CIO OPINION professionals there is a strong need to act on leadership behaviours and development , employee engagement and well-being , organisational development and design , human resources organisation and governance , change management capabilities , purpose and culture activation , and human resources IT architecture and operation , and cloud software .
As workforce requirements continue to change across industries , failure to adapt data-driven insights may leave companies unable to close talent gaps and secure top-tier recruits .
Companies need to continuously prioritise developing the talent they already have , and upskilling and reskilling , in conjunction with effective talent acquisition , is critical to making this happen .
It is important for companies to see digital transformation not as a goal , but rather as an enabler for other goals such as greater efficiency , improved service levels , or a better employee experience . It is a foundational element of multiple people engagement topics .
Recommendations to close the gap
Strategic workforce planning and recruitment processes are perennial challenges for most organisations . With the emergence of AI and other digital and data capabilities , these areas now represent an opportunity to build competitive advantage . The core principles are not new , but the urgency to act has increased . The benefits for those who seize the initiative are clear : results from the first large-scale studies of AI in organisations suggest that productivity improvements of 20 % to 30 % are possible , depending on the task and starting position .
People and business challenges in South Africa are showing similarities with global averages . People challenges and talent gaps is a key challenge in South Africa and globally , while economic challenges rank second locally and third globally , and digital transformation and innovation rank third locally and second globally .
Rapidly changing skill demands is one of the key people challenges in South Africa and ranks second after required leadership behaviours , with changing expectations of talents ranking third .
Talent scarcity mitigation seems to be the biggest human resources challenge in South Africa with only 36 % of respondents saying that human resources finds proactive and effective ways to mitigate talent scarcity .
Business characteristics in South Africa are similar to the global average , however it seems leadership follows a more hierarchical top-down approach and fixed work structures and processes compared to the global average .
The report outlines five recommendations for people management leaders to adopt to prepare for challenging times :
• Leverage data to accurately plan for talent supply and demand
• Transform current talent acquisition approaches
• Invest in upskilling and reskilling the current workforce
• Unlock value through AI
• Focus on change management and organisational development
The impact of the pandemic proved that people management functions are good at responding to acute stimuli and can boost their capabilities when they focus on a set of sharply defined topics . For example , health and safety is the number one topic in our global survey in terms of current capabilities , and flexible work schemes jumped by 15 places since 2021 in the capabilities ranking .
The bigger challenge involves looking ahead and planning for the long-term future . By shifting their focus to topics that yield results in the medium to long term , people management functions can build up the right capabilities to shape their company ’ s overall people agenda in a truly differentiating way . p
40 INTELLIGENTCIO AFRICA www . intelligentcio . com