Leadership Insights | Horton International

Navigating Economic Challenges in Argentina: The Critical Role of Executive Search in Times of Hyperinflation and Recession

Amy-Cutbill — Tue, 12 Mar 2024 08:38:45 +0000

Hyperinflation and recession have long cast shadows over Argentina, presenting formidable obstacles across various sectors, notably within the realm of executive search. The phenomenon of hyperinflation, characterized by rapid and uncontrollable price escalations, has a profound impact on the economic landscape. It erodes consumer purchasing power significantly and undermines business confidence, creating a challenging environment for companies trying to plan and budget amidst wildly unpredictable costs. This volatility leads to diminished investment and often results in the imposition of hiring freezes, as businesses struggle to forecast expenses and revenues accurately.

The task of negotiating wages in such an environment becomes increasingly intricate, contributing further to inflationary pressures. This cycle can precipitate workforce reductions as companies strive to manage operational costs under the strain of escalating expenses. Moreover, the constant uncertainty erodes consumer confidence, a critical component of a healthy economy.

This lack of confidence is palpable across Argentina, manifesting in reduced consumer spending and investment reticence. That said, the Universidad Torcuato di Tella (UTDT) consumer confidence index rose to 36.0 in February 2024 up from 35.6 in January. However, the index remained entrenched below the 50-threshold that separates optimism from pessimism among consumers.

Whilst consumers’ willingness to purchase big ticket items may be improving, their expectations over the general economic conditions in the year ahead have weakened and research shows that they are growing more pessimistic over their future financial situations.

Compounding these challenges are the effects of recessions, which manifest as significant economic contractions accompanied by heightened unemployment. Businesses, in an attempt to navigate these turbulent waters, often implement severe cost-cutting measures, including layoffs and reduced hiring initiatives. This, in turn, dampens the demand for executive search services, as the market contracts and companies focus on survival rather than growth. Job seekers find themselves facing heightened competition, prolonged job searches and elevated unemployment rates. Ironically, it is during these tougher times that the need for strong leadership becomes most apparent; however, financial constraints make the acquisition of such leadership a complex challenge to navigate.

Argentina’s economic instability, marked by these cycles of hyperinflation and recession, has significantly disrupted business operations and investment decisions. The demand for executive search services has diminished as recessions further exacerbate challenges, constraining job creation efforts and intensifying unemployment levels. As the country endeavors to navigate through these economic trials, the recruitment sector, including executive search firms, must adapt and innovate. Embracing flexibility and forward-thinking strategies is crucial for these firms to withstand shifting market dynamics and ensure resilience in the face of adversity.

Horton International Argentina recognizes these challenges and remains committed to assisting organizations in finding the best talent to navigate and prosper in these turbulent times. Our expertise and deep understanding of the local and global economic landscapes enable us to provide invaluable support to companies seeking to strengthen their leadership teams despite the economic headwinds.

In the context of wage negotiations and workforce dynamics, confirmed statistics reveal the intricacies and challenges faced. For instance, Argentina’s annual inflation soared to 254.2% in January 2024, the highest rate in 32 years. These extortionate rates significantly impact wage negotiations and employment conditions. The country’s unemployment rate which although at its lowest level in over two decades, stood at 5.7% in the second quarter of 2023 and reflects the broader economic difficulties, highlighting the competitive and challenging job market and underscoring the urgency for companies to secure strong leadership to steer through these uncertain times effectively.

In summary, the economic challenges posed by hyperinflation and recession in Argentina have profound implications for the executive search sector. These conditions necessitate a strategic and innovative approach to recruitment, emphasizing the importance of leadership in overcoming economic obstacles. Horton International Argentina stands ready to partner with organizations in their quest to find such leaders, ensuring resilience and prosperity even in the face of economic adversity.

The post Navigating Economic Challenges in Argentina: The Critical Role of Executive Search in Times of Hyperinflation and Recession first appeared on Horton International.

The Future of Work: 10 Core Trends Shaping 2024

Amy-Cutbill — Mon, 12 Feb 2024 12:40:58 +0000

2024 is now well underway and organisations are finding that the landscape of work is continually evolving and changing, a situation that is being driven by a number of factors. Technological advancements, societal shifts, and global, geopolitical challenges are all impacting the future of work, as the workplace becomes a dynamic tapestry, woven with the threads of innovation, collaboration, and adaptability.

Several key trends are emerging that will help to redefine working practices going forward – and in this article, we will explore the core factors that will be impacting and shaping the way we will all work in 2024 – and beyond.

Prevalence of Hybrid Working Models

The pandemic galvanised a significant change in workplace dynamics, spurring companies on to embrace remote working models. Now, in 2024, the concept of hybrid work has become the norm, with many employees opting to work from home part time, while spending the rest of the time in the office.

Businesses from every sector are recognising the benefits of combining in-person and remote work, a model which allows them to offer their employees greater flexibility and a better work-life balance. The traditional 9-to-5 office model is slowly fading, making room for a more fluid approach, tailored to employees’ unique needs and strengths, so they can choose when and where they work best.

Rise of Remote Working Collaboration Platforms

In response to the widespread adoption of hybrid work models, many innovative collaboration technologies have now emerged, helping to galvanise innovation, keep workers connected, and enable the sharing of knowledge.

There is now a plethora of virtual collaboration tools, augmented reality, and virtual reality platforms, which are allowing for seamless communication and project collaboration across geographical locations. The future office will not be confined to physical walls but will instead extend into the digital realm, fostering innovation and connectivity on a global scale.

Greater Focus on Employee Well-being

As organisations recognise the importance of worker well-being, there has been a notable shift towards prioritising mental health and holistic wellness. Brands are investing in drives that will improve staff wellbeing, like more flexible working hours, mental health days, and wellness programs, to boost the health of the workforce.

There is an emphasis being placed on achieving a healthy work-life balance, as employers understand that if they offer their employees this. they can not only boost productivity, they will improve their ability to attract and retain top talent.

Employee Upskilling Initiatives

We are living in a rapidly evolving technological landscape, where wielding the ability to offer continuous learning is swiftly becoming a crucial competency. To address this need, companies are investing in upskilling programs, so they can better equip their employees with the skills they will need for the workplace of tomorrow.

Advanced automation and artificial intelligence technologies are transforming many job roles, making it vital for workers to be able to stay adaptable. If organisations invest, then properly roll out upskilling initiatives, this will not only benefit individual workers, it will contribute to the creation of a more agile, competitive workforce.

The integration of AI and Automation

Artificial intelligence and automation are no longer distant possibilities or science fiction but have become crucial components of the modern workplace. Experts predict that throughout 2024, there will be a seamless integration of AI tools that will help to streamline processes, improve decision-making, and enhance human capabilities.

Rather than these tools replacing jobs as feared, industries as varied as retained executive search consultants to accountants and solicitors are instead using automation to free up employee resources and time, so their personnel can focus on higher value work.

AI and automation will cut down on the time workers need to spend performing repetitive, routine manual tasks to enable a greater focus on the more complex, innovative and creative aspects of their roles.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion become a Priority

Companies are rapidly realising that they can’t merely pay lip service to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) anymore, as these concepts have moved beyond mere buzzwords and to become fundamental pillars of the workplace culture.

Companies are not only understanding the morality of creating and nurturing more diverse, inclusive workplaces – they are also comprehending the measurable, long-term positive impact of doing this.

By investing in DEI, the entire organisation will benefit from increased innovation and better problem-solving. As we journey through 2024, brands will experience a heightened awareness of the need for greater equality and inclusion across all levels of the company.

Expansion of the gig economy

The thriving gig economy continues to expand, buoyed by remote and hybrid working practices. Top executive search firms understand that the gig economy allows individuals the chance to offer up their unique skills and talents on a project by project basis – and gives organisations the flexibility to tap into specialised skill sets on an as needed basis.

This particular trend is set to completely remake the traditional employer-employee relationship and as a result, what will arise will be a more fluid, dynamic workforce. Through the use of talent hunters such as skilled executive search consultants, freelancers and gig workers are able to put their skills and experience to better use. By matching talent with jobs more precisely, workers will be able to contribute to projects without the shackles of traditional employment, allowing brands to draw from a more diverse, agile talent pool.

Renewed Focus on Cybersecurity

Due to the rise in hybrid and remote working, there has been an increasing reliance on digital work, communication and collaboration platforms – and as a result, cybersecurity has become a top priority.

Organisations are seeing the critical importance of ramping up investment in robust cybersecurity measures in order to protect their sensitive customer data and ensure the integrity of their digital infrastructure. The workplace of tomorrow will require a secure, resilient technological foundation and companies will need to be proactive if they want to effectively fortify their defences against ever-evolving cyber threats.

Implementation of More Sustainable Working Practices

Environmental sustainability is fast gaining greater prominence in the workplace and employees are demanding that organisations demonstrate more commitment and responsibility. Companies across the board are adopting sustainable practices, from reducing the organisation’s carbon footprint to the promotion of eco-friendly initiatives.

The future of work will not only bring about greater efficiency and productivity – it will also see a rise in more responsible, ethical practices that will contribute to a healthier planet. Workers around the globe are increasingly seeking out companies that better align with their values, including having a raised awareness of the importance of environmental sustainability.

Creation of More Flexible Employee Benefits Packages

Traditional benefits packages based on purely monetary compensation are having to evolve to accommodate the diverse needs of a changing workforce. In 2024, companies are finding that in order to attract and retain the best talent, they need to offer more flexible benefits packages that reach beyond health insurance and pension and retirement plans.

There are a range of modern benefits that can be offered to boost the attractiveness of the brand to potential and existing employees – from mental health support and wellness allowances, to a greater work/ life balance via offering remote working stipends. Going forward, organisations in almost every sector will be seeing the need to update their benefits packages and tailor them to individual employee’s needs, so they can keep their top talent amid a competitive landscape.

Conclusion:

The future of work in 2024 for organisations across the board will be marked by flexibility, adaptability, and a deep investment in the well-being of employees. As technology continues to evolve, brands must keep pace with advancements and invest in the development of their workforce.

The workplace is no longer confined to on-site physical spaces, it now extends into the digital realm, and offers opportunities for innovation and collaboration on a global scale. The core trends set to shape the future of work in 2024 highlight the importance of creating a work environment that’s not only efficient and productive but sustainable, inclusive, and fully supportive of the increasingly diverse needs of today’s dynamic workforce.

The post The Future of Work: 10 Core Trends Shaping 2024 first appeared on Horton International.

APAC Leadership Insights

Amy-Cutbill — Tue, 31 Oct 2023 14:20:50 +0000

We’re delighted to be giving a snapshot of what’s happening in our offices around the Asia-Pacific region. You will see that the content varies – from a discussion about talent returning to one country (something on all our minds these days) to a comparison of our business with that of advertised recruitment companies.

