“Talent is a long patience, and originality an effort of will and intense observation” – Gustave Flaubert
Since the last decade, the evolution of digital transformation has changed so many areas of opportunities in the business world. Now, fifty percent of the job was handled by technology. This creates some pressure on the organizations to reshuffle their main core system and force them to rapidly change their business models. Thus, this evolution leads us through the talent revolution.
Technology is the new face of innovation for the company’s facilities and system, but talent is the key ingredient of any successful organization. Surely digital technology helps organizations to reduce redundancy and build automation, but the algorithm of the technology is essentially developed to assist talent’s productivity and performance. Meaning to say, when technology is getting more complex and advanced, future-fit talent management becomes more important because organizations need skillful talents to use the technology that they have invested in.
The Impacts of Technology on Talent Management
Gartner predicts 70% of organizations will integrate AI to assist employee productivity by 2021. Digital technology allows leaders to track various KPIs related to employees through a talent management dashboard, which enables HR managers to recruit the right people, evaluate their performance, improve their engagement, develop their capacity, and prepare a proper talent pipeline. This development will prompt 10% of organizations to add digital harassment and data security policies as a critical part of workplace regulation. In other words, technology transform the talent management process.
On the other hand, every organization now faces the tough issue of a digital talent gap. The advancements in technology are taking away jobs from the people but, at the same time, it is creating new jobs as well. This means that every company would be looking for professionals who know how to effectively use the power of technology for the growth of their business. The World Economic Forum estimates that over half of all employees have been in demand of significant re-skilling to meet IT-related needs since 2022.
However, the talent gap is not just about purely understanding technologies at a technical level. Companies are crying out for people with softer aptitudes, such as interpersonal skills, creativity, problem-solving, dependability, and critical thinking to navigate future digital challenges with agility. LinkedIn’s 2019 Global Talent Trends report revealed that almost 90% of the cases where a new hire has not been able to integrate into the business are due to a lack of soft skills. Thus, building agile talents and cultivating agility at work will be top priorities for talent management in the future.
The Flux of the Future-Ready Talent
To prepare talents for future purposes, every HR leader needs to integrate three points of strategies into one map.
First, envision what the expected future-fit talents look like.
A business that aims for excellent growth and exceptional performance must outperform competitors with extraordinary talents. The future organizational capabilities and enabling talent characteristics need to be crafted for this new-emerging world. For this, the company must rearrange the standards of the company’s job requirements. It will make the future talent connect with the right job and discover the strength of the talent. What is equally important is rethinking your future talents, and doing this with your values and purpose at the very center of your mind.
Second, reset your talent development strategy for the future.
Learning should not be tied down to the annual performance cycle, but rather is being encouraged as a key component of culture. By embracing the learning revolution, talent is not a fixed commodity anymore; they are supposed to be flexible and adaptive. Training, coaching, and mentoring are essential to increase their skills and prepare their capabilities to stay relevant. Thus, hiring managers with growth mindsets are better at approaching and guiding people because they believe that one’s ability can be cultivated and developed. They are driven to invest more in coaching, training, and mentoring to nurture a growth culture in the organization.
Last but not the least, build an early partnership with future talents.
Nowadays, many companies already set their eye on apprenticeships. Some of them already put it as a culture for their own system. Aiming to the development skills for future human capital, these companies play an important role in the dual-track system of education. What role? Linking skills development with job requirements. A future-oriented company like Google already established this kind of talent pipeline approach since the beginning of their corporation developments. Certainly, this strategy indirectly strengthens the bridge between supply and demand for future-fit skills. Starting with talent right skills will only do one part of the development. Supporting and helping talent to adapt and guide their career is equally important.
Digital technology provides various tools to foster efficiency and automation. Many doubt its capacity to replace human consciousness. Humans are far beyond automation because they work on more complex systems which include emotion, intuition, empathy, creativity, values, and common sense. However, we also realize that some talents may not be quickly adaptive and able to catch up with the speed of technological advancements.
Thus, probably the most concerning question is, has your company already had enough future-fit leaders and talents on board?
References:
https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2019-01-24-gartner-predicts-70-percent-of-organizations-will-int#:~:text=Gartner%2C%20Inc.,harassment%20policy%20to%20workplace%20regulation.