With the heightened competition for talent, combined with the availability of technology to empower HR teams, leaders will embrace the importance of people data and insights. (Photo: Shutterstock)

As we head into to 2019, it's natural to want to pause and take stock of what we accomplished, faced and learned in 2018. This year was monumental for employees, managers and leaders across industries and around the globe.

The idea that people can be happy and successful at work has evolved from a novel idea to table stakes, and while engagement was once considered a “nice to have,” it's now become a critical business metric. We have a seen a groundswell of leaders acknowledging the importance of people data, there was an increasing emphasis on diversity and inclusion, specifically with the momentum of the #MeToo movement, and a continued rise of technology that empowers HR leaders and teams.

Looking towards 2019, instead of worrying unproductively or placing bets on trends, I like to anticipate changes that I can prepare myself and my team for in the next year. Here's a look at the top four changes I see, and how I think leaders can prepare for them.

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1. Development will usurp evaluation

Almost no one enjoys the way performance reviews have historically been conducted. In fact, many managers don't feel equipped to have the conversations they need to have, and HR teams then feel overwhelmed by the need to train the organization and deliver a process that no one is fond of. As a result, there is a diminished benefit to both the employees and organization.

In 2019, rather than focus on performance assessment, organizations will look at the purpose behind a performance review—coaching, growing, and motivating their people to do their best work—and commit to adopting a growth mindset to better support their employees' learning and growth. We will see companies invest in systems and methodologies that facilitate meaningful, healthy conversations about employee engagement and performance, versus the narrow emphasis on data analytics we've seen over the past two years.

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2. The democratization of employee survey data

The past two years have taught Silicon Valley that it can't rely on superficial perks to help retain employees. Extrinsic motivators like compensation and perks are an important piece of what it takes to motivate people, but they are just that, only a piece. The other missing link is intrinsic motivation, which comes from feeling a sense of purpose and being challenged and motivated at work. Organizations will now face the challenge of finding a way to build intrinsic motivation into their culture and processes in order to keep top talent.

As a result, we'll see organizations alter their people success strategies by turning the one-way employee survey data approach into one centered on holistic, growth-focused conversations. Ultimately people who take a survey want to know, “what changes will you make as a result of my investment of time and energy in responding?” It will become more critical than ever to teach transparency to managers and give them the tools and coaching they need to address employee feedback and shifts in engagement as they arise.

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3. Engagement will rank as a critical business metric

In 2019 people analytics will get its moment in the spotlight. With the heightened competition for talent, combined with the availability of technology to empower HR teams, leaders will embrace the importance of people data and insights and realize the importance of bringing employee data to parity with other critical business metrics.

This will result in the development of strategic initiatives to harness people data and the prioritization of using it to drive the success of the business. Additionally, from a market perspective, it will likely lead to mergers and acquisitions, to harness this data and use it to improve the business.

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4. AI will be a partner, not a foe

It's easy to paint a dystopian picture of how technology can hinder us, but despite the fear around AI that we've all seen in headlines this year, in 2019 we'll see proof points of how AI can actually support people.

AI will play an increasing role in HR and business strategy, especially as the two become more and more intertwined. Looking past the fear, there is a huge opportunity for AI to support innovation, scale, and connectedness. Meaningful AI applications will help build a higher-quality work experience for individuals in all business units, including marketing, PR, HR, and finance. Managers will receive valuable insights about their teams and the necessary guidance to take action to improve results.

From the ever-increasing use of AI to wide-reaching conversations about diversity, 2018 was certainly an impactful year. However, with the future of work constantly evolving to become more people-centric and placing employees at the heart of organizational success, 2019 is bound to be a banner year when it boils down to the state of our workplace. By using AI as a partner, altering people-success strategies backed by data, using employee engagement as a business metric and coaching, growing, and motivating their employees, 2019 is bound to be an organizational success.

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Jim Barnett is co-founder and CEO of Glint.

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