25 Feb The world is changing — are you moving with it?

The world of today

“Of 1500 global C-suite executives surveyed, 84% say their business operates in an increasingly disrupted environment.” – Global Leadership Forecast 2018

Consider the results of companies that have adopted and utilized technologies made in today’s age: according to the results of a McKinsey global survey, only 15% of companies have integrated digital technology completely. However, on the other end of the scale, the results from the same study found that 20% of the companies surveyed are ’barely leveraging’ the technology they have.

While this tells us that companies are indeed integrating today’s technology, it raises a much more important question: how are they using it? Clearly, not well. Looking at the Global Leadership Forecast, over 50% of digital pioneers outperform others in their fields, which begs the question of why companies aren’t strategically using the technology they’ve invested in to maximize their revenue potential.

Eventually, the world will progress so fast and far that those left behind can no longer catch up. Getting ahead of the game must become a top priority, and HR plays a crucial role in getting their company ready for the future.

HR’s stance

Only 16% of HR professionals report being very prepared to operate in a digital environment. In a world that is already changing drastically from what it was a generation ago because of incorporating new technologies, the other 84% will have no choice but to embrace it.

There are two significant challenges that over 1,000 C-Level executives, based on the Global Leadership Forecast, have identified in the coming years:

• developing the next generation of leaders (64%) and
• failure in attracting and retaining top talent (60%).

Suffice to say, these challenges can be tackled from the process of recruitment. However, this process is an area that desperately needs reinventing with technology first.

Narrowing the pool down

When there are many candidates that are fit for the job HR must pinpoint the people with exceptional competencies that will outperform the rest. Possessing the relevant knowledge and experience in a candidate is always key, but will they fit into the company culture?

Having a candidate that is job fit but not culture fit leads to poor retention rates and replacement costs. Finding a candidate that aligns with the values and goals of the company will both motivate and help keep them.

But how can we do that? How do we develop those employees into leadership positions? There need to be long-term strategies put in place to solve these problems, and that starts with recruitment.