Over two years beyond the pandemic, the skills gap remains high, affecting productivity. Leaders now focus on leveraging the full potential of data, technology and people to speed transformation and growth. They’ve put it at the top of their agenda, and according to Accenture research, it’s the priority.
By Belinda Nogueira, senior manager: talent and organisation at Accenture in South Africa
We found that by activating the growth combination of data, technology and people, companies gain a premium of up to 11% on top-line productivity – the ultimate driver of profitability and revenue growth.
But the human element makes a critical difference: When companies implement data and tech solutions that fail to put people at the centre, the premium reduces to just 4%. That 7% productivity gap underscores people’s significant impact as an essential source of competitive differentiation and continuous growth.
Yet just 5% of large, global organisations are following through. These leading companies sit in the top quartile of their respective industries for placing parallel emphasis on the digital core and talent creation to achieve their business goals. They can shape transformation in ways that are people-led.
What makes this 5% so effective?
The answer lies in a new type of chief human resources officer (CHRO). With their skills and impact across all parts of an organisation, this CHRO is stepping up to lead their C-suite peers in connecting data, technology and people and cultivating collaboration.
Also known as “high-res” CHROs, these leaders are growth executives who operate at the heart of their company’s reinvention. They view data, technology and people through both a wide and telescopic lens to bring unseen opportunities for growth into focus. With an advanced skillset and optimal environment, they impact every part of the company, leading across the C-suite to accelerate change for the enterprise and beyond.
But awareness isn’t translating into action. We recently interviewed 570 CEOs, and although 89% said that the CHRO should have a central role in ensuring long-term profitable growth, only 45% of those CEOs, by their admission, are creating the conditions that allow CHROs to lead business growth.
When we dug deeper, we found that just 29% of CHROs are playing that role, having both the profile and the conditions they need to act as high-res CHROs.
The combination of financial acumen, business acumen and systems thinking will be critical in the future. It positions CHROs to operate as anticipators, driven by data and insights, instead of as reactors.
Today’s high-res CHROs are already 2,3-time more likely to be at the top level of proficiency in this combination. It blurs the front and back-office lines, enabling them to seize opportunities beyond their function.
More CHROs will be on the path to developing this enviable skillset as they are continuously learning, unlearning and reinventing themselves. Through our interviews, we found that CHROs globally are already deepening their expertise (honing critical skills like data science and analytics) to meet future business needs.
Our high-res CHROs are 4-times more likely to have strong relationships of mutual influence across the entire C-suite, starting with the CEO and particularly with the CFO, CTO and COO.
They also build networks externally across organisations and industries to influence broader change beyond their companies. The resulting collaborations enable innovation to create a competitive advantage.
These CHROs strengthen organisational resilience and execute the business strategy through their relationships and data-driven insights. Our interviews highlighted that there is no business strategy without a talent strategy. The CEO must set this clear expectation, shared across the C-suite and embraced by the board.
Keys to support a high-res CHRO
Even when CHROs have the right skills and connections, 55% lack the conditions to impact business growth. But in an optimal environment, their CEOs are more than twice as likely to say the HR function exceeds their expectations in discovering business value through the company’s people.
Every C-suite leader should be talking about how to tap into and empower the CHRO as a growth executive. It starts by holding the mirror up, individually and collectively, because unlocking growth through data, tech and people is only achieved together.
Consider these four questions:
* Does our culture enable, recognise, and reward leaders to think and act beyond their titles to drive growth in new ways?
* Do all our leaders possess the correct data and technology skills (supported by the right processes and tools) to accelerate change together in a boundaryless and frictionless way?
* Do we have differentiated strategies to access talent, create talent and unlock people’s potential?
* Are people Net Better Off working at our company, where all leaders take accountability for this commitment?
Future success requires reinvention today. It starts with connecting data, technology and people, but it takes the right skills and environment for those connections to matter within and beyond the company.
Reaching the top 5% requires bold leadership – not only from a high-res CHRO but from each member of the C-suite. Every executive must be a growth executive.