We are living in rapidly changing times, and to keep up, organizations must learn to be agile and adaptable – that will be the key to future success.
We were incredibly lucky to have industry analysts Mervyn Dinnen, Paul Corke, and Robin Erickson, Ph.D. dive into this topic at the 2022 FuelX Talent Mobility Conference for an insightful session titled “Power Your Future Talent Strategies: An Analyst Briefing Discussion”.
Together, the three panelists shared their insights on the critical skills and capabilities organizations will need to enhance their future talent strategy, and effectively prepare their workforce for the future.
What will a Successful Talent Strategy look like in 2025?
The panelists were asked to “look into their crystal balls and see what the future holds.” That’s a pretty big task, but they were up to the challenge.
One key question the panel was asked – “When it comes to talent strategies, what will smart organizations be doing in 2025?” – kicked off the discussion, but they had a lot of other things to say as well. Here’s a little from the conversation:
From Mervyn Dinnen: “Skills and talent management … are going to be hugely important. Digital talent has intellectual curiosity … They know their roles are changing … They don’t see themselves necessarily as doing the same things (moving ahead) … linked in with that is that organizations will have an increasing focus in supporting areas like wellbeing because that fuels engagement and productivity and that’s also a way for someone to achieve their best performance …
Research has found that intellectual wellbeing, which was not seen as that important before the pandemic, is now alongside mental wellbeing and financial wellbeing as one of the Top 3 that companies say they will support in their people moving forward … that is how I would see the organization in 2-3-4 years time.”
From Robin Erickson: “I think that it is going to be very important that organizations invest in AI. I think it’s a scary word for many people — the robots are coming, and they are going to take all our jobs! — but back in the 1980s, when automated teller machines, or ATMs, were first launched, the prediction was that the banking industry was going to die because they weren’t going to need tellers anymore. Today, do you really want to go to a bank to get your money, or, are you happy getting it at a bank machine? Not only that but there are more people working in banks today and more (financial) franchises than ever before.
What happened was that the people who were tellers had to learn new skills … I do think that the future is now, and rather than being afraid of AI we need to embrace it and be looking to those new skills that employees need. … I think there will be some robots that take away human jobs, but we need those humans to learn new skills, so reskilling is very important.”
From Paul Corke: “One of the main reasons why people leave organizations is because of career opportunities, so that’s why a talent marketplace is so important for a number of reasons … from an organizational perspective, it’s about being able to use the skills of people in the right ways to be agile … when we look at mental health, if you have that talent marketplace in place it provides career opportunities, and the AI pushes out career opportunities and you can see what is possible at the end of the day. … The real top talent will look at organizations and see if they are purpose-driven organizations, and they will start to choose not just the organization but the purpose behind that organization. …”
The panel also talked a lot about skills – including what skills will be in demand in the next five years, why “soft” skills are robot-proof skills, and why the ability to learn will be so essential moving ahead. They also made the point that not only do organizations have to be agile, but employees need to be agile as well.
A Talent Marketplace will Continue to be Essential
Lastly, the talent marketplace is and will continue to be incredibly important. because The sad reality is that so many organizations don’t have clearly defined career paths, much less a talent marketplace or a culture of talent mobility where people are supported, enabled, and encouraged to move around to different positions.
As Paul Corke pointed out, “a talent marketplace is so important for a number of reasons… and from an organizational perspective, it’s about being able to use the skills of people in the right ways to be agile.” Leveraging a talent marketplace to harness those skills and facilitate internal mobility will help build the agility your organization needs to succeed now and in the future.
