Roberto Luna, professor at the Faculty of Economics, explains how the new scenarios caused by the global crisis of Covid-19 force enterprises to advance in innovation and competitiveness based on talent strategies.
The current crisis caused by the global pandemic of coronavirus brings new scenarios in the labour market that need a new approach from the perspective of talent management. This is what the full university professor of Business Management of the Faculty of Economics, Roberto Luna, states on his analysis about the current outlook arising from the Covid-19 crisis. Luna affirms that talent management aims to make organisations work based on professional development and the continuous professional and organisational improvement by emphasising individual and collective merit to achieve a balance with the organisational goals.
'The current Spanish business situation requires progress in innovation and business competitiveness based on talent strategies. Covid-19 puts us in face of change and uncertainty, two variables that we have been managing in companies for a decade now, but that have not yet been fully assumed,' says Luna.
The full university professor of the Faculty of Economics points out five key points under the perspective of talent management: cultural and organisational change, new leadership, employability and labour competences, new economy of knowledge and the strategy of talent management.
Cultural and organisational change comes from teleworking and labour flexibility thanks to the Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs). For a long time now, attemps have been made to get organisations to opt for these new ways of working, often without success due to organisations that are based on a very strict control and the supervision of excessive working hours. The current situation shows that it is possible, and Luna says that organisations that do not doubt on their status, 'could have their days numbered.'
Leadership in this crisis situation is the second point. The professor of the Faculty of Economics says that 'in these moments, those who have created a good work team based on talent, will have proactive, innovative and committed employees in compromising situations. The most power-based leader has been surrounded by reactive employees creating organisations with high-stress levels and burnout, as well as with low performance and innovation'.
The third objective is related to the new situations of Records of Temporary Employment Regulation (ERTEs, for its Spanish Expedientes de Regulación Temporales de Empleo). Luna assures for those employees affected by this situation it is a good time to take online training in new skills and competences required by the markets. Not only in technological and digital skills but also in the so-called soft skills that will continue to be in high demand by organisations and that will not be so impacted by Artificial Intelligence.
A new way of conceiving work and work flexibility where the self-employed professional or small companies participate occasionally in projects with other companies, is the fourth objective with the new knowledge economy.
Lastly, from the strategies of talent management it is encouraged that 'every professional has control of the development of his career, looking for a continuous learning (agility of learning) and directing his objectives towards the goals that allow him to obtain new levels of competences. The responsibility for training and career development nowadays lies on the professional's shoulders,' claims Professor Luna.