The New War For Talent - Get Ready in 2021
Are you ready for the new war on talent? Does your company have the capability it requires for the new post COVID world? Are you actively searching for the capability your business is missing. If not, why not?
2020 brought:
Headcount freezers
Salary reductions
Low or no bonus payments
Lack of job security
High unemployment rate
Increase in gig economy employees
Through 2020 companies have pivoting on strategy, priorities, reset targets and navigated the new uncertain environment that we now live in.
In light of these changes companies need to critically assess the capability of the business / teams to ensure that the organisation is set up for success in this new post COVID world.
As a leader making difficult people decisions is the hardest and most important part of your role. Looking at the overall capability of the team / business versus what is required to deliver on the strategy and priorities and hiring the right person / right level is critical.
If you lead a business or team have you reassessed the capability required for your new priorities and have you ensured the team is set up for success. It’s critical that you identify these areas early and ensure that you utilise a good recruitment firm that understands your business, your culture and understand what you need to be successful.
2021 is the year of the ‘new war’ on talent. There is talent in the marketplace that wouldn’t normally be there due to COVID, people are looking for new opportunities and change in priorities and it’s a really active market. Don’t miss the opportunity to get the right talent for your business.
Areas that are going to be hot in the market in 2021:
Process reengineering – being able to process improvement efficiencies across the business to drive overall reduction in costs and better customer experience
Transformation leads – to be able to help business execute changes to drive sustainable savings. These are unicorns to find people that can execute transformation and ensure savings can be realised
Data & analytics – do we really understand our customer, consumer trends and how this impacts their behaviour and using predictive analytics to drive operational and strategic decisions
Cashflow management – process, cashflow forecasting and tactical and strategic levers to maximise cashflow and minimise working capital management
Reporting – regular reporting and insights on key lead indicators to understand the performance of the company and ability to pivot where changes are required to be made
You are a leader of your organisation / team – make bold people decisions that drive the best outcome for your shareholders / members and ultimately your employees. Your decisions might not be popular but they should be strategic and focused on ensuring the organisation can maximise the outcome.
The biggest differentiator in any organisations results is the leadership team – right people, right structure and clarity on accountability between the key areas of the business. An open culture where the leaders are encouraged to challenge each other and put ideas and thoughts that focus on the strategy of the organisation. When Private Equity companies buy companies they assess the investment teams considering the strength of the management team and providing structure and incentives to drive the best behaviour. When a company is bought normally 65% of the leadership team are changed and CEO is removed in first 12 months. Private Equity companies understand the value of the right leadership team and the sooner they get this sorted the sooner they can focus on maximising the business outcomes.
Many leadership books talk about lessons learnt and many say – I shouldn’t have wasted time to make changes to the team, I should have moved earlier and wanting to be popular leader made me not want to make the changes that were required and ultimately didn’t generate the respect of the people in my team.
As a leader you have a massive responsibility to navigate and ensure the business is making the right business decisions – start with your people. If you haven’t got the right leadership team you can spend all the money in the world on transformation, system changes, processes etc but it won’t give you the outcome that is critical.
Don’t miss out on good talent that your business needs. 2021 is the year to be bold in business which means getting your leadership team right and ensuring that capability gaps are fixed with the perfect hire.
Keen to know what you think on the challenge on talent... Let us know on LinkedIn and tag us in discussions on #whiteark
2021 will bring:
New strategy
New priorities
New operating model
It’s the time to assess the capability in your own organisation. What capability does your company need? What are you missing?
Looking to capitalise on these trends and plan your own people strategy? Let us help.
Whiteark is not your average consulting firm, we have first-hand experience in delivering transformation programs for private equity and other organisations with a focus on people just as much as financial outcomes. We understand that execution is the hardest part, and so we roll our sleeves up and work with you to ensure we can deliver the required outcomes for the business. Our co-founders have a combined experience of over 50 years’ working as Executives in organisations delivering outcomes for shareholders. Reach out for a no obligation conversation on how we can help you. Contact us on whiteark@whiteark.com.au
