ATD Blog
Mid-Year Skills Check: 3 Capabilities HR and OD Pros Need
Tue Jun 30 2026
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In a landscape marked by constant change, low employee engagement, and economic uncertainty, today’s HR and organizational development professionals may feel as if they are playing whack-a-mole when it comes to their people and performance strategies.
In a landscape marked by constant change, low employee engagement, and economic uncertainty, today’s HR and organizational development professionals may feel as if they are playing whack-a-mole when it comes to their people and performance strategies.
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In the current environment, HR and OD professionals can position themselves as strategic advisors who can help organizations navigate workforce transformation, including workforce capability, learning strategy, and performance improvement.
In the current environment, HR and OD professionals can position themselves as strategic advisors who can help organizations navigate workforce transformation, including workforce capability, learning strategy, and performance improvement.
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It’s mid-year, and a great time to do a skills check to determine how you want to up your game as an HR or OD professional. Here are three business-critical areas where instructional designers should be focused.
It’s mid-year, and a great time to do a skills check to determine how you want to up your game as an HR or OD professional. Here are three business-critical areas where instructional designers should be focused.
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1. Understanding Skills-Based Talent Development and Workforce Capability Planning
1. Understanding Skills-Based Talent Development and Workforce Capability Planning
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Organizations are moving from managing jobs to managing skills. HR and OD professionals who understand how capabilities drive business strategy can become critical partners to stakeholders across the organization. The shift from managing talent programs to orchestrating workforce capability development is significant. Focus areas to consider:
Organizations are moving from managing jobs to managing skills. HR and OD professionals who understand how capabilities drive business strategy can become critical partners to stakeholders across the organization. The shift from managing talent programs to orchestrating workforce capability development is significant. Focus areas to consider:
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Skills taxonomies and capability frameworks
Skills taxonomies and capability frameworks
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Skills gap analysis
Skills gap analysis
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Workforce capability planning
Workforce capability planning
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Internal mobility and career pathways
Internal mobility and career pathways
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Skills-based succession planning
Skills-based succession planning
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2. Linking Learning to Change Management and Performance Enablement
2. Linking Learning to Change Management and Performance Enablement
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Change initiatives fail constantly. A significant opportunity for HR and OD professionals lies in connecting learning to change initiatives and performance support. The issue isn’t how much training is delivered and how many people “got trained.” The issue is relevance, adoption, reinforcement, and behavior change. Areas to focus include:
Change initiatives fail constantly. A significant opportunity for HR and OD professionals lies in connecting learning to change initiatives and performance support. The issue isn’t how much training is delivered and how many people “got trained.” The issue is relevance, adoption, reinforcement, and behavior change. Areas to focus include:
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Change management
Change management
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Learning adoption strategies
Learning adoption strategies
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Performance consulting
Performance consulting
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Stakeholder engagement
Stakeholder engagement
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Behavior change principles
Behavior change principles
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Reinforcement and sustainment planning
Reinforcement and sustainment planning
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3. Measuring Impact
3. Measuring Impact
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Demonstrating the business impact of people and performance strategies is critical. As budgets get squeezed and companies consider downsizing the workforce, HR and OD professionals must be able to show the C-suite that their work contributes to the organization’s success. Measuring capability growth and business impact, and reporting on key metrics important to business leaders, is the recipe for success. Focus areas include:
Demonstrating the business impact of people and performance strategies is critical. As budgets get squeezed and companies consider downsizing the workforce, HR and OD professionals must be able to show the C-suite that their work contributes to the organization’s success. Measuring capability growth and business impact, and reporting on key metrics important to business leaders, is the recipe for success. Focus areas include:
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Learning and talent analytics
Learning and talent analytics
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Skills measurement
Skills measurement
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Measuring return on investment
Measuring return on investment
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Data storytelling
Data storytelling
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Building capabilities in these areas will enable you to develop people and performance strategies that prove their value to the business.
Building capabilities in these areas will enable you to develop people and performance strategies that prove their value to the business.
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Curious about specific ways you can upskill this summer? Take the Talent Development Capability Model® self-assessment to check your knowledge and skills!
Curious about specific ways you can upskill this summer? Take the Talent Development Capability Model® self-assessment to check your knowledge and skills!