Whether your company is challenged by digitization, the unexpectedness of the pandemic, or increased global competition, you need to prepare for future unforeseen events. In this article, we examine three key considerations to organize teams that are able to handle and overcome adversity.
increasing demand for agile, flexible teams
The world around us is changing quickly and impacting the labour market. This will naturally influence how you decide to build your teams and organizations. Over the last several decades, we have gone from a unified, jointly managed labour market, to one that is increasingly fragmented. Traditional, permanent long-term employment has been, to a large extent, replaced by temporary employment and a mix of project hires, consultants, and freelancers.
According to the 2020 Global Human Capital Trends study from Deloitte, 45% of HR professionals stated that incorporating agile and team-based work is the biggest change HR can make to maximize efficiency.
According to the 2020 Global Human Capital Trends study from Deloitte, 45% of HR professionals stated that incorporating agile and team-based work is the biggest change HR can make to maximize efficiency.
Additionally, 53% of organizations that adopted a team-based strategy have seen a significant improvement in performance. It is abundantly clear that HR must take an agile, adaptable approach to the unique challenges and opportunities businesses are currently facing. HR departments need to find ways to enable their organization, teams, and employees to adapt to new conditions.
Below are 3 key considerations to restructure your teams to adapt to the new normal while also future-proofing your organization.
-
Do we have access to critical capabilities and skills?
In a rapidly changing economy, the need for skills can change suddenly. As new areas and opportunities arise and you need to hire niche experts fast. To ensure you have access to critical skills at the right time, you may consider relying on consultants. Letting your employees work in parallel with external specialists with different cutting-edge skills is an effective way of developing employees' competencies in essential areas.
-
What will our future staffing needs look like?
In many industries, there are seasonal variations that occur by year, week, and even day. Mapping them out makes it easier to plan and organize your team. To prepare for uncertainty, you also need to plan for different future scenarios. This allows you to formulate a strategy so you can adjust the size of your teams in response to unforeseen events, which in turn will future-proof your business.
-
Do we have the right mix of permanent and temporary staff?
To adapt your organization for unforeseen fluctuations, you must have the right mix of permanent and temporary staff. When deciding which skills to hire permanently and which to hire temporarily, we recommend distinguishing between three types of skills; business-critical, medium-level skills, and less-advanced skills.
- business-critical skills: these employees should preferably be permanently hired by you.
- medium-level skills: these employees can be a mix of permanent and temporary employees.
- less-advanced skills: these employees are often temporary employees, who are engaged for short or long-term contracts based on work loads.
download
6 building blocks of a profitable team.
At the end of the day, you must organize teams that generate long-term growth profitably. In an evolving market that demands continuity, speed, and agility, you must prepare for uncertainty.
If you're interested in learning more about how to organize your teams to meet the current challenges and future-proof your organization, you can download our in-depth guide on how to build profitable teams below.
