The World Economic Forum’s recent report on “The Future of Jobs” describes the current global scenario as a “challenging combination of health, economic and geopolitical volatility combined with growing social and environmental pressures”. In view of this scenario and in order to anticipate the new demands of the labour market, BIREME organized the workshop “Human Capital Management and Institutional Tools for Performance and Innovation”. The training was held on May 29, 2024, as a strategy to locally strengthen the mission of the Human Resources Department of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), in line with the BIREME Strategy 2023-2025 and highlighting labor trends.
In this context, where the so-called “Fourth Industrial Revolution” continues to reshape the workforce, requiring new skills and occupations, a set of personal competencies emerge as essential for human capital management in organizations. For this reason, BIREME’s Human Resources Administration organized this event to support the personal and professional development of its employees. “Self-development refers to the process by which an individual seeks to improve themselves through the development of skills, knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors,” explained the training coordinator, psychologist Rogério Cortes from Catalisar Corporate Education. “In such cases, it is expected that institutional support for professional development will also result in better prepared employees to face the ongoing changes, while maintaining the institution in a position of excellence in its field,” he said.
Held in an external environment from the Center’s office, all staff from different BIREME areas were invited to participate, with opening remarks and welcome by Director João Paulo Souza. “In this workshop, you will receive valuable inputs for the development of your professional journeys, as part of our joint journey towards BIREME’s growth and development. We also hope that this opportunity will result in gains for our integration and collaboration. Our goal with this training is to support all employees so that, together, we can maintain BIREME’s role as a vanguard and reference in the field of information sciences and the digital transformation of virtual health libraries.”
Objectives and Topics Covered
The primary objective of the training was to prepare employees to reflect on their own careers in order to face today’s market challenges and the digital transformation of information products and the librarian sciences sector. Among the topics discussed were the importance of leadership in human capital management and the role of performance evaluations in enabling employees to track their individual career paths. “Performance evaluation tools provide opportunities to expand and strengthen skills and competencies, favoring teamwork based on values such as respect, diversity and flexibility, alignment of purposes, and emotional intelligence, among others,” emphasized Rogério Cortes.
It was also an opportunity for individual and collective reflection on the organization’s situation, task and project management, personal management, and leadership profiles. In addition, the facilitator presented practical cases for discussion, emphasizing the importance of fostering communication and connection, strengthening relationships, and promoting a collaborative organizational culture.
Dynamics and Participation
One of the most noteworthy activity was the “Factory of Knots,” which helped participants reflect on the importance of monitoring and evaluating individual and institutional results in different scenarios and its relation to the presence of direct leadership and goal setting. The psychologist also introduced the concept of “career anchors,” identifying different sources of professional satisfaction and fulfillment, such as security and stability, challenge and entrepreneurship, technical proficiency, service provision, or team management.
Another highlighted point was the management of intellectual capital, where participants learned about different levels of performance (operational, tactical, and strategic) and the importance of adapting their approaches according to the maturity and autonomy of each professional stage. “It is crucial for professionals to understand and adapt their strategies according to the level of responsibility and autonomy they have. This not only improves individual effectiveness, but also contributes significantly to the success of the organization,” noted moderator Rogério Cortes.
BIREME Team Testimonials
Silvia de Valentin, Administrator of BIREME, encouraged the staff to evaluate the training and share their testimonies to collectively recognize the importance of the approaches discussed for professional growth and organizational effectiveness. Below are the testimonies.
Digital Solutions Development and Emerging Technologies Team:
The event “Human Capital Management and Institutional Tools for Performance and Innovation” was a journey of learning and sharing experiences. It highlighted the importance of having clear and quantifiable goals to measure progress, emphasizing the need to define precise and measurable objectives. Additionally, it also emphasized the professional development of employees and the role of the institution in providing the tools and appropriate environment to achieve these goals. Events like this foster growth and invite reflection, allowing performance and innovation to be evaluated more objectively and effectively.
Products and Information Sources Team:
This activity was the best of all the activities that have been carried out so far, because it went beyond the motivational aspect. The highlight of the activity was its objectivity and application to strengthen communication, integration and team alignment.
Administration and Planning Team:
The activity was important to reaffirm that each individual must be responsible for their personal and professional development, considering the resources available from BIREME/PAHO/WHO, which recognizes the importance of its staff by also providing activities like this. The protean and traditional career approaches call for action! Our working environment should maintain the atmosphere created by the activity.
Director’s team:
BIREME’s Personal Development Training provided us with practical tools and updated, well-founded reflections on our individual and collective roles in the organization and, as an institution, in the market and library sciences sector. This initiative reinforces BIREME’s commitment to the continuous development of its team and to maintaining its leadership and innovation position in the field of information sciences.
Silvia de Valentin highlighted that this was the first of three workshops to be held in the 2024-2025 biennium, with the aim of strengthening BIREME’s intellectual capital in support of its mission, and recognizing the tools and methods within the Organization that can enable the achievement of these goals at the individual, group and institutional levels.
Links of interest:
The Future of Jobs Report 2023 | World Economic Forum (weforum.org)