New Talent Agenda

Sustainable Growth in VUCA times – The New Talent Agenda

Sankalp Sharma

Philips India Ltd

New Talent Agenda

Abstract

The world is becoming more unpredictable with each passing day and many call it the VUCA

times. The paper focuses on the effect of VUCA and provides a perspective on how it impacts

the talent agenda as well as how HR function can gear up proactively to align with the same. It

explores the talent shift in VUCA times and the changing dynamics of workforce and business

requirement. It identifies the future capability needs for leaders to deal effectively with

change. It also looks at role of HR from a holistic perspective spanning across various sub-

domains within HR such as Talent Acquisition, Rewards, Development and Engagement in

strengthening the organization to be better prepared and being more “adaptive” and “agile” to be

able to drive sustainable growth.

New Talent Agenda

Sustainable Growth in VUCA times – The New Talent Agenda

Change is the new constant. If we take a step back & reflect on the world since 2000, we

can see changes across political, social, economic and technological space like rising terrorism,

increasing natural disasters, political unrests, global economic meltdown and new technological

innovations. The last decade saw rise in terrorist activities in developed world, retaliation by US

on Iraq & Afghanistan leading to decade long wars, 2008 financial crisis starting in the US and

spreading across leading to de-growth or stagnant economies & massive unemployment, power

shift in consumption and growth in Asia especially pronounced in China & India, boom of new

age internet companies like Wikipedia, Google, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter and growth of

social media and e-commerce space. These changes influence not just our lives but also our

work.

The world today can be explained by a term coined by US military in late1980s – early

1900s - VUCA. VUCA, as some call it, is the new normal. VUCA stands for Volatile, Uncertain,

Complex and Ambiguous. Some factors catalyzing this change is digitization, connectivity,

global competition and trade liberalization.

Similar changes can be witnessed in the talent landscape.

Increasing Demands on the Talent Function

Shift in workforce demographics

Growth of developing economies – The power & consumption will shift towards developing

countries. Earlier the developing world produced for the developed world to consume. But by

2020, emerging Asia will become the world’s largest consuming block, overtaking North

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America. As per estimates, 2.5 billion more people will be added between now and 2050, out of

which 2 billion will be added in developing countries. This changing balance of power is

redefining the world of business & workforce requirements in new age world.

Diversity – With ageing population in developed countries & young workforce entering market

in developing countries, the workplace will demand different strategies in managing cross

cultural and diverse talent (Baby boomers, Gen X, Gen Y and Millennials). With advancements

in health & lifestyle, the working age in many developed countries will go beyond 60 – 65 years

& jobs will have to be redefined to cater to the needs of this population & use their expertise.

With the rise various consumer segments the organizations will have to mirror their

workforce to the consumer of tomorrow. This leads to the HR functions having enablers in terms

of policies and processes to make the organization culture more inclusive for diverse groups to

work in harmony and succeed. The need for different reward & pay structures will be more

explicit in changing & diverse world. Broader set of values & beliefs than today will be needed.

Demand for knowledge workers

With the increase in digitization, internet & new technological innovations, the demand

for knowledge workers will grow exponentially. Today, 65% of global companies and more than

80% of companies in fast-growth economies are having problems finding employees with the

skills they need (Towers Watson).

New Talent Agenda

Speed of change

New technological advancements such as big data analytics & crowd sourcing will bring

about change and innovation at a much faster pace. The businesses and its workforce will have to

reflect this agility to succeed.

Shaping the New Talent Agenda

Most of the trends and changes mentioned above are exogenous to the organization and is

not possible for the organization to predict them with accuracy. Hence dealing with this VUCA

world will require organizations to build new capabilities and change the way they have been

operating in the past. Organizations today must shift their business models—and their leadership

skills—to become “adaptive firms”(BCG). The talent function will be expected be more agile

and adaptive to drive this change & transformation in employees as well as in processes.

Talent Acquisition

TA will need to be advisors to the business and use insights from external market &

business to define their strategy. To become adaptive organization, focus needs to shift to hiring

agile and adaptive talent. They need to leverage newer technologies & platforms for engaging

with external talent market.

