D
Dexterity | Catalyst
recognise the dexterity that organisations need
to compete,” he explains. “Think hiring a ‘chief
growth officer’ rather than ‘sales and marketing
director’. Many of the critical ‘skills’ needed are in
fact behaviours – emotional intelligence or a growth
mindset, for example. Strong functional skills are the
entry ticket.”
There are, of course, challenges associated with
moving to new models of hiring. “Many organisations
see the upsides, but few are able to execute,” says
Miller. “Often they are frustrated by internal policy
and processes, meaning they can’t recruit talent
because it doesn’t fit snugly into a job description
that has been rubber-stamped.”
“If people demonstrate the right
behaviours and are willing to learn,
we can offer training that’s going
to help them grow”
alexandermannsolutions.com
30
It can also be hard for organisations to identify
future needs, because this is inherently difficult and/
or their people lack time for such strategic thinking.
“It’s not just a case of thinking about the next
three years and which capabilities are scarce, but
also asking ‘which skills do we already have in the
organisation that we don’t know about, how can
we do an external scan for those skills, conduct gap
analysis scenario planning, and then bridge those
gaps by taking action’,” says Shilpa Shah, director,
global talent acquisition and candidate experience
at GE Healthcare. “This is something we want to
explore in 2020.”
It’s vital that this isn’t seen as an HR or recruitment
decision, but one involving the whole business, points
out Dryer. She believes organisations often already
have the talent they need within existing teams,
but opt to hire in fresh talent by default rather than
drawing on their people’s transferable skills or
training them up. “Companies don’t know what to
do other than look outside for that talent,” she says.
“That’s something almost every hirer I’ve spoken to
in the past year has been trying to resolve.”
Where companies hire for characteristics and
potential rather than specific skills, they must be
prepared to invest in training for these recruits, to