A development program with a special approach. How Graubündner Kantonalbank is pioneering forward-looking employee development
An interview with HR developer Dominique Kündig and Jürgen Planitzer from the University of Applied Sciences Graubünden
Ms Kündig, you and your team have launched an unprecedented training program, a certificate course, at GKB at the start of 2022. What is behind this initiative?
The course lasts 12 months and consists of two modules. We developed it together with the University of Applied Sciences Graubünden. On the one hand, the program deals with "general management", i.e. business management topics, and on the other, it focuses on the trend of digital transformation and teaches important skills that are relevant for practical implementation. The main aim is to inspire those employees who completed their training or further training 10 or 15 years ago to take part. In general, however, the course is open to all employees.
What view of employee development do you focus on in HR and what were the particular drivers of the initiative?
HR at Graubündner Kantonalbank has a big and important vision: we want to become pioneers in the world of New Work . To achieve this, we need to know the effects of New Work and derive appropriate measures. We have identified three important factors in this regard:
Focus on the humanization of work: we must create fair, responsible and modern working conditions in which people are at the center. Their working environment must be designed in such a way that they have the potential to develop
We need to leave rigid structures behind: We need to promote flexibility and agility, only then can we actively work with the trends, draw added value from them, drive modernization and automation for us as companies and our customers
: We must recognize which opportunities and also new Job profiles arise and not artificially preserve what will eventually dissolve anyway due to disruptive technologies. At the same time, this naturally increases the skills required of employees
We then scanned these trends and ambitions and came to the conclusion that we need a program that does justice to precisely these points. And if we take a closer look, it is primarily about one thing: we see a working world that differs in many ways from what we have been used to up to now. Our aim was therefore to create an awareness of what world of work 4.0 really means, to open up Mindset to employees, to promote their employability and to make them want to work in this new environment.
This is an ambitious goal, but it also reflects the reality in which companies and its employees find themselves as individuals. How does the certificate course do justice to these trends and New Work ?
Alongside demographic change, one clear trend is digital transformation. And it is here to stay and will change a lot in the work context. ChatGPT is a brand-new example of a disruptive technology. Artificial intelligence can write entire articles that are indistinguishable from a professional. So the question is how do we make use of this? What I'm getting at is that we as a bank need to make our employees fit for these topics and trends. Our aim is not to deal with them reactively, but to ensure that each individual can contribute to identifying the influences of the trends and draw added value from them.
Mr. Planitzer, as an expert in adult education, what is the pedagogical concept behind the certificate course and what is so new about it?
Ms. Kündig has already mentioned it: it's about making employees fit. This means that we need to move away from simply imparting knowledge. Instead, we need to ensure that employees feel confident in dealing with the new requirements and acclimatize themselves, so to speak, to world of work 4.0. We have implemented this with so-called "living cases". Here, participants have the opportunity to develop solutions independently and autonomously in a team. Just as they would have to do in their everyday working life. In addition, we have chosen lecturers who are close to the real world, some of whom run their own companies and therefore know the challenges well and act as mentors.
Ms. Kündig, such new and comprehensive programmes don't necessarily open doors everywhere. How was the response from managers and top management?
Fortunately, we had the support of top management right from the start. They clearly formulated the desire to exemplify New Work on the part of HR and to drive it forward in the bank. The task was: we had to break new ground in order to respond optimally to the shortage of skilled workers and the changing reality of work. The fact that the course is comprehensive and employees spend three days a month in training was somewhat more challenging. This can sometimes lead to bottlenecks in day-to-day business, or at least require good coordination and organization. However, we reflected this at information events with the managers. Ultimately, we were able to demonstrate the expected added value and the vision behind it. This was partly due to the positive feedback from the participants themselves. This is also reflected in the number of registrations received. We currently even have a waiting list for the next round.
Now, of course, we are interested in what has happened so far, what impact has the course had on GKB?
I think we have achieved our goal of ensuring that the course has a lasting impact on the participants' working methods and thus benefits the company as a whole. We regularly receive positive feedback from managers and teams. They feel that something is changing. That they are developing new perspectives and ideas and that collaboration is becoming more effective. Some teams have even set up small innovation labs of their own accord. Some participants, on the other hand, need a little time to develop their new Mindset skills. Here we provide support in the form of individual development meetings and accompany the employees and their teams.
So your certificate course was a complete success. What happens now?
Yes, you could say that and we are really pleased that the managers and employees were so open to this offer. Our aim now is to make half of our workforce fit for the future over the next 10 years through this course. We have also opened up the program to the entire Graubünden economic region. It offers great potential if we leave "garden-variety thinking" behind and focus more on interdisciplinary exchange. This has already resulted in some great ideas.
Skilly Award well deserved
The skillaware campaign would like to thank Dominique Kündig, HR Developer at GKB, and Jürgen Planitzer from the University of Applied Sciences Graubünden for the interview and congratulate them on Skilly Award 2022.
