Do you have a TechVantage?

Technology change has an ever-tightening grip on all aspects of business and is increasingly complex. It’s a never-ending process that involves your entire leadership team.

CHROs play a key role in enabling technology with their business, addressing the talent, succession, and cultural requirements needed to pivot to new solutions and sustain business transformation.

With this in mind, along with the recent rise of Gen AI and other macro political and economic factors, we are bringing together a group of discreet and high level CHRO/CPOs to discuss:

• The types of scenario planning/development that are most effective;
• What the workforce of the future should look like to enable digital strategy; and
• What is needed from future leaders to ensure an organisation’s technology evolution is streamlined and supported at all levels.

TechVantage: The Chief People Officer's Perspective on Technology and Disruption

The Preparedness Challenge:

Understanding Technology Impact: Most CPOs identified a misalignment at the executive leadership level regarding the understanding around the future technological impact on their companies.

Prioritizing Tech Over Other Concerns: While there are various topics leaders contend with, including DEI and Sustainability, technology remains at the top of most agendas.

The Pivotal Role of CPOs:

Aligning the Vision: The CPO's role has evolved to become the glue that binds different viewpoints at the executive level, ensuring a holistic perspective on future talent needs. But it also needs to be a role that develops a risk-taking muscle, advising the CEO on where to take calculated risks on people and talent.

Cultural Stewardship: CPOs are recognized as the guardians of organizational culture, challenging CEOs to prioritize it. They act as the connectors between functions and now also help to drive innovation as part of the cultural and skills ecosystem.

Evolving ‘modern leader’ characteristics: CPOs are tasked with defining and assessing for future-facing leadership characteristics (from systems thinking to learning agility and interpersonal skills), as well as assessing which technical skills will be needed across the organization.

The Future Workforce:

Upgrading Systems: Many companies are grappling with outdated IT systems for people functions, affecting the CPO's ability to enhance the employee experience.

Tech-savviness as a Basic Need: Younger generations expect workplaces to offer modern tech tools, with some even considering tools like ChatGPT as almost fundamental.

Competencies Over Skills: The emphasis is shifting towards core competencies like interpersonal skills, learning agility, and critical/system thinking rather than specific skills.

Balancing Immediate Profits vs. Long-term Talent Strategies: Many CPOs find it challenging to convince business leaders to prioritize long-term talent investments over short-term profit growth.

Scenario Planning:

The Unsubstitutable Human Element: Despite technological progress, there's a consensus that technology, including AI, cannot replace the moral and ethical leadership intrinsic to humans.

Inclusive Roadmaps: A comprehensive approach to tech, encompassing systems, AI, and most importantly, culture, is essential.

Ethics in AI: While there's excitement around AI, only a fraction of companies are considering AI as a tool for workforce reduction. Instead, many are repurposing roles to create value. The critical consideration remains: the moral implications of AI in teams.

In Conclusion:

While technology is revolutionizing the business world, the role of leadership, culture, and human decision-making remains paramount. The challenge lies in harmonizing the two, ensuring technological advancements enhance, not hinder, our organization’s human elements.