If you have any questions on the contents, please contact the author directly in the country that interests you. If it’s something more general, you are welcome to contact me. All of our emails can be found on the relevant country page at www.hortoninternational.com.

We hope that you enjoy this regional update.

With best wishes for your business success,

Gary Woollacott, Regional Director Asia Pacific

Hiring competitors’ candidates at the same salary breeds mediocrity.

To attract top talent, offer growth, challenges, and meaningful opportunities.

TOP VOICES Horton International Germany – Interview with International Thought Leaders

Amy-Cutbill — Mon, 30 Oct 2023 14:18:16 +0000

GAME CHANGER SUSTAINABILITY AND GREEN CHEMISTRY AT MERCK

After Merck Group decided to embed sustainability as an essential component of its corporate strategy, many changes have occurred within the company. In an interview with Dr. Markus Neumann of HAGER Life Sciences Practice, Dr. Petra Wicklandt, Chief Sustainability Officer at Merck, explains how the implementation of their ambitious sustainability strategy is progressing. Find out what changes this brings for applicants as well.

Three years ago, you completely revamped and restructured your sustainability strategy. What prompted this change? Dr. Petra Wicklandt: “We lacked an overarching goal, systematic tracking. Our Corporate Responsibility Department published an annual sustainability report, covering many topics, but the Healthcare, Life Science, and Electronics segments each had different focuses and considerations. The new strategy gives sustainability much higher importance and aligns everyone with what is a priority. We aim to firmly establish sustainable business practices, which, for us, are synonymous with profitable growth. We want to be economically successful and, through our business activities, simultaneously create a positive and measurable societal value. This is the responsibility we carry as a global science and technology company.”

“We believe that sustainability is not only the best for the world but also the best for a company.” – Dr. Petra Wicklandt, Merck Group

What are the values and objectives that underpin the new sustainability strategy?

“We have defined three pillars or objectives, each with seven focus areas. The years 2030 and 2040 are fixed reference points. We aim to achieve progress for more than one billion people by 2030 through sustainable science and technologies. Our technologies and products are intended to contribute to health and quality of life. The second pillar involves the sustainable design of the entire value chain, including our supply chain. The third pillar is dedicated to reducing the ecological footprint. We aim to reduce waste and improve the quality of our wastewater, among other things. Our goal is carbon neutrality by 2040. We report annually on the current status of the implementation of our sustainability strategy.”

How is the implementation of these three goals progressing?

“Because we have set different priorities, we are at different stages in the implementation of our goals. For Electronics, the most significant challenge is undoubtedly the reduction of greenhouse gases. This sector has the highest CO2 emissions compared to Healthcare and Life Science. In Healthcare, we focus on Social Responsibility, which includes improving access to medicines for vulnerable patient groups in countries where access is more challenging, to innovative drugs, but also to traditional products such as thyroid hormones. In Life Science, we deal with over 300,000 products used in pharmaceutical research. Here, we are examining each product individually to consider how we can make it more sustainable.”

What makes such a comprehensive strategic path feasible within the company?

“It is crucial that the management promotes sustainability and is convinced that sustainability is one of the top priorities. Only then can it work, and only then can the topic be effectively integrated into all business processes. All employees need to be trained and understand how to embed sustainability in their respective areas. A single team cannot drive such a complex topic alone. To embed sustainability in the departments, you ideally need dual expertise: sustainability and business-specific expertise in R&D, production, or procurement. We strive to have employees in all areas who prioritize sustainability.”

Sustainability extends beyond the Merck campus.

“That’s right. In the sustainable value chain we pursue, we keep an eye on our suppliers and customers. For example, we measure not only our greenhouse gas emissions but also the indirect emissions produced by our suppliers when they manufacture products for us. We have already provided Sustainability Assessments for half of our suppliers. Working with suppliers and customers also advances innovation, which we consider a crucial key to the success of our sustainability strategy. In the Electronics sector, for instance, we have partnered with the US semiconductor manufacturer Intel with the goal of developing more sustainable materials for chip production.”

Merck is making its expertise and manufacturing competence available to companies and academic institutions working on the development of cultured meat. Is cell-based meat the food of the future?

“As one of the leading suppliers to the biopharmaceutical industry, Merck has extensive expertise in this emerging technology. We contribute our knowledge through partnerships, including collaboration with startups conducting research on Clean Meat. I firmly believe that, in the future, we will no longer need to kill animals to eat meat. But it’s not just about animal ethics. Clean Meat could eliminate cattle farming worldwide, reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”

By 2040, will we have our own small bioreactors in the kitchen for the production of Clean Meat? “In 2040, Clean Meat will certainly have a relevant market share. The price will determine the extent to which it prevails. Today, cultured meat is still significantly more expensive than conventional meat. I don’t see devices for home use, as the production process from real animal cells is highly complex and requires a lot of expertise. It can only work in industrial production facilities. The vision for the future is that commercially produced Clean Meat products such as beef, poultry, pork, and even fish will be cheaper.”

Is there a responsibility for animal protection within Merck?

“Merck strives to avoid animal testing and promote alternative test methods. We support the internationally recognized 3R principle for animal testing. This involves reducing the number of animals required, refining the conduct of animal studies, and replacing animal experiments with other methods. At Merck, we have added a fourth R, which stands for Responsibility, as we feel responsible for the test animals.”

“Artificial intelligence is increasingly helping us replace animal testing.” – Dr. Petra Wicklandt, Merck Group

How does this reduction work in practice?

“Our researchers have, for example, developed a new method for batch tests. Some quality tests to release batches of biotechnologically manufactured drugs have traditionally been performed using animals. This involved using more animals than in pharmaceutical research and development. We have now established a process that will no longer require lab animals for batch tests in the future. Artificial intelligence is also increasingly helping us replace animal testing. All this will eventually lead to a time when no animals are used at all.”

How does Merck assess its partners and suppliers in terms of animal protection?

“Merck is one of the companies that has signed the Marseille Declaration on the worldwide adoption of high standards in the internal and external keeping and use of animals for scientific purposes by the pharmaceutical industry. This first joint declaration by the pharmaceutical industry requires adherence to high and uniform standards concerning animal protection and laboratory animal science, regardless of where it is performed. Merck only accepts the highest standards for external animal testing, which are sometimes stricter than those of the respective legislator. For example, in the United States, the minimum cage sizes are much smaller than in Germany and Europe. We do not want to forego the larger cages that meet our standards for our partners and suppliers there.”

Do patients inquire about sustainably produced medicines?

“In areas where medicines decide between life and death, they generally do not. Other priorities are relevant in oncology. Sustainability information is not found on package inserts. However, we find that institutions such as the NHS (National Health Service) in the UK are indeed interested in sustainability. Product carbon footprint, which is the emissions generated during the production of a drug, is of interest.”

How does Merck motivate its employees to act sustainably?

“With our new sustainability strategy, we found open doors, which was amazing. It was well received. We encourage our employees to think sustainably – this motivation is key. We have conveyed our major sustainability goals through training and considerable effort. This is a big but essential task with our more than 64,000 employees worldwide. For business-specific goals, we encourage employees to consider their own ideas. Even our patent department makes a significant contribution to sustainability. There, we have agreed on annual KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) that measure how many patents have a sustainability component.”

Are there financial incentives associated with the sustainability strategy for the workforce?

“The progress in achieving our three sustainability goals is linked to variable compensation for top management and upper management. There are Long Time Incentives that run for three years and where the payout is based on goal achievement. Short Time Incentives include an annual bonus, with sustainability criteria also included.”

How would you formulate your credo?

“We believe that sustainability is not only the best for the world but also the best for a company when thinking, planning, and striving for long-term success. Those who hesitate in implementing sustainability due to rising costs will pay a high price when, for example, carbon prices are expected to increase, and levies become mandatory for more and more areas.”

“By 2030, we plan to employ 50 percent female executives.” – Dr. Petra Wicklandt, Merck Group

How does Merck shape its talent management?

“In the areas of diversity, equal opportunities, and inclusion, we also pursue very ambitious goals. By 2030, we plan to employ 50 percent female executives – currently, it’s 38 percent. In Healthcare, we are quite close to the goal already. In Electronics, we hope to see more female university graduates in the future. Merck has always been shaped by diversity – we operate in 66 countries and employ around 140 nationalities. We understand that we can only continue to be successful if we create an environment that promotes equal opportunities and inclusion. Beyond the gender target, we aim to attract people who come not only from Europe or the USA. By 2030, we want to employ 30 percent Asian and Latin American executives. We have customers all over the world and want to reflect this reality in our leadership structures. In addition, we intend that our leaders in the USA will comprise 30 percent ethnic minorities – self-identifying as part of an ethnic group is generally seen as normal and is statistically recorded in the United States.”

Is the sustainability strategy changing the pool of employees?

“In principle, we have always placed a high value on a good mix of long-term employees with experience in the company and newcomers from other industries. This is normal and important. With a variety of development and support programs, we provide talents in the various business areas with the tools they need to fully realize their potential. Those who come to us share our passion and vision to improve the lives of millions of people worldwide. With the new sustainability strategy, we have also established new criteria for applicant interviews in close coordination with our HR department. This means that sustainability is a significant part of the selection process and our actions.”

Thank you for the conversation, Dr. Wicklandt!

About Merck: Merck is a leading global science and technology company in the fields of Healthcare, Life Science, and Electronics. In Germany, Merck employs over 12,000 employees, and worldwide, more than 64,000. The company develops, produces, and markets high-quality medicines and innovative products for the biotech and pharmaceutical industries, as well as precise technologies for academic research. In 2022, Merck generated revenue of 22.2 billion euros in 66 countries. The founding family – in the 13th generation since 1668 – is the majority owner of the publicly traded group. Dr. Petra Wicklandt heads the Corporate Sustainability, Quality, and Trade Compliance division of the Merck Group. She is responsible for sustainability and regulatory compliance at the corporate level. Previously, she was head of Corporate Affairs at the company, with areas including sustainability, bioethics, digital ethics, policy, and global health. She has extensive professional experience in chemical and pharmaceutical development and pharmaceutical production. The PharmD has been with Merck since 1994.

The post TOP VOICES Horton International Germany – Interview with International Thought Leaders first appeared on Horton International.

Leadership through Covid-19: An interview with Dr Santrupt Misra

Amy-Cutbill — Tue, 01 Aug 2023 06:52:04 +0000

I was delighted and honoured to facilitate this interview with Dr Santrupt Misra, CEO of Birla Carbon, Director Chemicals and Director Group Human Resources for the Aditya Birla Group, a USD 46 billion global conglomerate and Gary Woollacott, Director of Asia-Pacific at Horton International Group,

In this interview, Gary Woollacott and Dr Santrupt Misra share a thought-provoking discussion on the following topics:

Changes in corporate governance brought about by the 2020 pandemic
The pros and cons of globalization
The evolution of corporate attitudes to wellness
How to keep your staff engaged whilst working from home
How to onboard new team members remotely
Cultural differences in response to Covid 19

It was a real pleasure having Dr Misra talk us through his take on the current state and future of work, and we hope that you enjoy the interview as much as we did!

