Navigating Tomorrow’s Talent Reinvention Journeys

Three strategies to get ahead of the competition and create a competitive advantage.

By Gasto?n Carrio?n, Managing Director, Accenture Strategy and Consulting, Talent and Organization Growth Markets Lead

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The critical link between talent strategies and business success has never been more apparent.

Businesses have ambitious goals for the future, but they need the right people with the right skills to achieve them. As large multinational companies, strive to grow, they must look at talent as a major lever to enable this aspiration.

?90% of CEOs globally report talent scarcity and a lack of relevant skills for the future of work in the top five global challenges affecting their business.[1] They are especially struggling to find highly skilled talent in areas such as in-demand technical and soft skills. Why? One major reason is they simply can’t find it.

?Yet in our report, “Re-focus your talent lens: Abundance awaits,” our research revealed that only 30 countries account for 91% of the world’s highly skilled talent, and most of these workers live outside of the Global North in Asia Pacific, Africa and Latin America. What’s more, our projections show that the number of highly skilled workers in these regions is only poised to grow.

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Capturing an abundance of talent

As companies shape their business strategies for the next five to 10 years, they are thinking about their requirements and beginning their Talent Reinvention journeys. Our report outlines

three strategic levers to attract and deploy a diverse pool of highly skilled talent across APAC, Africa and LATAM.

?I’ve shared our data—and these levers—with senior executive colleagues worldwide, and the findings are resonated. Businesses are eager to solve this talent conundrum to deliver on their business ambitions. ????

?Let’s quickly explore each lever so that your business can begin making its plans for a Talent Reinvention.

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1.????? Rescale and reallocate – Take specialized work to new places with abundant talent pools

One of the report's key recommendations, 'Rescale and reallocate,' focuses on how companies can explore new ways to reduce the mismatch between supply and demand in their future workforce. This lever involves a key topic in the workforce today: location. We’ve learned in the Covid era that work can successfully happen from anywhere.

?People want to work closer to home or from where they live. They may feel a balance of in-person and remote work offers the flexibility they need. Addressing these needs will require businesses to look beyond any perceived boundaries of location, experience or qualifications to find the highly skilled people they need.

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2. Get in early – Grow your strategic presence in tomorrow’s knowledge clusters?

?Once companies have identified strategic locations in which to develop talent, they can begin to build new knowledge clusters that capture local talent advantage and fuel future growth potential. Through proactive engagement with local industries and tapping into the insights of future entrepreneurs, businesses can cultivate these clusters. Using a digital core will help to break down geographical barriers and enable real-time collaboration.

?Simultaneously, embracing multi-generational talent, including Gen Z innovators and experienced professionals who want to return to the workforce, can add value. These talented individuals can be part of a talent network that fosters innovation and helps your business to navigate the complexities of the modern world.

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3.?????? Re-task work – Reduce routine tasks to make more room for human ingenuity?

Talent reinvention involves reinventing career experiences for workers. Companies can redesign jobs to take advantage of emerging technologies, like generative AI. Highly skilled workers can take part in the redesign and reimagine how they can do their jobs differently—and even better—with the help of technology.

?It’s also time to offer greater opportunities for growth. Highly skilled workers want opportunities to learn and expand their careers, so businesses should allow them to audition for new roles and pursue new paths, based on their aspirations and future potential.

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Taking bold steps with talent to help your business grow

?Our groundbreaking research gets to the heart of how to solve a challenge that is growing in scope every day, but that can be addressed with new thinking and approaches. Explore our report to learn more about the findings and to see real-world examples of how businesses from diverse sectors are embarking on their own Talent Reinvention journeys.

?While there's no one-size-fits-all answer, Accenture's report acts as a guiding compass, illuminating the path toward transformative talent strategies. It is a time of unprecedented change and the synergy between talent and business strategies will continue to be the cornerstone of success.

[1] United Nations. (2023). Reimagining The Agenda. Unlocking the Global Pathways to Resilience, Growth, and Sustainability for 2030. The 12th United Nations Global Compact-Accenture CEO Study. https://www.accenture.com/content/dam/accenture/final/accenture-com/document/AccentureCEO-Study-United-Nations-Global-Compact.pdf