Senior executives are increasingly using their leadership skills to hone the abilities of internal workers, moving away from a reliance on external talent, according to a recent study produced with input from the Chartered Management Institute (CMI).
In submissions to the 2014 CEO Challenge report – published last month by global business research group The Conference Board – executives signalled that reduced budgets and changing attitudes had resulted in a more internalised approach to talent development, which may actually be helping organisations improve in the long run.
Of the Top 10 methods that leaders said they were using to solve human-capital challenges, a remarkable nine were inward-looking strategies such as providing employee training, improving performance management and accountability, and boosting efforts to retain vital talent. Significantly, raising employee engagement – a policy that managers around the world ranked third in the 2013 report – moved up to second this year on a global level. In Europe it made a climb from eighth to second, while in the US it emerged as the Number One tactic after holding at fourth for two years in a row.
While those rankings should gladden the hearts of the gainfully employed, the news is not so upbeat for workers planning to move on.
A once-vital strategy in the human-capital stakes – hiring talent on the open market – has suffered a major decline in importance, dropping from seventh to 10th in Europe, sixth to ninth in the US and ninth to 12th in Asia. In Latin America, India and China, it has slumped out of the Top 10 entirely. Increasing the use of contract workers is another option that has fallen into disfavour, unloved across US, European, Latin American and Asian regions. In the latter territory, for example, recent Chinese regulations have poured cold water on bosses’ enthusiasm for contract hires, while Indian leaders gave the use of freelance labour a withering 19th place in their priorities chart. In addition, CEOs have proven far keener to develop local talent in their offshore branches rather than use expats from the countries where their headquarters are based. This means that workers hoping to emigrate through their jobs can no longer count on their plans being rubber stamped.
On a wider level, bosses were asked to rank the values, qualities and actions that they think are most important to have for maintaining economic recovery. The Top 10 came out as:
1. Integrity
2. Leading change
3. Managing complexity
4. Entrepreneurial mindset
5. Retaining and developing talent
6. Global outlook
7. Articulating a vision
8. Inspiring innovation
9. Learning agility
10. Collaboration
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