You don't need to know what "Open Talent" means to know that you probably already enjoy the benefits it offers. But before I go into that, I want to put this topic into context. Today's context (I'm writing this article in 2024).

What are today's business challenges and what is keeping CEOs and CHROs awake?

PwC released a report on the CEO Vision for 2024 and three aspects caught my attention:

1. CEOs are being forced to reallocate resources more frequently.
2. CEOs' confidence in revenue growth over the next few years has fallen.
3. Lack of competence in the workforce is the second biggest offender that CEOs control to create, deliver and capture value.

Business leaders have already understood that they will need to reinvent themselves (frequently) in order to navigate this scenario. That's when top HR leadership is called in to help think about how to solve such a complex problem.

Gartner has released a study of CHRO priorities for 2024, which need to support the challenges of operational efficiency, unstable working relationships, talent shortages and technological transformations.

‍

The opinion of CHROs:

1.  83% of HR leaders say they struggle to find talent with the skills they need
   
   
2. 57% of HR leaders say skills shortages are undermining corporate performance

‍

We know that these elements have an impact on business performance. Nor is the frequency of change likely to decrease in the coming years. The data and the daily stories that this public lives through highlight the need for innovative practices! These practices need to meet the requirements of flexibility, financial efficiency, adaptability and speed that the context in which these leaders find themselves demands!

And this is where a great opportunity lies: using the Open Talent Economy as a lever to tackle these challenges!

Organizations that have the ability to combine their internal talent with a cloud of external talent to solve their challenges will have a huge competitive advantage! According to the Harvard Business Review, these organizations are 4 to 5 times more agile in tackling established business challenges.

How can we mature the use of external talent clouds?

There are 3 stages of maturity when we talk about new talent models:

‍

Stage 1 - Use of new models to solve short-term, one-off problems.

Organizations usually open up to the new when it becomes very clear that the traditional formats don't serve the business 100%. At this stage, I often hear the phrase "I've had this problem for x months and I can't wait any longer".
Even in contexts resistant to change, the model comes as the only viable solution (in terms of time, money and quality) to solve short-term pains.

‍

Stage 2 - The model is integrated into the strategic objectives in a planned way.

Based on strategic planning decisions, it is already possible to carry out an assessment of the structure and understand potential gaps. Example: We made the decision to do an M&A and we don't have the expertise in-house to execute this strategy with excellence. Or, I made a decision to focus on growth, requiring capabilities that have not yet been created in the marketing and sales structures, which could jeopardize the strategy. Or even with a technological bias, such as: I've made a decision to have a strategy for using artificial intelligence to develop clear business objectives, but internally we don't have the necessary experience, skills and profiles to deliver this change.

‍

Stage 3 - Accelerating changes focused on the future of the business

It's difficult to build a great lever of value in three months; after all, creating a real competitive advantage takes time. The most mature organizations use new talent models to prepare for the future. Example: Testing a new business unit, entering new markets or launching new products for another customer segment. Or even people acting as "shadow executives" to people already in the operation to accelerate change management and train the people in the business.

The sooner your organization matures through these stages, the faster and more efficient it becomes.

‍

‍

What are the main use cases for those who want to get started?

Global businesses (NASA, Delloite, Novartis, Unilever...) and Brazilian ones (Alice, Blip, Pagar.me, Vivara, iFood, Endeavor, Food To Save, Portão 3, Grafeno) have already innovated in these practices.

Note that this is an innovation that is not the privilege of "only giant companies" or just technology companies, but of every company in this context that seeks to increase its competitive advantage and maintain its relevance in the coming years.

Attuned to these movements, these companies have used the model to address a number of challenges, such as:

Financial:
- Supporting the preparation of the strategy and modeling for raising funds and financing their operations, whether they are starting up or expanding.
-Professionalizing financial management by guaranteeing relevant indicators. Professionalizing financial management by guaranteeing relevant indicators, coherent controls and visibility for decision-making.
- Turning around an operation that needs to revisit its entire economic model and resource allocation.

People:
- Supporting strategic moves where "talent" is a key pillar for business success, such as M&A or restructuring with an eye on profitability and organizational design.
- Creating or professionalizing the strategy and people area in businesses that require more than an operational HR role in order to grow.
- Culture development as an enabler of relevant strategic choices in different contexts: Change in business model, product and/or market. High-growth businesses with high turnover and difficulty in engaging key talent.
- Developing leaders, especially at senior management level (managers to C-Level) or supporting the development of newly promoted people with high potential and cultural fit who need to accelerate their technical and management skills in a new role. Have you ever seen a manager or C-Level person who doesn't have in-depth expertise in one of the many challenges they manage? Example: CHRO who masters culture and leadership but needs support with remuneration challenges.
- Covering maternity leave for senior leaders, guaranteeing seniority during the period and respecting the return space of the talent taking the leave.

Marketing:
- Professionalizing demand generation and supporting the growth strategy which has reached a limit and was anchored only in sales maturity (demand conversion) and, eventually, in growth via the networking of the business founders.
- Diagnosis and repositioning of marketing gear, such as brand, channels and messages to accompany changes in business strategy.

Technology:
- Finding value levers for increasing revenue and reducing costs through artificial intelligence, analyzing the level of readiness to capture value in each of them and directing the roadmap for implementing these initiatives.

New businesses:
- Creation of a new business unit and product in consolidated companies looking to find new avenues for growth by bringing in senior people to lead the new business unit with financial efficiency, mitigating potential risks inherent in early-stage projects.

There are countless cases in different business challenges, company maturity, areas and cultures. If you are looking to start implementing the model in your talent strategy, I strongly recommend that you start with a pilot in a clear pain point where stakeholders see value and are open to innovating to achieve relevant results.

It has been a pleasure to transform the way relevant companies access talent. Our large ecosystem is learning and evolving with each client and celebrating each business milestone they achieve.

In the end, the winner is our country, which expands its capacity to innovate and create economic prosperity.

May we expand Chiefs.Group's reason for existing in the coming years: Reinventing work, educating the market about the model and, above all, generating business and results for companies and people.

‍