Combined technical and business expertise are hardest to find globally, with 67 per cent of chief executive officers reporting shortages; and in bad news for people managers, only 43 per cent of chiefs believe HR is equipped to deal with changes needed to compete for talent.
The findings from a new survey by accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers shows that just over half also report difficulties in finding people with the courage to challenge decisions, while those with the ability to collaborate, or with language skills, are easier to find.
Despite 89 per cent of CEOs globally saying that people management issues are one of their top priorities, and 67 per cent believing their time is best spent on the people agenda, confidence in HR dips to as low as 34 per cent in the UK when it comes to believing it is the best function to source talent.
CEOs across the globe also look for different skill sets. Creativity and innovation, combined technical and business experience, the ability to change and the courage to challenge are most sought after in Asia Pacific.
Latin American CEOs hanker after employees with global experience, and the ability to manage and anticipate risk is most sought by bosses in Central and Eastern Europe.
Respondents from the UK are more likely to agree that competitive advantage is likely to come from improved customer service (84 per cent), the ability to change (83 per cent) and access and retention of key talent (81 per cent).
Michael Rendell, partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers, said: “Many of the world’s rapidly emerging markets are coming out of a manufacturing based model into one where services are more prominent. This will mean a higher demand for management skills common in the mature economies of Western Europe and the US. Executives here will have multiple employment options internationally and their current employers may find they have to work increasingly hard to retain them.
“Right now, this situation is being compounded by volatile stock market performance which will lead some executives in larger UK organisations to question the value of their reward packages if they are substantially dependent on share price performance.”
Elsewhere in the survey, bosses worldwide cited lack of middle management motivation or engagement and lack of senior change management experience as critical barriers to change.
One Response
Confidence in HR
I find this survey to be a shocking indictment on CEOs. If the qualities etc are missing to the extent the survey suggests, then someone somewhere sometime has not specified what is expected of people in their positions; and most important, have not spelled out those expectations. If they had, then there would be support/training/mentoring/whatever, to get those people to where they make the required contribution. Way too often CEOs overlook the fact they have a crucial role here…. by insisting that such expectationsa are made clear, and when they are not achieved, support etc is provided to ensure they are achieved. This also means those who do not have the “wherewithall” are sent off somewhere else. Simple, but obviously overlooked. The idea that people should bring everything with them to a role probably never ever made sense, yet remains one of the great shortcomings of management thinking.