How to Improve Internal Mobility Using Contextual Challenges

Undoubtedly, 2020 pushed us out of our comfort zone in every imaginable way. As our lives changed, our preferences as consumers shifted as well. Companies who have been evolving to stay close and connected to their customers quickly found that they needed to anticipate and transform faster than ever to adapt as new preferences emerged. For most organizations, the need to transform is clear, but how to make it a success is still proving difficult.

Let’s take two very different companies as an example. Company A is in consumer industry specialized in antibacterial cleaning products and Company B is a five-star hotel creating unique experiences to their customers. No doubt that 2020 was challenging to both of these companies, but for very different reasons.

Company A needed to produce, ship, and sell more of their cleaning products to meet the increased demand, while Company B had to rethink about the experience they create for their customers to survive the pandemic.

Although these companies have a clear understanding of the challenges they face, they are often less clear on how to align the organization to respond to that challenge. This means that companies usually know what they need to do, but they often lack the insights to quickly identify the right people to help them get to that goal.

But who are these people and how can we identify them?

Companies usually know what they need to do, but they often lack the insights to quickly identify the right people to help them get to that goal.

The individuals who will successfully execute the challenge of “driving results with limited resources” for Company A are different to those who will need to “drive creativity and innovation” for Company B.

SHL’s comprehensive research shows that employees who are a good fit for a certain challenge are 4 times more likely to perform better in that situation compared to their low fit counterparts.

Companies who only rely on their leadership framework to understand their talent are missing the link of the context in their internal mobility decisions. Although company specific frameworks are useful in communicating the vision and providing the direction of travel for the development agenda, they are often less useful to assess the readiness of employees for a given challenge to help make effective mobility decisions.

When used in combination, “a company leadership framework” and “fit to challenges” will bring precision to talent management. A combined approach will both support you to develop your leaders towards your framework and help you identify the leadership you need to survive and thrive in your current and future context.

SHL’s research and technology offer a solution to internal mobility by combining these approaches—bringing you the best predictive outcome.

Using a scientific and data driven approach in your talent management not only helps to quickly identify the best fit employees for the challenges you face today, but it does so by looking beyond your usual talent pool, increasing your diversity, and improve your agility as an organization.

Learn more about our mobilize solution and how it can help your organization make the best internal mobility decisions.