A “People Professional” is someone who understands the human factor and how to effectively communicate with people. They are skilled in problem-solving, collaborate well and have a deep understanding of people. The skillset of a people professional applies to all aspects of life, from managing a team to building relationships with family and co-workers to conducting business negotiations to finding a new job or promotion. All People Professionals have one thing in common – their ability to communicate and connect with others effectively.
What skills should people professionals have?
People Professionals oversee many different aspects of the workplace, including talent management, employee engagement and retention, training and development, recruitment, employee relations and more. As such, they should be highly proficient in these key areas:
• Communication Skills – Being able to communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing, is the foundation of a people professional’s success.
• Management Skills – From projects to people, managing successfully is a crucial element of a people professions role.
• Budget and costing skills – In the business world, budgeting and planning are vital to a company’s success. Costing is a key part of the planning process, as people professionals need to understand how costs are incurred and how spending is distributed across the organisation.
• Analytical skills – With data at their fingertips, having strong analytical skills is an essential skill for people professionals to have, and implementing these into your daily role will increase your confidence and knowledge when speaking with others and putting forward your suggestions.
What are the challenges of being a people professional?
There are many challenges to being a successful people professional. One of the biggest hurdles is maintaining empathy and staying objective at all times in an ever-changing work environment. While it’s important to build relationships and maintain a good work-life balance, remaining impartial at all times and keeping a clear head are just as important to ensure that decisions are based on fact and not emotion.
What do people professionals do day-to-day?
As a people professional, you spend your day interacting with a variety of different people across multiple departments, such as HR, learning and development, diversity and inclusion, recruitment and talent.
A people professional is responsible for ensuring the productivity and engagement of their team members, as well as building and maintaining relationships with key stakeholders within the organisation. This involves everything from implementing new policies and procedures to identifying and managing organisational change. An important part of a people professional’s role is analysing data from a variety of sources to identify and address areas of improvement within the organisation.
Do you feel you need to increase your knowledge, skills and behaviours to be an effective people professional?
Crosby Management Training offer apprenticeship standard and CIPD courses for those from Level 3 (brand new to the industry) to Level 7 (highly experienced and competent in the industry)
Level 3: HR Support, L&D Practitioner, Payroll Administrator
Level 5: HR Consultant Partner, L&D Consultant Partner, Coaching Professional
Level 7: Senior People Professional (HR, L&D or OD routes)