Workforce planning will have to be more robust with scope for flexibility. TA will need to

us scenario planning for workforce planning. TA will have to be better prepared to handle

cyclical changes in demand for talent. Different employment models – full time, part time,

consultancy, third party, etc, will have to be used simultaneously to enable business scale teams

up or down. TA will have to be more proactive to target and engage with top talent externally so

New Talent Agenda

it’s easier to bring them into their organization when the time is right. Looking beyond

conventional industry for bringing in talent with be important.

Leadership Development

Today’s VUCA business environment requires leaders to possess more complex and

adaptive thinking abilities (Centre for Creative Leadership). VUCA leaders must have foresight

to see where they are going but must also remain flexible about how they get there. They can no

longer rely on past instances. As Peter Drucker said, “The greatest danger in times of turbulence

is not the turbulence - it is to act with yesterday’s logic”.

Leaders will have to develop insights into changing needs and aspirations of their

consumers. They will need to build organization and structures which are leveraging the global

power but are locally relevant to consumers.

Leadership development should be focused on building key competencies in leaders –

leading change, collaboration, learning agility, self-awareness, comfort with ambiguity, strategic

thinking and cognitive skills. Organizations will have to develop more leaders faster to deal with

changing business needs.

The development programs will have to focus on not just horizontal learning but vertical

learning. Early identification of talent and developing them by exposing them to critical career

experiences early in their career will lead to vertical development. Talent will have to be put in

uncomfortable & challenging situations early. The ability to create agile and adaptive leaders

will be key differentiator for the organization.

A study by Keith Engel looked at 21 CEOs and middle managers from various companies,

each with annual revenues of over $5 billion. The study demonstrates that managers at higher

New Talent Agenda

levels of cognitive development are able to perform more effectively because they can think in

more complex ways.

Capability Building

a. Adaptability & Agility – explained above.

b. Scenarios Planning & Predictive Analysis –HR function will first need to master these skills

to better predict attrition, identification of high potentials, succession planning scenarios and

quickly identify employees who show these traits. They need to have plans for handling different

disruptive events that traditionally has not been done.

The workforce will need to develop scenarios planning and predictive analysis skills. Big

data technology & statistical models will have to be used widely in training programs.

Employees must be exposed to scenario training and simulations to make them more comfortable

and confident when they encounter a completely new situation in real life.

c. Leading change – Change will be the only constant in VUCA times. HR will have to involve

early talent to lead in change management initiatives. Early exposure to these crucible

experiences will shape the talent and make them more agile and resilient to withstand complexity

and rapid change in future. They need to build change leadership capabilities across the

organization for long term success.

d. Innovation – The key to success in VUCA times will be continuous innovation. HR will have

to find ways to foster innovation and make it part of company culture. Rewarding employees for

not just innovating but trying to innovate will be crucial in building this culture. The training

programs will also have to focus on unleashing creativity. HR will need to create forums to

connect like-minded creative talent and use it to speed up innovation. Peer learning & action

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learning projects should focus on innovation as key theme – be it in new products, solutions,

customer segments, or business models.

Virtual talent collaboration

HR will need to provide platforms for connecting talent virtually across the globe in a

digitized world and providing them cross cultural exposure. Employees will need to be given

opportunities to work on variety of projects across cultural boundaries to fast track learning.

With new business models like crowdsourcing & collaborative partnerships becoming popular

among new age companies, using the power of collaboration will be a key capability for any

organization.

Conclusion

In the new age Talent Management, the organizations must also stop using one size fits all

approach for engaging and developing talent. They need to foster culture that promotes and

rewards agile leaders who will further begin to attract and retain the type of innovative and agile

talent that businesses today are seeking. Agile leaders will develop agile leaders.

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References

1. Future Trends in Leadership Development – CCL

2. THINK ACT ! MASTERING 2020 - How to get prepared for the VUCA world with

Light Footprint management – Roland Berger

3. 6 Talent Strategy Levers for a VUCA World – DDI research

4. Leadership Agility: Using Improv to Build Critical Skills - UNC Executive Development

white paper

5. Leaders Make the Future: Ten New Leadership Skills for an Uncertain World - Bob

Johansen

6. Developing Leaders in a VUCA environment – UNC Executive Development white

paper

7. How the Talent Management Function Can Thrive In a VUCA World – Dr John Sullivan

8. Leadership Agility : A business imperative for a VUCA world – by Nick Horney, Bill

Pasmore, Tom O’Shea