Winners can give businesses and their staff a sporting chance

Leaders can learn from sportspeople, says Hays Recruitment chief executive Alistair Cox.

Hays Recruitment chief executive Alistair Cox wants businesses to consider the world of sport and work as not that far apart.

Cox says there are key lessons to learn from sport.

Winners are good delegators, he says, and they encourage people to work together in defined roles rather than micromanaging.

Creating a support network is important, as sporting leaders do with young talent, because it can help increase consistency and improve performance.

A good sports leader knows their competitors, and businesses should do the same, including knowing their own strengths and how they match others.

To be a strong leader, Cox says, people must learn from mistakes, be mentally robust and bounce back from criticism.

And success is not always about the big wins but happens across time with consistency and small wins along the way.

“It’s just as important to celebrate and relish small victories,” Cox says. “Setting and hitting plenty of small goals and targets can help to keep the team on track and motivated to work towards the next big one.”

IT skills shortage

A rise in demand across digital and mobile sectors will lead to an information technology skill shortage across the next year, technology recruitment consultancy Greythorn says.

Greythorn’s jobseeker market report for 2015-16 forecasts an increase in demand for jobs such as application design and user experience development, which managing director Richard Fischer says the IT market is unprepared for.

“Demand for these roles is fed by the boom in the digital and mobile sector over the next 12 months as many organisations plan to carry out user experience, online and transformation projects,” Fischer says. “All signs point towards a skills shortage, particularly within the areas of cloud computing and mobility solutions.”

Emerging roles are knocking traditional IT positions out of the most in-demand skills, including business intelligence, which has moved from third to seventh.

Fischer says IT skills demand is partly driven by the financial services sector, as banks form internal digital teams in preparation for a futuristic cashless society.

Greythorn’s list of IT jobs in demand includes digital business analysts, process and change analysts, project managers, credit and market risk specialists, and data analytics consultants.

Talent crystal ball

Businesses are underprepared and lack understanding when identifying and assessing talent for future workforce needs, a management study has found.

Global management consultancy Hay Group surveyed more than 200 Australian and New Zealand business leaders and HR professionals, finding up to two-thirds of companies do not have a plan for identifying and filling crucial long-term roles.

Talent and development expertise leader Wendy Montague says the results of the Australia and New Zealand survey highlight the need for businesses to reassess recruitment methods.

“There’s a lack of clarity as to what skills will be most important in the future and the best approach to screen for them. The talent crystal ball is very hazy,” Montague says.

“HR and business leaders believe they don’t have the right processes in place to adapt. They realise today’s approach won’t get them where they want to be tomorrow, they know they’ll need to change to keep pace with changing business demands.”

The study raises concerns about businesses’ ability to identify talent, with more leaders than not believing they fail to recruit the right people.