The Fight for Talent in 2022 and Beyond

It was all about being busy 24/7 in the last months of 2019. 2020 started with lots of projects and prospects. Then March came and in April, like an earthquake, everything came to a halt. It was unbelievable to see how plane travel was first cut to half, then one-quarter, then maybe less as flights became very cheap. Staff was cut, there were no more lines and airports were empty. Requirements for masks and COVID tests were so confusing and expensive and 2020 descended into chaos. It was the worst-ever recorded time for the aviation industry. There were lots of layoffs, delays and pauses, and the supply chain took a hit that is felt to this day.

Amid all this, talent became a lot harder to find. The approach of companies to their workforce took a dark turn, which was broadly rejected by employees, especially administrative personnel.  In trying to survive the COVID-related hit, the industry reduced work hours and compensation to cost cuts as  revenue streams declined.  What resulted was a move toward accelerated technological adoption regarding digital paperwork, processes and software updates in areas like engineering, accounting and computing. 

To cover the possibility of a sudden loss of talent, every single position in any enterprise hired today must have a back up, otherwise, projects and the overall progress of on-time delivery could take a hard hit that would be even more expensive to recover from afterward. Volkswagen understood this way before anyone else did. Since talent is so critical to a company's success, they even have a university to supply their entire operation internally and now even internationally. They hire students  from secondary or junior high school to become apprentices of the company while giving them time to adapt and study. The company  pays for the degree and the students eventually  become  engineers or seasoned specialist technicians. 

Our company, Innocentro, started this model in 2018, when we saw this talent crunch coming. We already had a digital ERP in place but expanded the menu. Companies have to evolve and innovate constantly to avoid being left behind. This not only relates to  industry challenges but to the ongoing ups and downs of the pandemic and even after it changes to an endemic stage. We can no longer stand pat.

By the same token, Silicon Valley companies have a very curious model for ensuring the most knowledge transfer to new generations. They hire a main focal point, such as an expert coach, to supervise and advise entry level and rookie staff who are working on projects to ensure and standardize the use of quality systems and main process drivers. As a result,  the coached staff can relate to a senior level expert to adapt, learn wisely and execute in an orderly manner. Most other companies gamble on trusting, sometimes blindly, on learning on the go. Silicon Valley has made sure the retiring generation can leave a great stamp on the upcoming employees. Maybe we should apply the same principles to avoid having abandoned projects, hot deliveries and urgent items on the table, therefore, creating corporate catastrophes and angry customers. 

This new model should be adapted yearly, maybe even on a quarterly basis, to change the school and university curricula. It is just like technology, it changes every month, quarter, half and, less so, yearly, since the world’s evolution has accelerated after the COVIDera. Even now, the pandemic has made companies change how they evaluate performance productivity, regardless if it’s remote or in the office. Talent is becoming less reliant on “bosses” or “upper level leadership” and more on themselves to create a self-made commitment and better self-driven executives. There is no better associate or team who can manage to be self-motivated, ambitious and goal-oriented to advance within an organization.Better progress is made  when this role model is achieved.

More and more software companies, suppliers to the aerospace industry and just about any other industry have been making strides and huge improvements since 2020 that most auxiliary jobs have disappeared almost entirely. It is no secret that software advances are also medicine for  nonproductive traps and cost-inefficiency. Robotization has also emerged  as well as artificial intelligence (AI) and we will see more of this consolidating in 2023, adding to new roles and the most impressive talent redesign in 100 years. From Apple to Facebook to Google, all of them have created AI entities, shuffling and improving all of this silently for the last decade. The sole thought of accelerating the evolution of business to light speed also makes one wonder what will become of the humanity that is left behind. The belief that most, if not all, should be included in this change is also a must. If we don’t, we will be confronted with civil unrest in many modernizing countries around the world. The same goes for politics: no one should be intentionally left behind because  enough enterprise incentives from the governments would allow  this process to be a fluent, simpler transition. 

I am so excited to see how this continues to mature as more challenges arise, because this provides great motivation instead of being a matter of concern. I truly believe people with clear directives can adapt to the new technologies quickly, they just need to be told constantly they can do it and keep their motivation high enough to avoid distraction and error.