Ron Stewart examines how business leaders can successfully identify and tackle the challenges of the coming year.

With the ever changing global landscape, businesses are expecting to face a fresh set of challenges in 2015. A vital part of strong leadership is the ability to identify these challenges and decide how they can be tackled in a way that is advantageous to your business. In recent research from PwC, CEOs have identified five main trends that will reshape the business landscape over the coming years:

• Technological advances

• Demographic shifts

• Shifts in global economic power

• Resource scarcity

• Rapid urbanisation

What does this mean in terms of skills availability? In short, it means that sourcing and retaining talent will continue to be a real challenge. The talent supply is shifting while the demand is increasing. In 2014, 50% of CEOs planned to increase their headcount. However, 63% of CEOs cited the availability of key skills as a serious concern. In the face of continued skills shortages, the questions is: how can strong leaders tackle the talent challenge?

Devise a strategy

Identifying the key challenges is one thing, but knowing how to deal with them is another matter entirely. While 93% of CEOs say that they recognise the need to make changes to tackle the talent challenge, only 61% have taken actual steps to doing so. Devising a strong strategy to deal with the problem at hand is necessary for businesses to remain competitive. Gambling on making the right decisions can only get a company so far, and strong leaders will know the value of planning ahead.

Strengthen HR

Only 34% of CEOs commented that they felt their HR department was able to handle the challenges ahead, and 42% of business leaders believe their HR teams are underperforming. With such a low percentage feeling confident in their HR department, it’s time to look at ways to improve. Key considerations include using sophisticated analytics to identify talent trends and skills gaps as a way to augment an effective talent strategy and training programme.

Re-skill and upskill

At the end of the day, attracting and retaining top talent is the responsibility of the employers. However, given that one in three job roles is set to become automated by 2020, employees need to be willing to adapt in order to survive. Re-skilling and upskilling initiatives may be the answer. Employees who are a valuable asset to their team may have skills that are transferable, or in the very least adaptable. A good leader can recognise skills gaps and should consider training up valuable team members whose job roles are diminishing.

Structural flexibility

Technological advances have made working remotely a good solution for finding skilled talent to fill the demand. Another study from PwC emphasised a growing popularity of independent and project-based work, so that companies are able to use the skillsets they need as and when they need them. This kind of structural flexibility in the workplace creates more opportunities for both employers and employees.

Tackling today’s talent challenge isn’t going to be an easy feat for any business. However with a knowledge of the global trends that are transforming the business landscape and an understanding of the challenges they bring, strong leaders can form valuable strategies to deal with these challenges.

Ron Stewart has worked in the recruitment industry for 30 years, having owned companies in the IT, construction and medical sectors. He runs the Jobs4Group, and is CEO of www.jobs4medical.co.uk