Businesses are increasingly finding it difficult to hire, develop, and retain ‘the right’ talent. This is especially true for roles in high demand, such as -related. It is important to have employees with the right skills for any company that wants to remain competitive and maintain market share.
Human capital, workforce planning, and development are major global concerns across industries and continents. In today’s digital world, an organization that can adapt quickly and seamlessly to changes will stand out. This requires agile talent.
This blog explores seven ways organizations can develop and nurture a workforce with digital skills and agility. These skills can help drive business success.
Create a digital culture
80% of digitally mature companies report actively engaging in initiatives designed to boost risk-taking agility and collaboration. Comparatively, 23% of companies are at an early stage of digital maturity.
Companies that have adopted digital transformation are different because they invest in digital culture from the top. Given the resources and opportunities to grow in a digital world, senior executives will be more likely to recognize the external and internal factors driving maturity and retaining talent.
This digital culture is reflected in mature organizations where employees can take advantage of initiatives designed to help them improve their digital skills. A recent MIT Sloan report found that digital maturity is a key factor in attracting new talent. Only 10% of early-stage companies can attract the same level of talent.
Embrace change
A recent report shows that only 40% of executives think they are equipped to handle change in the future. It means 60% do not feel ready or equipped to handle change.
Digital continues to have an enormous impact on how businesses communicate and operate. Specialist skills are becoming more important for the talent pool of any organization.
As an example, advanced analytics, cloud computing, and cognitive computing are becoming increasingly important in all industries, driving the need to align technologies and processes between internal and external functions.
Understanding your human capital
A company must know the capabilities of all its employees. Understanding the expertise already available in-house allows executives to bring together teams of employees from various parts of the organization who have the talent needed to complete projects.
Knowing the skills available can help you identify the skills your company lacks, especially in niche roles with a good understanding of digital technologies.
Dan Restuccia, Chief Analytics Officer of Burning Glass Technologies, believes that organizations should build talent supply chains in the same manner as they manage goods and materials. This approach will allow companies to identify their talent needs and address potential disruptions or inefficiencies in the flow of talent.
By mapping the digital expertise within a workforce, companies can identify the skills that they need and future-proof their organization by identifying the roles that will be important in the future.
Investing in education and training is a good idea
It doesn’t matter what approach an organization takes to talent agility. They need to invest in upgrading skills to stay current and relevant.
Deloitte says that 70% should be derived from exposure and practical training. 20% should be derived from facilitated training. And 10% should come through self-directed reading and learning.
Salesforce is a good example. The cloud computing company, keen to foster a culture of digital talent and adopt a learning environment that encourages it, offers online courses focusing on specific roles and jobs. Employees receive a badge for completing a course that appears on their company’s social networking site. This can be used to identify employees with specific expertise and also in the evaluation of performance.
It is important to have a well-structured, industry-aligned learning and training program that meets the workforce’s needs, ensures skills are updated as needed, and increases the company’s attractiveness for future talent.
Develop a diverse workforce
Diversity is a key driver for innovation and essential to an agile workforce. Senior executives recognize the importance of diversity in fostering innovation, developing new ideas, and guiding business strategies.
A diverse set of skills is essential for a digitally savvy and agile workforce. Specialists are becoming increasingly important for businesses as customer needs continue to evolve. However, generalists with skills like traditional marketing are equally important in driving business success.
Drive Collaboration
Collaboration within an organization can foster a culture that encourages sharing and innovation.
Adopting a collaborative mentality that considers different cultures, ages, and abilities is important. As the workforce becomes more diverse, with native digital users such as millennials making up a significant part, developing a collaborative attitude is necessary. The collaboration will also help create a diverse customer base and drive engagement with various prospects by using a varied set of knowledge.
Collaboration is essential in the digital age. It is not confined to a single department but is embraced by all departments, from sales to marketing. Sales must work with marketing to create the best online and offline content for customers. IT and marketing should also collaborate to make better use of data.
In two years, the software company Vidyard grew its business by more than 1,000% through collaboration between its sales and marketing teams using digital tools. This alignment, dubbed’smarketing,’ aligned the sales and marketing teams’ objectives to generate qualified leads, pipeline, and revenue.
Consider the time for reflection
To be successful, an organization must have a long-term vision. As such, businesses should think about how they can future-proof their talent. It is important to evaluate what has worked or not worked regarding hiring, training, or retention.
What was the response to recent initiatives in learning and development? What was most effective in attracting talent? A confidential internal survey can provide valuable insights into a company’s culture and working environment that they may not have been aware of.
Incorporating reflection time allows an organization to learn from its mistakes and capitalize on its success. This will allow them to assess where they stand regarding digital transformation and determine how to proceed.