For far too long CEOs and other executives have failed to value HR leaders in the way they do other C-suite functions. Though they have understood the need for people related skills – reward, recruitment training and much more – still there are many CEOs who fail to recognise how today’s best HR leadership can provide a truly game-changing contribution to a business. Contributor Richard Chiumento – Director of The Rialto Consultancy and RALI
In the increasing need to develop a high performing workplace culture and rapid advances in AI and other technology means the scope of HR responsibilities is going to evolve. Just as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) role has developed to the point that many actively assist the CEO lead the business, tomorrow’s HR leader will work to unleash a new level of organisational energy by attracting, assigning and managing talent in an entirely new way.
There is now more than ever a great opportunity for the best leaders to play a central role in corporate decision making, forging a deeper new working relationship dynamic with the CEO and CFO. HR leaders will need to continue to be open to change, flexible and able to articulate and sell their vision of how the company should operate in an increasingly AI led workplace.
Many HR leaders are already taking key initiatives focussed on continually building a high performing culture including striking the right balance on diversity, pay equity and harassment. The way such issues are handled will play a key role in attracting and retaining talent. In a world where talent is the differentiator between companies, services and products, HR is the keeper of that talent and must move from cost centre to revenue generator and game changer.
In order to play this new and key future role the best HR leaders will not only need to adopt new talent acquisition methodologies and acquire new levels of market knowledge but financial planning and forecasting will be essential, as will greater compliance and legal knowledge. HR leaders will also need to understand how to effectively gather data, how to craft strategy based on that data, and then measure the success of initiatives. This will require greater familiarity with AI tools and emerging technology and the development of a digital mind-set. This doesn’t mean becoming a digital savant, but it will involve learning how to apply digital technologies to optimise business performance, create new business models and opportunities as well as disrupt markets and competitors.
The best HR leaders of the future we display a markedly different skillset to the past. Our study, Supercharge your Leadership Skills for the Future, revealed that many leaders lack the necessary skills and capabilities to move their organisations forward. The survey found out that an astonishing quarter of leaders don’t feel sufficiently confident in their skills as a future leader.
This will be a huge problem given how different the future will be to the past and today’s present. Many professionals would say that “Fourth Industrial Revolution,” is already underway with automation, AI and digital technology revolutionising the workplace. Some jobs are under threat and may well be redefined and that ways of working are going to change, with perhaps 44 per cent of UK jobs at risk and 49 per cent of employers admitting they will require fewer employees in three years’ time according to recent surveys.
This won’t just impact the “factory floor” but knowledge based, highly specialised positions as well. Trading, investment, reporting are just some occupations built on quantitative analytical processes, which can now largely be taken over by software, A World Economic Forum’s survey found that AI is even expected to be seen on a company’s board of directors by 2026.
This will become the new environment within which the HR leaders of tomorrow will have to operate successfully in. They will be a central intellectual resource as organisations build new business models, reinventing what they do and how they do it. AI and block chains will be commonplace, increased competition and industry disruption will Mean that skillsets required will change more rapidly in the future.
Careers offering accelerated reward growth and security will be much rarer and people will be working in a much more transient and transactional way. Indeed current research indicates that ca 400m jobs will disappear due to automation and that 375m people will need to switch roles by 2030 .
HR can play a real role in partnering with Technologies leaders and the leadership team to help the workforce adapt to the importance of digital transformation. People are going to have to work in tandem with technology in order to provide a greater return on investment. There are ways of making this easier, at Rialto for example, we have developed the Rialto Accelerated Leadership Index (RALI), which enables leaders to understand future market needs and develop the critical skillsets to stay relevant; clarify and prioritise leadership capability and experience areas to improve performance, profile and positioning in a target marketplace.
What RALI does is bring together current and aspiring HR leaders and connect them to a real-time data map of capabilities and experiences possessed by peers and competitors. Everyone involved will know what challenges their peers are facing, and what skills are needed to tackle them. It allows for an unprecedented level of preparedness, enables HR to contribute strategically, and optimise other areas such as talent acquisition, data analytics and company productivity.
In addition, RALI provides access to career scenario planning trajectory tools. These will become an increasingly critical resource as AI gathers pace. The 21st century will see the best HR leaders go far beyond the remit of their predecessors and embracing digital mind-sets and a new leadership style demanded by future organisations. The time to start that process is now.
