The scalability of a company is crucial for business continuity and this has made it more common to discuss how Open Talent is shaping the future of work, enabling this growth. The pandemic has accelerated change in the business world, which has caused us entrepreneurs to be shocked by the breakdown of paradigms we were used to.

Fixed hours, face-to-face format, synchronous work... the way we've always learned to work is no longer compatible with the post-lockdown reset we're experiencing. Suddenly, we found ourselves working from anywhere, making our own hours and experiencing asynchronicity. We became the masters of our career and talent. And the question for entrepreneurs is: what next? How do we rebuild this new corporate relationship in a way that benefits us as a company and as a market?

This is a global issue. I'm part of a discussion group at Wharton University, with people from all over the world, and I can tell you that the forums have been moving on this issue. We thought that this reset was how institutions were going to look, but that's not true. The future of work is being built from this moment on. We are experiencing the coexistence of different models, and it's not about choosing one. It's about understanding, in depth, that they all coexist, embracing them and getting the best out of each one.

To elucidate how the company of the future works, with multiple simultaneous working models, I created an image. Check it out below:

In the middle, we have face-to-face, full time and synchronous workers who, in many cases, have been with the company for years, know the corporate culture and carry within them values that determine what the organization is like. Around them (lilac), still very much linked to the culture, we have those who work full time, synchronously, but in a hybrid way. Expanding (dark blue and aqua green), we have those who are 100% remote. And at the ends (light blue), there is room for part-time, flexible employees, whether they are synchronous and remote or asynchronous and remote. Here we're talking about consultancies, freelancers, for example, where we demand the service, agree on a target and they get to work.

This perspective allows us to see companies as part of a global network of talents that can be shared. We can plug and unplug these professionals based on our demands, overcoming geographical barriers in our business, for example. Lack of talent is no longer the offender for my lack of scalability.

The future: skills-based work

You see, Open Talent isn't about connecting people to companies, it's about connecting skills to needs. I need to solve a problem, so let me see who has the necessary knowledge to solve it. In fact, a survey by Deloitte revealed a strong preference among executives for a skills-based working model. However, despite this global shift, fewer than one in five leaders are adopting this type of approach. The study also showed that pioneers in this movement are achieving better business results than those who continue with job-based practices.

To do this, we need to know if this know-how is already within my team. How many people areas have records of employees' skills in addition to the positions they hold? We know about jobs and that is increasingly a thing of the past. We're talking much more about skills, whether technical or behavioral. First, we need to understand this within the organization. When there isn't this necessary skill within the team, that's where we start accessing vertical talent, specialists in specific areas. And many entrepreneurs think that this will require a financial increase, but it's exactly the opposite.

Open Talent provides access to professionals who were previously unavailable on the market, for specific periods of time, either for mentoring or to carry out specific projects, for example, offering the necessary precision and detail. This is nothing new. We've already been experimenting with this in companies through outsourcing, freelancing and consulting.

The big issue is that the people department has always treated human resources only if they were inside the organization, as if it despised those outside. And that's fine, because we didn't experience this at the intensity I'm talking about now. But the change needs to be in the planning.

According to the Corporate Finance Institute, scalability is the ability to withstand the pressure of growth without being hampered by its resources or structure. Each company decides the size of its core, there is no right or wrong. There is what works for my institution. But being able to plug and unplug talent is transformational.

It sounds complex, but it isn't. The process of scaling via Open Talent begins with the support of the company's board of directors, followed by an education phase, something we are currently working on. Without this support, it's practically impossible. But when there is, we move on to selecting partners and suppliers, a talent marketplace. They are important because of standardization.

It's possible to hire on a 1:1 basis, but it would be messy to have a different type of contract for each person. Or worse, hiring someone who is in competition. Marketplaces deliver transparency and standards, which in turn deliver scalability.

The process is cyclical, subject to adjustments and recombination as needs evolve. The platforms chosen need to have this flexibility and offer cases for experimentation, starting small, with short rounds, route adjustments and MVPs. All of this is a process, in which we leave an organization with a giant core and move towards a cloud of talent. Those who don't adapt to the trends will inevitably be left behind.

Cristiane Mendes

CVO and founder of Chiefs.Group 

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