learn and be able to be competitive in this world that is becoming very chaotic. … The challenge is that we have AI, and specifically now generative AI…and companies are facing the challenge of: How do I help the employees to upskill, or reskill, and stay competitive? So, my book is a simple career guide and workbook. I tried to come up with a solution to this problem based on my research…The “SEAM” is snapshot, envision, act, and major, and I walk the HR professional, or the individual, [through] how…they can become basically a lifelong learner.
How can HR pros become lifelong learners?
There are so many choices, we don’t know what to do. So, what I do to help the reader, or the individual, they need to have something to anchor [them] as a start. So, I have developed seven profiles, and [readers] self-identify themselves for one of those profiles, and then that’s their start[ing] point. … Then from there, I walk them through different activities…and with this exercise, I’m going to go ahead and learn something about me that is going to help me to decide where I want to go.
How does this framework help people pros learn new AI skills?
There are four steps, but each step has different exercises. So, in the first step, [it’s] the snapshot. That’s where you assess your skills…I’m not talking about only one skill. [There are] 10 skills, and so you assess what is your competency in those. … So, the individual, the HR person, can go ahead and go through the steps, and go through the whole curriculum, so then [they’re] in better position to either make adjustments, for themselves…but also make adjustments to implement this development program into the company.