BIOS

Dr. Santrupt Misra is currently the CEO, Birla Carbon; Director, Chemicals – and Director, Group Human Resources for the Aditya Birla Group, a USD 46 Billion global conglomerate.

A Business leader and an HR Professional of standing, with over three decades of experience in — global business leadership – corporate governance – organizational transformation – non-profit leadership – and professional development.

Santrupt has worked at Board level for over two decades – as Non-Executive Director and Executive Director in publicly listed companies, unlisted companies, and not for Profit Organizations both in India and overseas.

He is a Director in several companies of the Aditya Birla Group including Aditya Birla Capital Ltd., Grasim, and Birla Carbon Thailand,– which are listed companies.
He was an Independent Director on the Board of the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. a leading Government of India enterprise, (Revenue US 61 Billion), and the Chairperson of the Board of Governors of the National Institute of Technology, Rourkela.
He is also on Governing Bodies of professional organisations/associations such as the Association of Executive Search Consultants (AESC).

He was also on the Board of the Xavier’s Institute of Management.

Under his leadership Birla Carbon has emerged as a global leader in the carbon black space.

He has been instrumental in developing a strong employer brand for the Aditya Birla Group, which was named:

The Best Employer in India- by AON Hewitt
Great Place for Leaders to Work, by Fortune Magazine
Top Company for Leaders by RBL group

Dr. Misra holds two Post Graduate degrees in Political Science from the UTKAL University and in Personnel Management & Industrial Relations, from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences.

In addition, he also holds two PhDs

In Public Administration from India and Industrial Relations from UK

He also holds an honorary D.Sc. degree from Aston University, U.K.

He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Human Resources (NAHR), USA;

Hon. Fellow of the Coaching Federation of India;

an Eisenhower Fellow,

an Aston Business School Fellow,

an AIMA Fellow

and a Commonwealth Scholar.

Gary Woollacott

Gary is Managing Partner of Horton International in Thailand and Vietnam – Regional Director of Asia Pacific and
one of Horton’s longest standing Board Members.

Gary has twenty years’ experience in executive search, and extensive experience in the financial sector having spent the first part of his career working in investment banking in London and Sydney.

He has a bachelor’s degree in economics, and a master’s in financial management

He is known at Horton for his “thought leadership” pieces.

Dipy Nigam

Managing Partner & Country Manager for India and SAARC countries at Horton International

I hold a Masters in Management from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute – and a PHD

I’ve been with Horton International for over twelve years and prior this joining the group, I worked with VIP industries , American Express, Hay Management consultants

The post Leadership through Covid-19: An interview with Dr Santrupt Misra first appeared on Horton International.

What C-levels Reveal About Our Working World

Editorial Team — Fri, 28 Jul 2023 10:25:48 +0000

Chief growth officer, chief innovation officer, chief happiness officer – C-level positions let us easily measure how much the working world is changing and which issues are becoming more strategically important for companies.

An interview with Martin Krill, Managing Partner of Horton International Germany and Thomas Wetzel, head of training & coaching for Hager Unternehmensberatung.

There has been a lot of activity in C-level positions in recent years, with numerous new titles being added. What can we deduce from this and to what extent is this an indicator of changes in the world of work?

Martin Krill: When new job titles are created, it’s usually about more than just semantics. At C-level, job titles are an expression of power, of professional recognition. Whenever the C-level spectrum is expanded, and new positions are created, it’s a sign of a change in corporate strategy. The organizational structure below CEO level illustrates which are the most relevant topics and therefore which areas of the company will become more important in future.

Which exciting CxO positions have been added in recent years?

Martin Krill: The subject of compliance, for example, and the position of chief compliance officer have become more relevant in many companies. Human resources is also being prioritized quite differently. HR used to be almost neglected and was essentially restricted to the HR board. Nowadays, companies have chief happiness officers, which allows us to draw conclusions about the importance of corporate culture. The position of chief diversity officer is also relatively new; it didn’t even exist five years ago. These are all issues where companies want to take a strategic position. The area of security, which used to be not necessarily at C-level but rather under the COO, has also become more important, even if it’s perhaps not that new. Nowadays, companies often have a chief information security officer or even a chief security officer. So, you can see that IT security or security, in general, has taken on a completely different significance.

The US is a pioneer in terms of CxO. Is it a question here of synchronizing increasingly global jobs?

Thomas Wetzel: I was already familiar with this even before it caught on in the German economy. I have a military background and have worked a lot in an international context. There was a very clear hierarchy: the chiefs made up the highest rank. They were the ones who had the power to make decisions. That has also become important in business, as positions can’t be defined as easily as they used to be. Take the chief growth officer, for instance. That covers a broad spectrum, depending on whether the company is a small, medium-sized enterprise or a DAX-listed corporation. The position remains the same, but the company size determines the size of the playing field. But the title conveys the same message: I’m the one who makes the decisions. That’s become very important in business.

On one hand, we’re seeing more and more differentiated job titles, but on the other hand there’s a tendency towards flatter hierarchies – the catchword here being New Work. How can you explain what essentially is a contradiction?

Thomas Wetzel: I’ve been dealing with New Work for decades, but unfortunately, it’s now become a buzzword because there isn’t a precise definition for it. Much of what is now called “New Work” already existed in the 70s, but back then it was known as lean management. But that is only by the by – there’s a risk that terms become so diffuse that it’s almost impossible to work with them. Actually, the question about New Work is not whether or how hierarchies have changed but rather: How are managers behaving in the current world of work? How should we deal with the younger generations who are now moving up in these companies? How do you manage to be a good conductor for those specialists and other soloists who will join your orchestra in the years to come?

Thomas, you deal with the subject of development a lot. How can you best promote young talent? What are the important skills?

Thomas Wetzel: The topic of leadership is becoming increasingly important. Graduates have received excellent technical training. What they need to learn are social skills: How to deal with other people. I believe you can encourage young talent by giving them early responsibility. I’ve seen people in their mid-twenties who’ve already had five or six employees and managed them really well. It’s noticeable though how they have mostly trained abroad. Studies there naturally include subjects such as psychology and philosophy, so you learn how group dynamics work.

Martin Krill: In the last five to ten years I’ve seen a generational change in many companies. In other words, digitization has created great pressure to innovate in banks, insurance companies and more traditional companies. As a result, more and more young talents have moved into C-level positions, especially into roles such as the CIO – the chief information officer, or CDO – the chief digital officer. These new leaders naturally had and still have to follow a steep learning curve, which is definitely an advantage in this rapidly changing market. At the same time, we can now see, even in this current phase, that this can also be critical, because decision-maker positions are filled with people who haven’t yet had to manage a crisis in their professional lives. At least not such a fundamental one right now like COVID-19.

To what extent does this generation still covet position and title? Has the concept of a career changed? Does the younger generation really tend to be purpose-driven?

Martin Krill: I think that in the end, it’s always a question of personality. Not everyone has the right level of motivation or maybe even the right kind of ability. Then again, others attach extreme importance to titles. We recently conducted a survey about the “workplace of the future”. This revealed that many candidates are increasingly concerned about being able to realize their personal abilities, and to freely shape their own lives and that is considered more important than having responsibility or power. Nevertheless, a title is definitely crucial for some.

Thomas Wetzel: I share Martin’s opinion. What actually constitutes a career is a really exciting topic. Here’s another example from when I was in the army. I was a specialist for explosives, defused bombs and terrorist packages. And during operations in the field, for example in terrain where there were unexploded bombs, I was everyone else’s superior, even though I held a subordinate rank, simply because of my specialist training. Even when a high-ranking officer was present, I could say: “If you ignore my order, you will be held responsible if something happens at a later stage.” They always complied then. But still, you didn’t want to meet them again (laughs). To get back to Martin’s point, I also notice that people tend to define themselves via the content of their job rather than through holding a specific position in the hierarchy. But it will still take a while before this is the case everywhere.

Which brings me nicely to the next point: what will the working world look like in future, when it’s organized into networks and it’s no longer standard to have a permanent job in a company. Won’t job titles automatically become less important?

Martin Krill: Yes, but I assume that CxO titles with international acceptance will continue to exist. Certainly, jobs and responsibilities will change in a new working environment but it’s not yet possible to say exactly how. However, it’s very likely, and in some cases is already becoming apparent, that working in networks will break up areas of responsibility and more responsibility will be transferred to decentralized teams and units.

I’d be interested to know, Thomas, what issues are you increasingly facing in your training sessions?

Thomas Wetzel: An important aspect is how different generations can work together. Younger people are trying to work out: how do I manage to lead people who are ten years older or even in my parents’ age group? More experienced employees are motivated by the question: how should I deal with the up-and-coming generation, who are demonstrably better educated and at a higher technological and scientific level. So, the buzzword here is loss of power. Without sounding cynical, for companies, the challenge is: what should we do with residual executives? Not in the sense of getting rid of them, but of keeping them onboard. Many employees have been with the company for two or three decades and they have a low, latent willingness to change. What should you do with those people who are only interested in preserving prosperity, and not in seeking new horizons? How do you motivate them?

A delicate subject. What are the special challenges faced by those companies in the midst of transition?

Martin Krill: In many companies, there is indeed a succession issue. And/or there are new investors who want to initiate change, especially in the management structure. This has to do with the implementation of new roles due to digitalization and new business models. This can go hand in hand with the introduction of new positions at C-level. In other words, this can mean that one or two positions are replaced.

Is it always a question of age? Or is it more about a certain mindset?

Martin Krill: How innovative someone is, how many new ideas and how much passion they invest in his or her management job isn’t necessarily linked to age. It’s also not linked to gender. Rather, it’s about the composition of the management team. The question is: what kind of dynamic is present? Often new appointments result from an analysis of which additional skills are required. And then it’s not a question of age but really a question of personality and the company’s situation, and what’s currently advisable. For example, we’re currently seeing, partly due to the difficult market situation, that the position of CFO is taking on completely new relevance in many companies. Finance and controlling are being reevaluated. Experienced and seasoned CFOs are in demand, managers who have already navigated critical market phases. Anyone can sail a boat through calm waters. But what if it’s stormy? In this case, age can even be an asset.

This article was written by Natascha Zeljko of Female One Zero, and is part of a content cooperation between FemaleOneZero (F10) and Hager Unternehmensberatung. The company, which specializes in executive search, has repeatedly been named one of the best personnel consultancies in Germany by the magazines WirtschaftsWoche and Focus. Hager Unternehmensberatung employs around 110 people and, in addition to its extensive know-how in the field of digitalization, is also considered a specialist in issues relating to diversity and innovation.

