As we approach the end of the year, it is a crucial time to evaluate the challenges we face and the opportunities we have for growth as we enter a new year. In the current hiring market, it is important to think ahead, prepare for many outcomes, and adapt as we experience changes. Our Vice President of Business Development, Megan Graham, shared the 4 talent recommendations to consider as you prepare for 2025.
Prioritize Formalizing a Talent Strategy
When budgeting for the upcoming year, planning for growth is typically at the top of the list. For many organizations, growth comes from investing in the right team members to ensure business goals are met. This could be adding new talent or shifting existing talent on your team. As you forecast financials, spend time forecasting the need for additional talent or the benefit of upskilling present talent so they are ready for organizational changes and growth.
A formal talent plan includes many pieces and should be tailored to fit your business size and needs. Areas to explore include onboarding, analytics, workforce planning, diversity hiring, talent pipelines, employee referral programs, and finally, the interview process. Once you set a plan, don’t forget to set goals around your plan and track progress.
Review Internal Talent Mobility
One often overlooked part of a talent strategy is the opportunity to mobilize internal talent. Internal talent mobility, also called career mobility, is the lateral and vertical movement of team members within an organization. A mobility review can help your organization improve employee engagement, retention, and loyalty. It can also reduce the need for external hiring.
As you review your talent, focus on skills rather than job titles. For example, if someone in a support capacity has the skillset needed to pick up additional accounting responsibilities, allow that to happen. Those transferable skills could include data entry, attention to detail, or a bend towards numeric understanding. That might create space for mobility internally.
Additionally, allow your employees the opportunity to take charge of their career paths. When you have a top performer who is loyal in a specific role, odds are they will continue to be a top performer in a different role, especially if they have interest and skills that align with that new role. This circumvents repetitive responsibilities and keeps your top performers learning new areas of the business.
When you review talent mobility, you will organically create a development-oriented review or annual meeting cycle. This creates space for feedback too, as some team members may have no interest and prefer to stay in their present seat, which is also wonderful and can be useful to your organization, while others may find new energy and excitement in learning a new area that ultimately adds value to your business.
Goal Setting and Tracking
Now more than ever, your employees want to understand what the overarching organizational goals are, how as a team you plan to get there, and lastly, what that means for their individual seat as a part of the team. While sharing an annual goal is powerful, breaking this down by quarter and then communicating within each department or business line what their expectations of contribution are leaves no stone unturned.
Everything each group does can link back to the overall goal established. This can be both a measurement of performance, as well as an opportunity to celebrate as a team when milestones are accomplished. The key to goal setting is tracking and communicating. Communication of progress or areas of shortfall allows the team to be more invested in the outcome. The goal: by the end of January 2024 each member of your team should be able to clearly communicate their responsibility towards meeting your business objectives for the year.
Decide Just How Much to Invest In AI
In an ever-changing technical landscape, it is important to stay ahead of the game. AI is part of our business – present and future. So, as a business leader, how do you ensure you don’t under or overinvest? Start slowly, and identify areas of your business where large amounts of data are generated, tasks are repetitive, or where customer interactions could be personalized. Can these areas be automated with the use of an AI based tool?
For example, is there a member of your team that handles scheduling for a majority of the day, or, one who is consistently reaching out to customers for a repeatable need (meter reading, AR, etc.)? These are areas to investigate the use of AI that require minimal investment. Consider what you could do proactively if 40% of those individuals’ time was available to you. It may allow you to retool them in another area, causing a lessened need for external hiring. If you are unsure where to start LinkedIn is a great resource with many subject matter experts who have contributed thoughts.
As you prepare for the new year, our team is here to help. Contact us today to learn more about our talent solutions!
