As tech leaders struggle with talent attraction, they need to create an adaptive organization that develops and applies knowledge and skills to drive resilience, a new Forrester study has revealed.
The study, a best practice report titled “A Skills-Based Talent Strategy Is Central To An Adaptive Organization”, provides tech executives with strategies that help address the talent crunch and create an adaptive organization.
Forrester says that technology role growth has long outpaced the supply of talent. As of now, there are not enough technology professionals to fill all the open jobs.
Over 50 per cent of tech companies are adding new roles, and 400,000 additional software developer roles alone are forecast to be added by 2030 in the U.S.. But the new tech talent entering the marketplace from academia hasn’t kept up with the rate of role growth, according to Forrester. Organizations are trying to reel in workers with increased salaries, but the company says winning over tech talent with more pay is a “risky” way to go.
The most in-demand skills currently are cybersecurity, application development, and data science. The growing need for adaptivity means that tech leaders have to hire people who can apply a broad range of skills to multiple scenarios. The report cites the rise of the full-stack developer as an example. As autonomous product teams become increasingly prevalent, cross-skilling will be even more in demand and attractive. Forrester emphasizes the importance of molding organizations to become more skills driven.
Seventy per cent executives are zeroing in on developing technical skills in-house rather than hiring new talent in order to meet changing demands, Forrester noted.
“By thinking of your organization as a set of capabilities delivered by people with skills, rather than as a collection of roles, you can meet today’s demands more accurately and evolve to meet future needs,” the report says.
Additionally, expanding learning to help develop employees’ skills is also a good stepping stone to creating an adaptive organization.
According to Forrester, acquiring new skills was one of the top three priorities for IT organizations in 2021. However, many are failing to do so, and are unable to upskill their employees effectively. Employers, it said, can reinforce learning and skill development by gaining feedback from coaches and experts, and having opportunities that allow employees to grow.