The post What C-levels Reveal About Our Working World first appeared on Horton International.

Leadership through COVID-19 – With Ger Groot Wesseldijk.

Amy-Cutbill — Fri, 28 Jul 2023 10:50:26 +0000

This week we had the pleasure of speaking to Ger Groot Wesseldijk, Motion Managing Director FraBeNelux at Norgren. In the first of these “Leadership through Covid-19” articles, Ger gives us his insights on how IMI is adapting to the new business and how to navigate through a global pandemic.

IMI plc (formerly Imperial Metal Industries), is a world-leading engineering company headquartered in Birmingham, England, specialising in motion and fluid control technologies. IMI is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. Norgren is one of three divisions alongside IMI Critical and IMI Hydronic, who produce and sell pneumatic and fluid control technologies.

The coronavirus has been a crisis like unlike any other that we have experienced. How have you responded to the situation?

A global pandemic is something we have never experienced before. The safety of our employees is always our top priority, so even before the government-led lockdowns were announced, we implemented home office arrangements for all our office-based colleagues. Through several challenges, cooperation between the local and international management was key to achieving our priorities. IMI has high standards as an employer, and we wanted to make 100% sure that our colleagues weren’t put at risk in any way. Securing people in a safe environment, whether that was working in the office or from home, was our priority. We also ensured that we maintained consistent and simple communication and conversation (both daily and weekly).

What would you consider the top three leadership challenges have been during the coronavirus?

Health and safety have been our top priority, that’s number one for us all. We have to make sure that our team is safe, not only physically, but mentally too. We take a great interest in motivating and engaging our people. That has been key for us at this time. What we then wanted to do was maintain strong working contact but with as much of the team as possible working from home. As a result, despite us being an international company of 11,000 people, we have had very low rates of Covid-19. Under the circumstances, we feel like we have done an excellent job.

Secondly, we have wanted to maintain business continuity. To do this, we have needed to support our ability to provide our customers with the products that they require and to keep up the best possible standard of customer relations. Maintaining customer satisfaction is key. We continually measure customer satisfaction via the Net Promoter Score, and we know that even when you have problems in your supply chain, customers appreciate it if you communicate this to them. Even though we all struggle without our usual human contact at times, keeping those lines open is key!

Thirdly, cost control is essential. We are listed on the London Stock Exchange and will have to present our facts and figures and will need to secure our margins and profits. We try to monitor our financials as well as possible, which is difficult currently, as nobody has any experience with this type of global crisis. It is tricky to predict the long term, so we are focusing on the short and medium-term at this stage.

How are you keeping your employees motivated?

Separately from Covid19 we already have a great engagement program in Europe, of which I am a leader for the FraBenelux division. We always want to make sure that our people are motivated and engaged. Of course, now there is an extra element to this as we don’t see our colleagues face to face. We are trying to find a balance and maintain good relationships with our team, mostly through video meetings, which we do two or three times a week. It’s crucial to have personal (one to one) contact as well as team meetings to keep everyone motivated and work through the new sets of challenges we are facing due to Covid19. We also support this with internal online training that aims to inspire people and improve specific sales skills and competences.

We have also tried to promote strong interaction between different teams. A specific example is between our field and internal sales. Usually, the field sales team is out meeting new customers, and internal sales are focused on taking care of our existing customer base. Now, these two teams are coming together to share their skills due to the new business landscape we find ourselves in. Finally, we still need to ensure that we reward our teams and celebrate top performance; France had a fantastic Net Promoter Score last quarter, so we made sure that despite everything, we celebrated their achievement.

How are you managing your management team?

Usually, I would travel weekly to one of the countries within the FraBeNeLux region to meet with the management teams face to face. Now we have bi-weekly meetings via video instead, and individual calls with members of our management team. I want us all to stay as focused, as always, on our targets, despite the difficult circumstances. Again, while remaining mindful of the challenges people might facing personally.

How are you preparing for the future?

In the short-term, it’s things like how we get people back into the offices now some countries are relaxing their lockdown. How do we figure out health and safety plans for that? Who is key to get back first? We are also now offering part-time work.

Honesty is also is a massive one. We have been very honest with our customers, and they have in turn been very honest with us. We have understood and made arrangements for those who needed to figure out different payments, and they have understood if sometimes we have had delivery delays. Ultimately we just all need to be transparent.

In the medium-term, we are monitoring how the market is developing, we are trying to project the ways in which this may go and to stay on top of our game by continuing to provide quality products and services. Medium-term, we also are thinking about structure. Now more than ever we must have the right people in place. As we are more independent, since we are physically not next to one another, it’s crucial that we can trust each other’s abilities to do our jobs.

What advice would you give other business leaders at this time?

My one big take away from working through the 2008 financial crisis was that many businesses perhaps focused internally too much, this time I want to make sure that we keep our customers close to us on this journey, as well as my team. We have a much better chance of coming out of this together if we stay close, stay honest and support each other.

The post Leadership through COVID-19 – With Ger Groot Wesseldijk. first appeared on Horton International.

Health Leadership In A Time Of COVID: An Interview With Ipsen UK and Ireland

Declan Haverty — Fri, 28 Jul 2023 10:45:38 +0000

In the last few months, almost every business has had to make some huge adjustments to how it operates. However, organisations in the healthcare sector have been thrust into the spotlight. They are not only having to ensure they maintain their critical services to patients and healthcare operators, but also are having to navigate a virus pandemic and look after their employees.

For an insight into how the healthcare industry has had to adapt, we spoke to Asad Ali, Managing Director at Ipsen UK and Ireland. Ipsen is a leading global biopharmaceutical company focused on innovation and specialty care, working hard to bring solutions for patients and healthcare providers. We caught up with Asad to discover what impact COVID-19 has had on Ipsen UK and Ireland, and the healthcare industry as a whole.

How has Ipsen UKI been affected by COVID-19, particularly as a leader in the biopharma space?

The healthcare industry makes a tremendous difference not only to the lives of patients with debilitating diseases but also to the healthcare professionals that are there to take care of those patients, and the treatment and management of their conditions. So, with the advent of COVID-19, as an industry we knew we had a significant role to play as the pandemic evolved.

At Ipsen, our portfolio focuses on three main therapeutic areas – oncology, neuroscience, and rare diseases – the largest of these being oncology. With regard to cancer treatment, the healthcare systems in the UK and Ireland have had to evolve, adopting new measures such as the establishment of covid-free zones across the cancer networks, enabling patients to still receive care. Despite the disruption there has been a strong focus on cancer patients continuing to get their treatment, whether face-to-face or via virtual interaction with their healthcare professional.

Neuroscience is an area where we have seen a more adverse influence of COVID-19. Some of the services and clinics have been categorised as non-essential, bringing some negative impact on patient care. However, both Ipsen and the healthcare providers have adapted to continue to support our patients and healthcare workers, and thankfully we are starting to see a return towards more normal services.

How did you respond to the current situation both personally and professionally?

On a personal level, I have a job that requires a lot of travel, as does my wife, so that has been a big change for the family. Perhaps the biggest challenge has been supporting our kids through this new reality. We have a teenager, an 11-year-old and a 3-year-old, so trying to get them all set up for home-schooling was something of a struggle initially.

By comparison, professionally the transition was quite smooth! At Ipsen, we already had a strong focus on online working, and our usual face-to-face meetings switched to virtual. We also quickly switched to virtual engagement with our customers, to better support the vital interaction with healthcare professionals through this period of uncertainty.

Obviously, the NHS and HSE have been under extreme pressure; the whole point of lockdown was to avoid the spread of the virus and overburdening of healthcare systems. So, Ipsen had to play a role from day one, streamlining processes and going virtual. We are lucky that we operate in countries where our infrastructure has been reliable; unfortunately it has not been as easy in some other parts of the world.

What would you consider as your top three leadership challenges during this pandemic?

For me, the top three challenges Ipsen has faced can also be perceived as opportunities.

Firstly, it has been critical to us that we are adding maximum value during the crisis. We want to provide meaningful value to our stakeholders, patients, customers, colleagues, and our business. Value is going to be different in all of these instances and, as always for Ipsen, has to be tangible and measurable.

For our customers, this has meant reducing the number of patients that need to come into hospital for their treatment. For patients, this is around being more empowered to manage their treatment independently. We want all of our partners and colleagues to see that we have pivoted the business to ensure we have solutions that work for everyone, wherever possible.

The second challenge is around really being present, which was front of mind for me, even before the lockdown. Whether it is for our customers, patients or colleagues, or other stakeholders, it is vital that we remain available for them all.

Throughout lockdown, we have continued with the aspects we feel would make a real difference for our people. One example is that we continued to hold “mentoring retreats”: protected time to focus on our people’s growth, development, aspirations, and plans. We did these through virtual sessions, and it worked exceptionally well.

The third topic is how we react to change. Consciously we championed the change, and emphasised that it was in fact more of an opportunity than a challenge. In many ways the pandemic has accelerated changes that were coming anyway, for example in digital adoption and remote working. When change is being thrown at us relentlessly, human nature can be to fight, freeze, or flee. But, if we actually embrace it and become more ‘change agile’, we can engage with our stakeholders in ways that embrace the new reality that we’re all facing.

How have you been keeping your employees safe, informed, and motivated?

For the last year, Ipsen has been prioritising the focus on mental health. As part of this, an Ipsen team, including myself, started training to be mental health and well-being advocates. When the pandemic hit us, and we locked down, it became even more important than ever to focus on this area.

I am very proud that we continued with that training virtually, and we now have a team of accredited mental health and well-being ambassadors within the company. We have also created a well-being hub on our intranet where colleagues can find yoga, exercise, and meditation videos among other things, as part of this initiative.

It has also been essential to keep engaged with our employees; they need to feel heard and know that we understand their challenges. We are mindful that it is a very profound challenge that we are facing right now, but it is also essential to keep some light-heartedness too. So we have openly welcomed families and pets to our video interactions, held online quizzes and virtual drinks parties.

Instead of our usual KPI reporting during this period, we did a “KPI – Keeping Our Purpose Ignited” video series, which were employee videos recorded from their homes and in their gardens talking about our progress with a different KPI each day. It was a fun and engaging way of recognising colleagues whilst keeping peoples’ engagement and optimism up.

Did you draw inspiration from other leaders during COVID-19?

It is so important to be aware of what is going on in your own ecosystem – in your sector, in your industry, and in the wider world. Clearly, healthcare has been a huge consideration throughout the pandemic.

Entire countries have been working towards ensuring that our healthcare systems are not overburdened. I have drawn inspiration from how the Irish and UK healthcare systems have responded to the crisis; both NHS and HSE leadership decisions have been exemplary.

In the UK, NHS Nightingale temporary hospitals were set up in record time and to an excellent standard. In Ireland, they put in immediate protocols to minimise face-to-face contact in medical situations, which will have saved many lives.

