American Association for Physician Leadership

Team Building and Teamwork

Developing a Talent Pipeline for Your Digital Transformation

Jeff Kavanaugh | Ravi Kumar S

April 27, 2020


Summary:

Companies in every industry are digitalizing their operations, and many are struggling to find the talent they need to do it. But not all.





Companies in every industry are digitalizing their operations, and many are struggling to find the talent they need to do it. But not all.

In a global survey of 1,000 business leaders, we set out to discover what companies that are good at staffing their digitalization projects do differently. We saw that they do a combination of four things.

  1. THEY LOOK FOR POTENTIAL, NOT CREDENTIALS: Given that the life cycle of any given technology skill (such as fluency in a popular programming language) is only about two years, the clock on technical expertise quickly runs out. A stronger candidate, therefore, may be someone curious, adaptable and quick to learn. A candidate who worked as a teenager, or joined the military to pay for college, may be more motivated, resilient, agile and a better team player than someone from a more privileged situation.

  2. THEY VALUE SOFT SKILLS AS MUCH AS TECHNICAL ONES: Information technology development used to be about writing a spec and coding it, but today it’s more about finding problems and creating solutions. For instance, with digitalization initiatives focused on improving how customers and employees interact with the company, so-called soft skills have become more important than technical ones.

  3. THEY THINK ABOUT TEAMS, NOT INDIVIDUALS: Companies will always need Ph.D.s and MBAs to groom as future leaders. But the leaders in our survey are much more likely than poor performers to hire graduates with non-STEM degrees (76% to 39%), non-college graduates with high aptitude scores (71% to 38%) and vocational or trade school graduates who can be valuable contributors to teams.

  4. THEY INCENTIVIZE EMPLOYEES TO GROW: Our leading companies are much more inclined than the laggards to reward higher skill levels with better compensation (67% to 41%), benefits (64% to 23%) and responsibility (78% to 58%). But, to our surprise, they do not offer significantly more training opportunities.

(Jeff Kavanaugh is an adjunct professor at the Graduate School of Business of the University of Texas at Dallas. Ravi Kumar S. is president and deputy chief operating officer of Infosys.)

Copyright 2019 Harvard Business School Publishing Corp. Distributed by The New York Times Syndicate.

Jeff Kavanaugh

Jeff Kavanaugh is an adjunct professor at the Graduate School of Business of the University of Texas at Dallas.


Ravi Kumar S

Ravi Kumar S. is president and deputy chief operating officer of Infosys.

Interested in sharing leadership insights? Contribute


Recommended Reading


For over 45 years.

The American Association for Physician Leadership has helped physicians develop their leadership skills through education, career development, thought leadership and community building.

The American Association for Physician Leadership (AAPL) changed its name from the American College of Physician Executives (ACPE) in 2014. We may have changed our name, but we are the same organization that has been serving physician leaders since 1975.

CONTACT US

Mail Processing Address
PO Box 96503 I BMB 97493
Washington, DC 20090-6503

Payment Remittance Address
PO Box 745725
Atlanta, GA 30374-5725
(800) 562-8088
(813) 287-8993 Fax
customerservice@physicianleaders.org

CONNECT WITH US

LOOKING TO ENGAGE YOUR STAFF?

AAPL providers leadership development programs designed to retain valuable team members and improve patient outcomes.

American Association for Physician Leadership®

formerly known as the American College of Physician Executives (ACPE)