expert speak
Are We Prepared To Engage In The War For
Talent In The Immediate Future? Part 2
By Prof. Satish Jayaram, PhD. Principal, IHM - Aurangabad
R
esurgence imperatives are bounded by re-
doing what we did, only better in newer
improvised formats - such that this will
facilitate the re-growing process. On the
other hand, this imperative will get impacted by the
renewal format that we deploy to get talent empowered
through reskilling and retraining. Even as we renew
focus on building new competences, the target base
that we now work with are riddled with inadequacies.
Many arising from the extended inertia of industry, as
well as a pandemic induced state of suspension. The
four quadrants featured represent the triangle of a base
that needs re-certification, a core that needs re-learning, an apex that
needs re-grouping and ultimately a culture that needs rejuvenation.
These approaches are suggested to enhance the productivity of talents
within each quadrant to renew their own growth and development
conditions.
1. Recertification Base: Existing talents are cyclically engaged to
ensure that base manning is maintained. Restrictions arising out of
departmentalization, repetitive skill sets and limited exposure need to be
offset. Recertification through digital, hybrid and blended recertification
systems will ensure consistency in newer skill sets required at the
Are We Prepared To Engage In The War For Talent In The Immediate Future? Part 2
base
Prof. ofJayaram,
Satish the pyramid.
PhD. – RevenueThis will Principal
Management, ensure that aIHM-Aurangabad.
& Director: structured consistency is
achieved, to protect the backbone of the experience providing service
delivery process. Restrictions arising out of compressed workloads as
well as expanded job content place constraints on talent availability
for recertification. This functional base requires the acquisition of
contemporary skills in a post pandemic context and cost considerations
will arise if organizational learning is not fully redeployed.
2. Relearning Core: It is crucial to focus on this upwardly mobile
organizational core who have immense exit velocity. If these talents
continue to reflect the existing status quo by repeating age-old practices,
they are bound for short term redundancy. These supervisors and team
leaders need to re-learn how to lead their recertified teams in post
pandemic contexts. Their core competencies need to be replenished
with concentric layers of new knowledge, application and aptitude.
Current leadership styles must be re-learned to suit an
emerging situation, where departmental parochialism
needs replacement. Multi-tasking, ambidexterity and
polychronism are the mantras that will protect this
talent core. High potential talents rising to future
managerial roles must be treated with utmost care, if
agility must be preserved.
3. Regrouping Apex: Reskilling managers needs
renewed focus on new competences in digital
marketing, social media engagement, revenue strategy
and tactical financial management. These managers
who lead a vibrant operating core of emerging talents
in organizations need to re-learn the same degree of agility, speed and
responsiveness from their own teams. Such new competences need co-
option with not just their own, but multiple teams across functions.
The comfort of relying on functional departments to provide support
in operations, will be replaced with the urgent necessity to unfreeze and
refreeze support departments into operations. This can only be achieved
by re-grouping line managers to expand their operations expertise and
regain mastery over other domains for business excellence.
4. Rejuvenated Culture: Retraining leaders has its roots in infusing
new energy into organizational cultures, by reweaving the cultural web.
Renewed rituals, routines, stories, myths, symbols, control systems need
to give way to empowering mechanisms. This clearly involves rebooting
leaders into new organizational and power structures, which
are fed through customer interface mechanisms. This co-
creation of new competences for leadership, will emerge from
market facing innovative service models - that depend on the
disrupted expectations of consumers in phygital formats.
Renewing cultures responsive to change has to be driven by
leaders from their positions of influence. The rejuvenation of
culture, may be a slow and protracted process, but the seeding
of cultural change is a function of active leadership.
In conclusion, neither academia nor industry have the luxury
to redeploy yesterday’s solutions to resolve today’s problems.
Rebuilding a quantum future with empowered talent growing
through a structured overhaul of organizational development
systems is an obvious priority. In answering one key question
on whether industry needs to re-learn renewal formats as a
resurgence imperative in the coming future? Joint research, reskilling
and re-training has to be driven by academia as industry regains flows.
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But the onus on making this resurgence imperative a DNA resequencing
exercise in organizations, remains a key responsibility of industry
leadership as we re-build a vibrant hospitality industry of the future.
A proactive acceptance of current realities and a taking of ‘the-bull-
by-the-horns’ is expected from the large talent base of trainers. Will
talents ‘walk-the-talk’ by starting the re-learning process by themselves
is a new thought prompter!. n
The views expressed within this column are the opinion of the author, and
may not necessarily be endorsed by the publication.
www.hospitalitybizindia.com | December 2021 | Hospitality Biz 9