The other place from which I have drawn inspiration is my colleagues; both my leadership team and my other direct reports. Ipsen has a full bench-to-bedside footprint in the UK and Ireland. We have activities all the way from basic research and discovery through to full commercialisation, lifecycle management and everything in between. We employ almost 900 people in UK and Ireland, and every single one of them has played a key role in this pandemic.

We continued making and distributing essential medicine during this period and we continued with research and development throughout the lockdown, even though it has been challenging. And we all did this while managing our personal situations – with the challenges of having children and pets jump onto our conference calls! I have been so impressed with how everyone has dealt with their new working normality.

Another incredible feat is that we have brought in a new CEO, David Loew, who joined Ipsen from Sanofi Pasteur on July 1^st. I am not sure how many companies can say that they have virtually recruited a new executive leader during a pandemic!

It was a pleasure to catch up with Asad Ali and to find out just how Ipsen has not only weathered the storm of COVID-19 but embraced the challenge and made positive changes, to benefit not only the organisation but its patients, clients and stakeholders too.

Asad Mohsin Ali, currently Managing Director for UK & Ireland at Ipsen, an emerging global leader in innovation and specialty care, including Rare Diseases, Oncology and Neuroscience. Asad also heads 1 of 3 Ipsen Global Hubs (the 2 others are France and the US), and is Chair of Ipsen’s UK & Ireland Site Steering Committee which is responsible for a 900 strong workforce across four global sites (Slough, Abingdon, Wrexham, Dublin) that span the full “bench to bedside” chain including R&D, TechOps, Supply, Commercial Operations and Corporate Functions. 22 years of industry experience across a variety of roles with Novartis, MSD and TESARO.

The post Health Leadership In A Time Of COVID: An Interview With Ipsen UK and Ireland first appeared on Horton International.

Leadership In A Time Of COVID: An Interview With Estée Lauder Companies, Mexico

Amy-Cutbill — Fri, 28 Jul 2023 10:35:07 +0000

We recently caught up with Roberto Soto, Director General at Estée Lauder Companies, Mexico to discover what impact COVID-19 has had on Estée Lauder Companies and the leadership challenges they have faced during the pandemic.

How have you responded to the situation with Covid-19 from a personal and professional perspective?

Reaction has happened both professionally and on the personal side.

During mid-March, we begun to close all of our Brick and mortar doors. Estée Lauder is a retail business, our people operate 24 / 7. Agreeing with our retailers to close doors was a big decision. Some wanted to remain open, but to us, we needed to agree on the best moment considering the most important variable was the health of our employees and, of course, our consumers. Estée Lauder as a company is very mindful of its people, it walks the talk in that sense. We ensured that we could continue to operate with everybody working from home.

The next most important subject, after employee health, was converting our business to become an online business. The dot-com side of the business was representing a small % of the company in Mexico. In some of the retailers, it grew by ten times or more during the lockdown. That did not cover all our revenues. We also had to review every line in our P&L and protected our cash flow. We negotiated everything that we could so that we would be able to reduce the usage of cash flow and mainly focus our resources on being able to continue paying our people. Protect the long term.

As such, the company was able to sustain all of our employees throughout the pandemic. We refocused the roles and responsibilities of everyone to be able to support the dot-com business. The dot-com side of the business is going to be a big focus of ours for the future.

What do you consider were the top three leadership challenges during the Coronavirus pandemic?

We have had to reinvent ourselves in many ways. If you think of visiting an Estée Lauder counter, we touch your face. That’s a big part of our business when you are talking about skincare, make-up, haircare, or even fragrance to a certain degree. When consumers come to us, we give them advice and, in many cases, we give them a personal service, and this is something that we aim to continue to offer. So, we have had to reinvent ourselves at the point-of-sale because currently, we cannot “touch” consumers.

As a result, a major change, is that we have added technology to our point-of-sale. If you want to go and look for lipstick and you want a different tone, a different colour, you want to try it on, but you cannot. We now have what we call a ‘virtual try-on’. We have iPads at the point-of-sale, or if you visit our website, you can try it on in your computer as you visit our MACcosmetics.com.mx.

The process of the sale is going to be very interesting as the stores reopen. We are seeing a shift, and this was a trend that was happening anyway, but Coronavirus accelerated all trends. Consumers will have different habits now. In Mexico, and probably all of Latin America, the make-up business was bigger than the skincare business, but now skincare has overtaken make-up in terms of the size of the business.

For instance, facemasks will reduce products designed for your lips, but you will look to do more with your eyes. I think there is a change of habits coming our way, and we have to be aware of that.

We are also going to need to be flexible, and we have to be willing to reinvent ourselves as things change. In the past, we used to say that this was ‘the world where the strongest survive’. Now I believe it’s going to be the world of the one who adapts better and can reinvent themselves and be creative in how to do business.

Another point is that we must ensure that everybody can work from home. We still need to motivate our people; we need to still be as efficient and be able to work without seeing each other. We have done this very successfully until now, but as the businesses are re-opening, the challenge will be being able to manage both the online and the bricks-and-mortar side of the businesses. We must continue to be close to the point-of-sale.

Did you draw inspiration from any other corporations’ responses to COVID-19?

We were very inquisitive of what was going on around us and what ideas could be implemented. For instance, we collaborated with delivery companies. As an example, in Mother’s Day, and through last mile delivery, we can take orders for Mother’s Day gifts and have them delivered to your house.

Additionally, we are also working on ‘social selling’. Once we have established contact with a consumer, they stablish communication with their Beauty Advisor – for example, through WhatsApp, and the Beauty Advisor can advise and sell products to them. The ability to maximize communication with our consumers is key, it has to be leveraged in the best way possible.

Social media, online masterclasses for consumers are other more relevant tools today. They deliver their online master class and that’s another way we can generate traffic and drive the sales that we need.

Some of our retailers have what they call a concierge service, and through that concierge service, we are also aiming to achieve more sales. There are many tools around us that are not your usual way of working, but, if you do not adapt, you will lose.

These days, you have to be aware of what’s happening all over the world, going to conferences, understanding what other companies are doing. You have to study, and you have to be aware of the solutions that are happening in other companies and how you’re able to utilize them in your industry.

How have you been keeping your employees motivated?

The name of the game with our teams has been communication. We used to meet four times a year with all the company. During this pandemic, we are doing this practically every two weeks. Communication is something that has to be a part of the culture, the vision, and the mission that a company has.

As a result of this increased communication, everybody noticed the huge amount of support that the company was giving to all of its employees. During the pandemic, sadly, we could see other companies going broke, laying off staff, or reducing expenses to a much higher level. Our company has been able to show a huge amount of support to its employees.

The role of our leaders is vital, more than ever, because we are now depend on each of our leaders to ensure that they lead their teams and maintain their motivation and avoid any unnecessary distractions. Estée Lauder has made a huge commitment to ensuring that we collaborate in the best way possible and continue to achieve positive results.

How are you managing your management teams throughout this?

We are continuously reviewing our priorities and reviewing what’s changing. Everything has become more analytical. Objective is to detect as many trends as possible and trying to review what will give us an advantage and change as fast as possible.

Today, we have just reopened some doors, we are monitoring what’s happening in all of our stores. As I said before, you are seeing changes, different consumer behaviour. Consumers want to live in smaller cities.

Is there anything else that you’re doing in terms of preparing for the future that you hadn’t been doing previously?

A focus for us is accelerating the use of technology and the capability of our online business.

Do you have any advice for other business leaders?

My advice is to go into a much closer one-on-one communication with all of your team. This is a virus that is affecting all of us, but in different ways. You have to be very sensitive to your people.

You need to ensure that you support in different levels as context will be different to all. Think of a working mother who has children, she must do home-schooling and at the same time be in a meeting. To some, it’s an advantage to be at home. Some working mothers are telling us that they want to stay at home rather than come back to the office because they’re more efficient at home.

Ensure that your team is being as productive as in the past, give them new tools and new skills to work even better within this new environment.

Roberto Soto is the Director General Estee Lauder Companies, Mexico.

The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. is one of the world’s leading manufacturers and marketers of quality skin care, makeup, fragrance and hair care products.

Roberto has been part of Estee Lauder Companies for 4 years. The role today requires strengthening the company’s leadership situation while generating industry growth under a complex macro-economic situation and a more competitive environment.

The post Leadership In A Time Of COVID: An Interview With Estée Lauder Companies, Mexico first appeared on Horton International.

Leadership In A Time Of COVID: An Interview With Hisense Mexico

Amy-Cutbill — Fri, 28 Jul 2023 10:30:16 +0000

We recently caught up with Mauricio Silis, HR & GMO Director, Hisense Mexico to find out what impact COVID-19 has had on Hisense Mexico, and the leadership challenges they have faced during the pandemic.

How has the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic impacted Hisense Mexico?

It is a unique moment in time for sure. Even though we faced a swine flu epidemic in 2009, this crisis has been of very different proportions. We are following many recommendations that we received back in 2009. We will perhaps keep in mind these practices forever now, not just for a short period, or epidemic situation. We have all had to redesign our daily working lives all around the world, and because of what we went through with the Swine flu, we had already learned how to do this to an extent.

We were also fortunate to have seen how our Headquarters in China handled the situation; they faced a huge challenge there; everything stopped there very quickly – so in a sense, we knew what might be coming and that it might change every part of how we work.

How did you respond to this situation both personally and corporately?

Our first priority, both inside and outside of the company, was health – keeping our people safe was paramount. So immediately we began to adapt our office. As soon as our Chinese colleagues started facing severe problems, we began to make some changes in our offices and to communicate with people and take specific measures to keep people safe. As a company, we also decided to be cautious, making sure that we had a stock of all the supplies we need for our health prevention.

We also started our “home working” policy earlier than many Mexican companies, which helped us a lot. We had enough time to prepare everything and start creating a certain culture in our company to combat COVID-19.

The economic situation and our performance were also critical; we very quickly worked to reduce costs and renegotiate with certain landlords, suppliers and customer service providers. On the other hand, we also received the same sort of requests from our customers; they asked for extended periods of credit and cut certain purchase orders. Everyone was scared; they wanted to avoid having a huge amount of stock in their warehouses, as did we. So for that reason, we were very conservative in terms of economy.

Communication was hugely important too. We trained our staff on how to behave in a pandemic. We let everyone know that homeworking was the best solution for many people. Again we were lucky that due to our HQ being ahead of us in terms of the pandemic, we had made sure that our infrastructure and IT systems could support employees working from home and that our security was up to the job.

Another huge part of our response was updating our e-commerce. In Mexico, we are still beginners in terms of e-commerce, so it was a steep learning curve for us – but we managed! We feel very privileged that we have not stopped our operation and managed to adapt to the new way of life.

