Experts harp on collaboration to deepen HR practise across Africa

Experts in Human Resource (HR) management have identified collaboration to connect, learn, and grow the needed human capital across Africa amid the new normal to create a world of work in which human resource management is practiced.

This, they believed, would help bridge the gap and integrate human capital management as the core talent development towards building organisational goals across Africa.

The HR practitioners spoke during the pan-african panel session of the 52nd annual national conference of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria (CIPM), noting that collaboration was crucial to the development of HR practice in Africa.

Wale Adediran, president and chairman of council, CIPM, said it was important to create synergy between traditional practices that add value to organisations for easy adaptation globally.

Adediran reiterated CIPM’S commitment to create avenue for collective ideas aggregation in value addition for Africa. He noted that when this was achieved, exporting HR globally would be very easy, especially across Africa.

Speaking also, Vumile Msweli, CEO of Hesed Consulting, Johannesburg, South Africa, said to develop manpower practice in Africa, practitioners must know the reasons and challenges for recruitment, address issues on engagement and ensure sustainability.

“If we want to be able to tap in the tacit area that leaders have, we have to tap into mentorship where people can feed the pipeline to manage the organisation into the future,” said Cleopas Chiketa, vice president Institute of People Management of Zimbabwe.

According to Chiketa, it was time to develop modules that would shape HR management in Africa. He noted that effective leadership and mentorship culture should be the focus of HR practice in Africa.

Precious Murena-nyiko, country CEO, Lafarge Holcim Zimbabwe, said there was a need for professional bodies to influence HR curriculum in universities towards attaining unified operations and mutuality for certifications.

According to Murena-nyiko, the ability to bring professional bodies in HR practice and management in Africa would set a template for countries in diaspora to emulate.