Organizations need the right talent to succeed, and they need it now.
Simply stated: I don’t think there is a CEO alive who would not agree they need the right talent, at the right time, to achieve organizational commitments. And if they don’t have the right talent they need, their organizational goals are therefore in jeopardy. A recent article by Gartner HR indicated that CEOs rank talent shortages as the most damaging risk on the outlook for their business.[1]
To make matters worse, the world is changing at lightning speed (think Industrial Revolution 4.0) and emerging technologies and innovations require vastly different skill sets than were needed in the past. According to the World Economic Forum, 44% of workers’ skills will be disrupted in the next 5 years and 6 in 10 employees will require training before 2027.[2] While the lack of skills is a challenge today, the emergence of new skill requirements will be an even bigger challenge tomorrow.
Although there are many factors contributing to this ‘talent crisis’, including skill shortages, impending retirements, demographic shifts/ changes, etc., some of the main hurdles are those created and perpetuated by the organizations themselves. It will require awareness and a firm commitment to the eventual eradication of these barriers to make any inroads moving forward. Think of it this way: it is easier to battle external factors on the outside than it is having to also battle self-imposed challenges on the inside. Control what is controllable (i.e., internal challenges) and figure out the rest.
Footnotes
[1] 2024 leadership vision for 2024: Top 3 strategic priorities for chief HR officers. Gartner. (2023). Retrieved January 18, 2024, from https://www.gartner.com/en/human-resources/trends/leadership-vision-chief-hr-officer.
[2] Future of jobs report 2023 – World Economic Forum. (2023, May). Retrieved January 18, 2024, from https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Future_of_Jobs_2023.pdf.