What do you consider were your top three leadership challenges during this pandemic?

First of all – Connectivity. Getting everyone working on a remote basis was a challenge. We didn’t know how the infrastructure in Mexico. Fortunately, our IT people deployed an essential implementation to give us adequate tools for working from home.

Secondly – Connecting with leaders on a remote basis. Managing from afar is a new skill for many of us. When we moved our people back home, we had to change how we work, report, and engage with our customers and service providers. It was undoubtedly a challenge! We set very clear objectives and set up different assessments for performance, but also we had to all learn to adjust our expectations – everyone was learning. It was also vital for us to share our experience with our fellow managers and directors in managing this way.

Thirdly – Business continuity. Mexico is a country that suffers a lot of earthquakes and hurricanes, so civil protection activity is something significant in our country. We have built our company in a way that is adaptable to these kinds of events. We have to be prepared for if we all have to hide out for some time.

Honestly, no business continuity plan could match the current circumstances and experiences we are facing. We had to build new strategies to deal with this. Sometimes we were assisted by specialists. Sometimes we were following instructions from the government. Sometimes we exchanged information with other companies and tried to create a model that could fit with Hisense. We had to be fast and creative and keep in mind that we were all human beings at the end of the day.

Did you draw inspiration from other leaders, corporations, or partners in their responses to COVID-19?

I would say that we did draw from many sources, all across the world. After all, this is not a local issue. This is a worldwide issue. We took recommendations in terms of infrastructure, in terms of supplies, and in terms of how to protect people.

When our Chinese HQ went through the pandemic before the rest of the world, we sent them funds and resources to help. Ironically two and a half months later, they ended up doing the same for us. In the beginning, they sent us thermometers and almost 250,000 masks. These masks were for internal purposes and to donate for hospitals and charity organizations in Mexico and our customers.

I also used my network across the world to draw from other’s experiences. I have spent 30 years in global human resources, so I am lucky to have a large network. I ensured that I was checking in with people in Asia and Europe – getting the bigger picture. They were saying: keep focused on your objectives, on how to measure those objectives, reward your people, recognize their adaptability, and keep watching your economy.

How have you been keeping your employees safe, informed and motivated?

Keeping people at home has been first and foremost. As a company, we are fortunate that much of our workforce can work remotely. But some of our team also had to be on the ground. What we have done for these people is that we have alternated the activity at our office so that everyone is not there at one time.

We have also been providing all types of supplies to our employees. And also, we have been adapting the office in accordance with the COVID19. Our total office capacity was reduced by probably 30% and the health and hygiene was a huge priority – sanitizing carpets, distance markers, division, the list was long!

The second measure that we took to keep our employees safe, informed and motivated was through open communication. We made sure that we provided informative bulletins, newsletters, messages, meetings, spots. We sent cards to employees’ homes, threw virtual birthday parties, and celebrated people’s achievements. Our people must know that we value them as human beings.

We even had an initiative where we sent out coin boxes for folks to save money, board games and some chocolates for their kids who have also been stuck at home. And also we put some tickets to watch films to watch movies online. We wanted to make sure that they knew that Hisense valued them and their families.

How are you managing your leadership team?

As I mentioned before, taking the pulse of the employees very important. Sometimes I just called, to say like the song, “to say we love you” rather than only to discuss our work challenges. These calls allowed people a forum to talk about their challenges and to keep boosting their morale. We have made sure to create a supportive new culture.

The optimal infrastructure is also critical. If people start to face problems with a mobile phone system or with applications, they start to feel that’s not what we want. So we tried to ensure that we had not only robust technology but also good support on hand.

We have also been conscious to be more tolerant, many have not only a home office, but we have a home school going on – so we have been more flexible with when people work and with interruptions.

We are all having to be very conscious in general. Keeping focused on economics, in terms of political issues, digital issues, health issues, and social issues. It’s a lot to deal with, but we must keep our eyes open and keep adapting.

How do you see the next 12 months for Hisense, and how different might it be?

We will need to balance the collaborator experience and maintain an efficient company in terms of process and cost. We have to look forward. We have to keep on balance. We will look continue to work to keep our talent motivated.

We are looking toward the future. For instance, it’s very possible that moving forward credit cards may be replaced to an extent with QR codes, so we are looking to digitalize in ways like utilizing QR codes.

We will continue to implement flex time and part-time work. It’s essential to recreate our employee experience in a way that works for the times. Part of this will be continuous training and contact. And, of course, our leaders will need to continue to be resilient.

Finally, we need to be very mindful of discrimination, if one of our people (or a member of their family) suffers directly from COVID-19 there must be no discrimination. We must support them and continue to create a culture where our employees can thrive.

What is your advice to leaders of other businesses at this time?

I think sharing is hugely important; let’s support our economies by talking with our fellow business leaders about what is working for us to keep our companies going through this period. Keep thinking about assessments, about your roles and responsibilities. Take the pulse of your employees and organization – ask them what is working and what is not.

Keep flexible, keep adapting, and keep caring.

Mauricio Silis is the HR & GMO Director of Hisense Mexico. He previously worked for the Samsung Group for 27 years, eight years at Samsung Corporation and 19 years at Samsung Electronics Mexico. Mauricio joined Hisense Mexico in 2018.

About Hisense:

Hisense, a high-tech company and sponsor of UEFA EURO 2020, was founded in China in 1969. It is one of the leading international manufacturers of flat- screen TVs, household appliances (refrigerators / freezers, washing machines, stoves, ovens and dishwashers) as well such as air conditioning and climate control equipment, mobile devices and entertainment electronics.

Hisense has 54 subsidiaries worldwide, strategically distributed around the world, with the ability to distribute its products to more than 160 countries. Hisense’s production is carried out in 14 plants, the largest outside of China is in Mexico, which allows it to meet needs and be within immediate reach.

Hisense continually invests in research and technological development. Thanks to an international team of around 75,000 employees, the company carries out its goal: to make Hisense a leading brand worldwide. To do this, Hisense has more than 14 production centers and 12 R&D centers worldwide, as well as subsidiaries in Europe, North America, Australia, Africa and Southeast Asia.

The post Leadership In A Time Of COVID: An Interview With Hisense Mexico first appeared on Horton International.

Gartner’s Top Strategic Technology Trends for 2021

Amy-Cutbill — Fri, 28 Jul 2023 10:22:32 +0000

Gartner has published what they consider will be the leading strategic technology trends for 2021, and it makes interesting reading. Grouping their predictions around three major themes – People Centricity, Location Independence, and Resilient Delivery – most of the identified trends are a direct reaction to the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on business and the economy.

What you will learn from this article:

What are the three major themes and their leading strategic technology trends?
What is the Internet of Behaviour, and how does it impact on our lives and jobs?
What must organisations do to weather these disruptions?

People Centricity

The pandemic has changed the way many of us work and interact with our organisations. Despite that, people remain at the centre of business. However, to function effectively, the Gartner report emphasises that they need improved digitised processes. These include the internet of behaviours, total experience, and privacy-enhancing computation.

Internet of Behaviours

The internet of behaviours (IoB) follows on from the internet of things (IoT). In many ways, it is the most pervasive and controversial strategic technology trend identified by Gartner and has substantial ethical implications. Essentially it involves gaining ever more information on individuals from what the report calls their “digital dust”, in other words from customer data, social media, surveillance cameras, facial recognition, and other sources. The technology will integrate this data, gain insights on how individuals behave and use such insights to control their behaviour.

While the IoB can be as innocuous as monitoring the way you drive to fine-tune your insurance premium, it isn’t difficult to imagine more sinister applications. Though Gartner reassures us that “IoB must offer mutual benefit to both parties or risk being rejected by consumers”.

Total Experience

Total experience is an integration of various other experience collections, including multi-experience (MX), customer experience (CX), employee experience (EX) and user experience (UX). The aim is to create a better overall experience for all, particularly in response to challenges created by the pandemic.

Such an approach provides organisations with tools for creating joined-up services to optimise how customers interact with the organisation.

Privacy-enhancing computation

Privacy-enhancing computation includes several technologies, each of which are designed to protect individual privacy. These include:

Creating a safe environment with confidential computing
Decentralised processing and analytics
Encrypting data and algorithms before processing or analytics (homomorphic encryption).

The aim is to allow organisations to share information while protecting private information and comply with the latest privacy laws.

With these innovations, it becomes obvious that innovation is not a question of technology only but deeply entangled with legal and ethical questions. As a consequence, managers in the tech sector should have broad competencies and a holistic view of their job.

Location Independence

The pandemic has shown that many of us can work remotely and that employees, customers, suppliers and the organisational infrastructure can interact without occupying the same physical space. However, we need new technologies to ensure this all works seamlessly. These technologies include the distributed cloud, anywhere operations, and a cybersecurity mesh.

Distributed Cloud

The distributed cloud made its first appearance in a Gartner report in 2020 and continues in the 2021 edition. Effectively it is the next generation of cloud computing and aims to reduce latency by locating data storage and cloud services closer to the user in a micro-cloud while running it all from a centralised location. Essentially it is a form of edge computing.

One benefit is cost savings by providing customers access to public cloud services while keeping their private data in a specific geographical location in compliance with privacy regulations.

Anywhere Operations

This might, by today’s standards, appear old hat. After all, we have become accustomed to remote working, remote customer support, and providing business services through a distributed infrastructure. But “anywhere operations” as perceived by Gartner takes this to the next level and offers “unique value-added digital experiences”. The five core areas for delivering this promise include:

Collaboration and productivity
Secure remote access
Cloud and edge infrastructure
Quantification of the digital experience
Automation to support remote operations

Gartner predicts that by the end of 2023, 40% of organisations will be applying anywhere operations to deliver “optimised and blended virtual and physical customer and employee experiences”.

Cybersecurity mesh

Cybersecurity is a pervading and burgeoning challenge, but what exactly does Gartner mean by a cybersecurity mesh? They define it as “distributed architectural approach to flexible, reliable, and scalable cybersecurity control”. The pandemic has increased the trend for digital assets to be located externally to traditional physical and security parameters and the mesh provides an infrastructure whereby all those assets receive the same stringent level of security services wherever their location.

The distributed cybersecurity mesh must provide high security without hindering growth. It must be scalable, flexible and dependable.

The pandemic has rolled over the way we used to work. No question, the “new normal” will be different from the Pre Corona working habits. What it exactly will be, nobody knows. Therefore the only advice can be to create the conditions, regading performance of technical infrastructure, security but also legal aspects to allow the most flexible way of working under the new normal.

Resilient delivery

Gartner’s third theme is resilient delivery, which refers to maintaining delivery despite instability and volatility in the world, whether caused by a pandemic or an economic recession. The three vital strategic technologies to enable this are an intelligent composable business model, AI engineering, and hyper-automation.

