Paul Norman, MTN Group's chief human resources officer.

MTN Group, Africa's largest telecom provider, is contemplating major investments in neuroscience to inform talent decisions, it has said.

According to Paul Norman, MTN Group's chief human resources officer, as the world changes amid multiple disruptions, organisations must also evolve and adapt.

In an interview with ITWeb Africa, he said: "Three critical elements for us are deep collaboration, human cognition, and values-based practices. This is where we believe neuroscience will play an important role.”

Neuroscience encompasses both basic and advanced cognitive processes that influence human interactions, emotions, decision-making and emotional preferences, he said.

“As we put teams, managers and leaders together, neuroscience will become as important, if not more so, as qualifications and experience. Psychometry and neuroscience will become as useful as any other future skills,” he said.

Norman recently spoke with ITWeb Africa to discuss MTN Group's inaugural People Report, which was released last month.

He explained the significance of the report, highlighting the telco's ambitions, the influence of technology on human resources, and the company's intentions to support its 17 500+ personnel throughout its markets.

Norman added that MTN has been working to create a sustainable, inclusive, and experience-led human capital ecosystem, and that the People Report highlights the changes that have been made to “stay ahead of the global changes that continue to impact us all”.

Norman elaborated: “This report reflects our 30-year legacy that continues to be powered by the strength of our people, culture and organisation. It equally aims to shed light on the richness of our African talent landscape.”

Asked how his team manages multiple staff members in 18 locations with different cultures, Norman responded: “MTN has always been naturally diverse, with our unique African footprint.

“Our workforce comprises over 17 500 people, more than 70 nationalities from 18 countries across four generations. We are proud of the fact MTN reflects a microcosm of multiple cultures. This is exactly what makes us who we are.

“It is our responsibility to ensure we create an environment where each one of our employees can thrive and experience the freedom and opportunity to be their authentic self.”

He added: “We draw from global practices, listen to the voices of our people from our employee ‘sentiment’ surveys, and co-create solutions with our market leads to make them universally adaptable. But, it turns into reality within each of our markets where local HR teams, business leaders and management localise and tailor people strategies to really make an impact in the lives of our people.”

Turning to some of the HR technology trends that will shape the MTN workplace this year, Norman cited several trends, including the simplification of basic tech-based HR services, and stated that the organisation feels this is where core cloud solutions, automation, AI for HR, and user-led design must be merged into a single-service platform.

Norman added that he believes tech-led people analytics will drive decision-making, digital wellbeing, and the continuous innovation and integration of learning and collaboration technology in the workplace.