4 challenges for talent management in 2023

When analyzing various reports on the current situation of global talent, it is striking that they all agree on a key challenge: the humanization of workspecifically in empathy as a characteristic of strong employer brands and good work environments.

Is about empathy in every way, from understanding the differences implied by diversity and inclusion, a culture that generates psychologically safe work environments and organizational structures designed to improve interactions, to the development of leadership with greater human impact. These elements mark the challenges for 2023, so we must be prepared to evolve towards this multiple challenge.

Next, we will review four trends arising from the general challenge of empathy in the workplace and its impact on business:

» 1. Understanding diversity and inclusion

The first trend has to do with a deep understanding of diversity in the business environment. Diversity has been talked about for many years in companies, however, the real application entails much more than statement of acceptance to different groups of people, or rainbow campaigns.

Diversity implies a deep respect and openness to other’s way of thinking and this is probably the highest form of empathy in an organization. We see a successful and interesting example today in EVPs (employee value propositions), where companies that are rapidly evolving in this regard are designing real responses to the various needs of their employees, and this in turn is reflected in how They also understand the need to serve their customers in a differentiated way, generating a virtuous circle of joint growth.

Living a culture of diversity can really transform people’s behaviors and generate a competitive advantage Awesome. “Companies that don’t listen to their employees and other stakeholders, and don’t constantly adapt their design, will lose the ability to raise capital, attract and retain talent, and remain relevant,” says Ilya Bonic, president of the practice of Career and Strategy Director of Mercer in the Global Talent Trends Study 2022 from the company.

» 2. Promotion of friendly cultures

The second trend is related to the first, but goes much deeper. We are talking about empathic cultures with an incredible feature in the business context: today we are talking about friendship at work.

It is strange to think that this is an innovative concept, but it is, how many times do we hear people in organizations say “I come to work, not to make friends”. Today, friendship at work is a fundamental element of connection and retention, but various studies have also shown the relationship between friendship and productivity. Greater emotional bonds they generate greater motivation for effort and achievement of purpose, as summarized in the article by Lynda Gratton “Why you should make friends at work”, published by MITSloan management review.

This element today becomes an important variable when designing work teams, especially in agile organizations where the ability to connect and interact effectively makes a huge difference in the ability to adapt and, therefore, in the result.

» 3. Rethinking jobs

Have empathetic organizations for the development of most liquid businesses is seen as the third trend. Beyond organizational agility, the concept of liquidity in business challenges the ways we have conceived of organizations.

An interesting practice in this sense is called “The third space”. According to the LLYC-DCH Talent Trends 2022 report, it is a model that involves fully flexible work solutions, where the person is autonomous in terms of the decision of “where to work”. To that end, many organizations are enabling “third-party networks… fully equipped and responsive to the immediate needs of an increasingly dynamic employee.” This implies not only a change in the work environment, but also a different way of conceiving organization charts, responsibilities and processes.

Given this context, job descriptions tend to disappear and evolve towards more comprehensive and empowering concepts, such as decision maps or contact matrices, more focused on the definition of a framework of action that allows the person to act, develop and enhance their work according to their own way and in harmony with the particular ways of others. In these environments, culture is built through the prioritization of key behaviours, both those that are accepted and those that are not, respecting differences and encouraging everyone to be who they are.

» 4. Redefinition of leadership

The three previous trends generate the need for a fourth trend focused on leadership skills for managing these more open, diverse and, at the same time, more complex environments for management. Much has been said about leadership, however, today more than ever this capacity plays an important role in the possibility of generating better and more sustainable results.

What is interesting about this fourth trend is that leadership is not only understood as the ability that the person in charge of the team must have, but that today it is understood as a fundamental element of each of its members. Leading in an agile environment, where teams focus on the solutions customers require, means that everyone understands the purpose of their work and is responsible for making it happen.

Thinking of the old schemes where everything depends on a single head that thinks of the strategy and distributes the work, it is already an outdated concept and, above all, it can become a threat to the response speed of an organization.

With all of the above, 2023 is planned as a year of adjustments to achieve accommodate the world of work to the changes that global events have brought us and continue to bring us. It has not only been about the pandemic, today we are also experiencing spectacular transformations due to technology and the participation of new generations in companies. Preparing ourselves will undoubtedly be a very fun job.