Intelligent composable business

The pandemic has proven too disruptive for many businesses. Those that have failed to adapt have broken. To rebuild, businesses must build an architecture that provides improved access to information, provides new insights based on that information, and is “composable, modular, and can change and respond more quickly as decisions are made”.

In other words, such a model will provide better business outcomes that are “timely, relevant and contextual”. It is about being more adaptable, agile, and capable of responding rapidly to change. This calls for an overhaul of the decision-making process.

AI engineering

Gartner points out that we need to get better at AI engineering, specifically in terms of DataOps, ModelOps and DevOps. The same principals of DevOps that apply to high-speed code changes must also be applied to models and data if we are to mover project on from proof of concept to full-scale production.

Hyperautomation

If it is capable of being automated then, according to Gartner, it will be automated. Hyper-automation is, they say, key to digital operational excellence and operational resiliency. Hyperautomation combines multiple components of process automation, integrating tools and technologies for automating work. Such elements include robotic process automation (RPA) and (AI), process mining, advanced analytics, and other tools.

As the pandemic has disrupted our mode of work it has also shed a bright light on all the breaks in our “semi-digital” processes. From one day to the other, our manual bypasses haven’t been an option anymore. Therefore it is good news that help is at hand. With approaches such as AI and Hyperautomation, it is possible to create end-to-end digital processes and guarantee resilient delivery internally to employees as well as externally to clients, partners and suppliers.

How organisations can adapt to these technology trends

Over the pandemic, business has on the whole been extraordinarily capable of adapting to rapid change and uncertainty. It must continue to do so into the future, and the trends identified by Gartner should be viewed as opportunities to differentiate themselves from the competition.

Adaptability and flexibility are key. None of the trends identified in the report should be viewed as independent; they are all synergetic to each other. Taken together, they will change the business landscape through and beyond the pandemic. As Gartner points out, they are not reversible. The arrow points only forward.

The post Gartner’s Top Strategic Technology Trends for 2021 first appeared on Horton International.

Industrial Sector Global Report 2020

Hagen schonfeld — Fri, 28 Jul 2023 10:19:01 +0000

The global economy as a whole, and industry in particular, has been hit by an extraordinary slump over the past eight months. However, this Industry Country Report is intended to show that this does not apply to all industrial segments across the board and that there are many different impressions of the current crisis in the economically relevant regions of the world.

Our industry colleagues from Horton International would like to give you a brief, concise and individual impression. The report should quickly give you a feeling for the drama and the many positive examples.

It is certain that the industry will overcome this global crisis. Technological developments and the resulting competitive pressure will always remain the individual’s biggest challenger in the long term.

The post Industrial Sector Global Report 2020 first appeared on Horton International.

Industrial & Manufacturing Trends for 2021

Hagen schonfeld — Fri, 28 Jul 2023 10:12:02 +0000

This time last year and for several years previously industry trends were dominated by Industry 4, the next industrial revolution. So, what has changed? Have the shadows of coronavirus and Brexit changed the entire industrial landscape, or are we still on course for the much-heralded smart factory of the future?

In this article, you will learn:

What are the leading trends driving the industrial & manufacturing sectors in 2021?
How will industry recover from the impending post–COVID-19 recession?
How will it all impact jobs?

Industry 4 and smart factories

Industry 4, the so-called fourth industrial revolution first mooted in 2013, promised us the traditional manufacturing systems would be replaced by a combination of robotics, the Internet of Things, big data, and artificial intelligence. To an extent, all these things have happened already. We already have a handful of smart factories that require zero human intervention. For example, in FANUC, a Japanese robotics company, robots manufacture more robots. The factory functions in the dark with the lights and air conditioning systems switched off. The robots work round the clock, never need a break, and monitor their own performance. The impact of Industry 4 on the jobs market cannot be overestimated. At FANUC Just a few workers remain to keep an eye on things. This does not mean that Industry 4 threatens people’s livelihoods; it creates more jobs than it destroys, merely different kinds of jobs. Job retraining is another major trend.

Mass customisation

The kind of mass automation described above is not as mindless as it might at first seem. Such smart factories are massively flexible and responsive to human requirements. For instance, today, when purchasing a new car, buyers can design their own vehicle by choosing between hundreds of alternative variables. Automated systems can make the car seamlessly within the automated mass production system. This is the very opposite of the traditional mass–production model. While mass customisation will continue as a trend for 2021 and beyond, it is not without its problems. From a customer viewpoint, mass customisation can result in mass confusion, where there are too many parameters to choose from, resulting in lost sales. As we shall see below, mass customisation is giving way to mass personalisation.

Industry 5

While the goals of Industry 4 will continue to dominate the direction of manufacturing through 2021 and beyond, today, analysts are focussing attention on what they call Industry 5. While Industry 4 is all about automation, Industry 5 recognises the importance of the human element. Essentially, Industry 5 involves the collaboration between smart manufacturing and human creativity, emphasising the synergy of human–machine interaction. The machines create efficiency and do the tedious, repetitive tasks while humans provide the human touch that adds value to the product. The hope is that human intelligence will take over once artificial intelligence has accomplished all it can. Humans will provide significantly higher levels of customisation than robots. It is the mass customisation offered by Industry 4 taken to the altogether higher level of personalisation, understanding and responding to customer needs rather than specifications.

The rise of the Cobots

Cobots, or collaborative robots, are an important trend. These intelligent machines work alongside humans in a shared workspace and are easy to program and train. They are far from new, but over recent years they have become considerably more sophisticated and powerful. The global Cobot market in 2019 was $981 million, and it is expected to grow to $7,172 million by 2025 – a CAGR of 41.8%. Seen by some analysts as a manifestation of Industry 5, in that they represent a close collaboration between humans and robots, a leading market driver appears to be a lack of skilled human workers and rising labour costs.

Recovering from COVID-19

Recovering from COVID-19 will be a significant factor in the industrial & manufacturing sector for 2021. Not all manufacturing sectors have been affected adversely by the pandemic; the pharmaceutical, chemicals, medical devices and defence sectors have been relatively unaffected. The sectors have made heroic contributions to the fightback against the virus. Assisted by government efforts, other sectors are likely to grow from their 2019 levels in 2021 including automotive, electronics, aerospace and textiles. However, some manufacturing companies will inevitably fail.

Overall, the sector is optimistic – around 60% of manufacturing industry professionals expect a full recovery by the middle of next year, though this adverse supply chain issues might impact on this. Overall, the manufacturing industry is successfully implementing modified working practices to ensure safe working, a trend that will continue into 2021.

Brexit is also casting a shadow over the manufacturing sector. Whether it is a threat or an opportunity is debatable. Industries that thrive will be those that are flexible and willing to adapt to what could be a rapidly changing landscape.

Our Q4 Industry Sector Global Report for 2020 shares the many different impressions of the current crisis in the economically relevant regions of the world.

Industrial & manufacturing jobs

COVID-19 will continue to have a significant impact on the industrial & manufacturing jobs market in the shorter term. This is likely to recover quickly, especially as there is now encouraging news on the vaccine front. However, the changes we describe above, including smart factories and the digital transformation of the industry, are having and will continue to have a profound impact on jobs.

According to Deloitte, these changes will create a skills gap resulting in millions of unfilled jobs. The new manufacturing work environment will “blend advanced technology and digital skills with uniquely human skills to yield the highest level of productivity.”

Conclusion

Overall, leaders in the industrial and manufacturing sectors are optimistic of a rapid recovery from the current pandemic, followed by significant future growth. While Industry 4 and the smart factory remain important trends, the drive for automation at any cost has given ground to the more humane approach of Industry 5. Here, automation, perhaps in the form of cobots, does the donkey work leaving human workers to add the creative touches. The trend is to move on from mass customisation to personalisation.

The post Industrial & Manufacturing Trends for 2021 first appeared on Horton International.

How CEOs Can Transform And Thrive In 2021

Hans Roberto Frenster — Fri, 28 Jul 2023 10:06:02 +0000

· 10% of the most valuable roles often don’t exist in businesses – do you know where value lies in your team?

· 80% of CEOs are planning operational efficiencies this year – can your organisation stay in a growth mindset?

· Commit to ongoing transformation rather than a single change – keep looking for the 1% increments.

2020 was a challenging year for business leaders. 2021 is set to be no different. With most experts agreeing that the global economic recovery is likely to be ‘W’ shaped, the challenges are clearly not over. However, challenges are also opportunities for growth and success. As a CEO, you can take steps to make sure that you are transforming your company into one that will not just survive, but thrive in 2021.

Act Decisively

One of the most significant hallmarks of a successful CEO is not only making decisions but also acting on them. Moreover, the best of the best act boldly. This means you make a decision early and move big. The areas where decisive action have the largest impact on success include;

· Reallocating resources

· Merging, acquiring, and divesting programs

· Improvements to productivity

· Capital expenses.

Key takeaway: What’s the one decision you can make which will make the most significant positive impact?

Define Your Agenda Despite Lack Of Clarity

Not knowing what’s coming around the corner is becoming an all too familiar feeling at the moment. But, you cannot let the uncertainty stop you from planning. Having a clear agenda and roadmap laid out for your company can help to stop you and your team from floundering.

It is crucial to accept that any plans you make are likely to change and evolve. However, part of being a successful CEO through this pandemic is developing the skills of continuous planning. You can’t let the uncertainty stop you from planning. At the same time, it is important not to get stuck on a path just because you planned it months ago.

Key takeaway: Approach planning with flexibility in mind.

Get Your Team Right

It’s no big secret that having the right people in the right roles can make or break a company. Different roles create different amounts of value. It would make sense that the most valuable ones be those you, as a CEO, are keeping the closest watch on. Yet, careful analysis suggests that only 10% of the most valuable roles in a company report to CEOs, 60% are two levels below the CEO, and a worrying 10% of these valuable roles may not even exist.

If you are going to thrive in challenging conditions, you need to analyse your team – Not just who is in it, but how it’s structured. Knowing where the value in your team lies is essential, and surprisingly easy to get wrong.

Key takeaway: Work out where your talent value lies and make sure it’s in line with your company structure.

Commit To Longterm, Ongoing Transformation

Being an effective, transformative leader means that you are not just looking for a quick fix. To be truly effective, you should commit to ongoing transformation. The global situation has made it clear that to thrive you need to be continually adapting to the changes in the world.

If you start thinking that there is a single solution to this pandemic that will see you through, you may miss vital transformation steps. It is important to consider that the steps you need to weather the immediate crisis may not be the one to get you through the next.

The best mindset to have is one that accepts the need to change and innovate fluidly. You’re not carving out a new company you’re moulding the one you have – over and over again.

Key takeaway: Don’t just make one change; look for transformational steps.

Plan For The Next Stage Of Your Transformation

Thanks to books such as Atomic Habits and Tiny Habits, lots of people are familiar with the incrementalism that has become the hallmark of many great athletes. From the British cycling team to Micheal Phelps, there are plenty of examples of how making many small changes can significantly affect your results.

