BOYDEN RESEARCH REVEALS ALIGNMENT LACKING IN LEADERSHIP, TALENT JEOPARDISES POST-PANDEMIC GROWTH

KUALA LUMPUR, July 8 (Bernama) -- Boyden, a premier leadership and talent advisory firm has reported its latest talent research, revealing a lack of alignment in talent to strategy, the need for a different skills matrix on the board, and lack of alignment across the leadership team.

The global study, Talent-led transformation in a post-pandemic world: how can global business leaders deliver on ambitions of growth and reinvention? explores the business outlook among CEOs, boards and other senior leaders, and talent trends, priorities and investment in the wake of the pandemic through 2022.

“While business leaders are seeing strong indicators of recovery, alignment between talent requirements and the suite of leadership skills that will drive growth will be imperative to sustainable success,” said President & Chief Executive Officer of Boyden, Trina D. Gordon.

Study findings show that while 77 per cent of respondents are extremely confident or confident in their organisation’s growth potential, just 47 per cent are extremely confident or confident in having the right talent to align to strategy.

For industrial and consumer companies, this drops to 42 per cent and 41 per cent respectively, according to a statement.

Half of all respondents describe their business approach in 2022 as one of growth or expansion mode and just over a quarter, 26 per cent, as a learning or transformation opportunity; this bullish approach versus lack of talent alignment jeopardises post-pandemic growth and reinvention.

This lack of alignment goes up to board level, with 52 per cent of respondents saying that a different mix of skills is needed on the board.

Despite this, only 38 per cent of respondents are likely to conduct a board assessment review over the next two years, although the figure is higher, at 45 per cent, in North and South America.

In attracting leadership talent, respondents consider the top two drivers to be ‘a strong overall company reputation’ (57 per cent) and ‘a purpose-driven organisation’ (52 per cent), followed by ‘workplace of the future’ with hybrid work arrangements (38 per cent).

This research was conducted in Q2 2021 among senior executives worldwide. A total of 528 complete responses comprise 43 per cent from Europe, 35 per cent from the Americas, and 18 per cent from Asia/Pacific.

-- BERNAMA