We can apply the same philosophy to business. To make this strategy most effective, though you need to be thinking ahead. If you just focus entirely on your current step, you’ll get left behind. To keep the momentum of change and improvement going, you need to keep one eye on your current goal while searching and planning the next step in your journey.

Key takeaway: Instead of focusing on the big changes, look for the 1% improvements that keep the business moving forward.

Manage Your Topline Whenever an economic crisis hits CEOs will instinctively turn to cost-saving measures. Around 80% of CEOs are planning to continue pursuing operational efficiencies through 2021. This is an approach that may preserve your bottom line in the short term. However, there are limits to how many cuts you can make. There also comes the point where cuts to your costs begin to cause cuts to your revenue.

If you want to preserve your bottom line, your best option is to focus on your topline. Topline growth is, and always will be a pillar of growth. Finding new ways to push your sales will be the most crucial strategy for weathering this storm. There are plenty of tools for keeping your topline healthy. Options include pursuing new revenue streams, reinventing your marketing strategy, and innovating your product. It’s worth exploring them all.

Key takeaway: Stay in a growth mindset as much as possible.

Protect Your Working Capital

Never has it been more important to try and protect your capital. Consequently, careful spending decisions are crucial in a turbulent time. If you don’t have the runway to last your business for 6-12 months, you will be in a perilous position.

It’s clear that national lockdowns are still on the cards. Countries are opening and closing their borders daily. There is no way to predict if and how you may be hit. You cannot rule out having to shut down for an extended period.

Key takeaway: Get clear on your finances and make sure your working capital is as sustainable as possible.

Think Like An Outsider

Exceptional CEOs are more likely to be outsiders. CEOs with an external view of a company are more likely to use a broader range of strategies. They are also more likely to make bolder moves when they do implement strategic changes. The combination of boldness and willingness to change are key drivers to success.

If your goal is to thrive in 2021, you need to start thinking like an outsider. Consider your whole business dispassionately and try going back to scratch. If you could redesign your processes today, what would you do? Don’t be afraid to shake things up. It might be precisely what your company needs.

The post How CEOs Can Transform And Thrive In 2021 first appeared on Horton International.

How To Be An Effective Leader When Starting A New Job Remotely

Amy-Cutbill — Fri, 28 Jul 2023 09:56:33 +0000

Key takeaways

· Create your own induction plan

· Don’t fill the diary, leave time for reflection

· Consider your personal brand and online presence

· Communication is key for a culture of transparency

Moving into a new company as an executive can be challenging. You’re often viewed as an outsider, and you have to take some time to build up the social capital you need to be effective. However, all the techniques for doing that are rendered impossible when you’re all working remotely. You can’t just wander the halls and soak up the atmosphere of your new workplace.

To help you get up and running as quickly as possible, here are the tools that the most influential executives are using when they make a move to a company that’s working remotely.

Pre-Boarding Is The New First Step

You will probably have gone through an onboarding process at least once in your career already, so you probably know to expect that. However, with the shift to remote working pre-boarding has now become a more significant and vital step.

If you want to hit the ground running, you need to step into your new role with as much knowledge and understanding as you can. That means you need to be methodical about getting as much information as possible from your contacts with the company before your start date.

By starting remotely, you can’t rely on soaking up the context of your workplace over coffee or by wandering the halls. Getting as much information before you start is the best way to overcome this deficit.

An excellent resource to ask for at this point is access to recordings of recent key meetings. With everything now done virtually, this is something you may be able to get hold of. Watching a meeting in your new company is a quick way to get a feel for the people you’ll be working with. It’s also an ideal way to get some insight into team dynamics and learn your new company’s processes.

Leave Space In Your Calendar

When all your meetings are taking place virtually, it can be tempting to pack your calendar with back to back meetings. After all, you don’t have to worry about finding your way to the next meeting room. But, it’s a good idea to leave space between meetings intentionally. This is true all the time, but especially during your first few weeks.

The space between meetings will give you the chance to properly absorb and reflect on what you’ve heard. It’s a good time to jot down notes and thoughts, something you might not do as much in a virtual meeting.

This chance to reflect on what you’re learning has two main benefits.

Firstly it will allow you to absorb the information much more quickly. You won’t get overloaded as swiftly and need to get information repeated to you.

Secondly, it gives you space to develop your ideas. With a small amount of time to reflect, you can move past your reaction and instead develop insight and actions.

Curate Your Online Presence

There is no doubt that people will judge you based on what they can see through your camera. Take some time to make sure that what is presented reflects you as a professional. A clean background is a good option to start with. Unless you have a clear idea of what you want your personal brand to be with your new team, it can help to start with a neutral presence.

This is not to say that it’s unprofessional to have these things on view. After all, it can be quite humanising to have a peek inside your CEOs home. However, when you are new to the company, you need to make sure that you build the image that you’re happy for your new team members to see. It’s well worth taking some time to think about that first impression that you want to give.

Get To Know Your Team

It’s vital that you make an effort to get to know your team on a personal level. This means that you might need to arrange a group video call or some virtual social activity. If your company has arranged something as part of your onboarding process, then make sure that you engage with the event. These things can feel a little stilted, so you need to make an effort to break the ice.

As well as an informal group event, you will want to schedule one-to-one or small team meetings with everyone you will be managing. This gives you the chance to meet everyone properly and to put names to faces. It will also make everyone in your team feel that they have the basis of a personal bond with you.

Get To Know Your Peers and Manager

When you’re not in an office, you need to be intentional about getting to know everyone around you. It might seem obvious to meet your team, but it’s also important to make appointments to get to know those around and above you.

Without the ability to pop down the hall to pick someone’s brain, you need to make formal arrangements. When you’re new, you don’t know what you don’t know. That means you need to build opportunities to ask questions of people best placed to give you answers. Other executives at the same level as you are often the best resource for this.

It can help determine who their go-tos are, who are the cogs that keep the business running and the departments that link to yours. There may be certain specialists in the business that will be instrumental to the business but may not directly relate to your department. These people are still well worth talking to, even if they’re not immediately included in your induction.

Build A Culture Of Transparency

Remote workplaces are very different from working in an office. A lot of the cues that help you to manage your team are absent. You can’t easily notice that someone is struggling and needs to be given a boost or some support. To support your teams properly as a leader, you need them to communicate with you.

To get the kind of communication you need from your team, you also need to model transparent communication. This makes it safe for your team to confide in you. In meetings, you can share information about yourself. This doesn’t need to be a full biography, but a few strategic, seemingly off-hand comments that help build trust and rapport. With these sorts of comments, you can normalise disclosure of information about physical or emotional problems that can impact productivity.

The post How To Be An Effective Leader When Starting A New Job Remotely first appeared on Horton International.

The Most In-demand Jobs In 2021 Based On LinkedIn Data

Felix Ramirez — Fri, 28 Jul 2023 08:57:29 +0000

With its finger forever on the jobs market, LinkedIn regularly provides updates on what it considers to be the most sought after jobs of the moment. It published the latest assessment of the market in January 2021, which is a great time to take the pulse as widescale vaccinations roll out and we start looking forward to life after lockdown.

Here we cover:

· The top fifteen jobs on the rise right now

· How coronavirus pandemic has impacted the jobs market

Jobs in e-commerce, IT and artificial intelligence

Since the pandemic, e-commerce has been booming as has the requirement for associated IT and digital marketing activities. Remote working also increases the demand for advanced computing skills to keep us all in the loop and safe from malicious online attacks. Even before the pandemic, the relentless march of artificial intelligence paid dividends to both firms and individuals skilled in the art – COVID has none nothing to dampen that progress.

LinkedIn has identified several critical roles in these categories: Professionals on the Frontline of E-commerce features at number 1 of the leading 15; Digital Marketing Professionals at number 6; Digital Content Creators at number 9; User Experience Professionals at number 13; Data Science Specialists at number 14; and Artificial Intelligence Practitioners at number 15.

1 – Professionals on the Frontlines of E-commerce

Such has been the demand for frontline e-commerce skills that hiring in this sector grew by 73% over the year. LinkedIn has identified 400,000 currently open jobs in the industry, covering everything from delivery driver to personal shopper.

6 – Digital Marketing Professionals

Not only have we turned to the internet for our shopping, but it is also playing a significant role in our entertainment. Netflix and similar streaming services are growing at a pace. So is the demand for digital marketing professionals whose primary functions are finding new ways to grab and maintain our attention. Over the last year, demand for digital marketing professions of all flavours has increased by 33%.

9 – Digital Content Creators

We consume digital content at a burgeoning rate. Blogs, podcasts, YouTube videos, platforms such as TikTok all permeate our daily lives. The demand for digital content creators is now almost 50% higher than this time last year, with many lobs available for people with skills in creative and technical writing, video editing, podcasting, and public speaking.

13 – User Experience Professionals

User Experience or UX is now at the heart of all forms of digital technologies. Understanding how people interact with websites, apps, and other digital experience experiences is crucial to their commercial success. Demand for UX professionals grew by 20% over the last year.

14 – Data Science Specialists

Data dominates the world, and the world needs people who can understand and analyse data, and it needs them in abundance with 46% more jobs available in the sector than a year ago.

15 – Artificial Intelligence Practitioners

Artificial intelligence is driving all kinds of business. During the pandemic, it played a crucial role in discovering new and repurposing old drugs to treat COVID-19 infections, thus saving many lives. According to LinkedIn, jobs for artificial intelligence practitioners are up by a third and achieve some of the top salaries.

Here at Horton International Argentina, we’ve seen an increase in the number of searches in the digital world, just a few of the searches we’ve conducted recently are:

– Head of E-Commerce

– Data Governance Manager

– Head of Digital Media

– Head of Implementations

– Head of Data Science

– Head of Security

The rise of jobs in healthcare

Of course, we shouldn’t be surprised at the increasing demand for healthcare professionals. If we have learned anything from the pandemic, then it is how much we depend on these people to help keep us stay healthy in both body and mind. Healthcare and wellness roles feature in four of LinkedIn’s top categories: Healthcare Supporting Staff at number 4; Nurses at number 5; Professional and Personal Coaches at number 10; and Mental Health Specialist at number 12.

4 – Healthcare Supporting Staff

While we are all aware of the increasing demand for doctors and nurses, we might not realise the concomitant need for healthcare support staff. For every doctor and nurse who treat patients, other specialist staff keep the system running as smoothly as possible. Maintaining records, ushering patients through the system, informing patients what to expect from vaccines, and many other roles are necessary to keep the system running smoothly. Hiring for these type of positions is up by over 34% compared to 2019.

5 – Nurses

Never before have we needed nurses as much as we do today. After all, they are the heart of the healthcare system globally. We don’t just need nurses in hospitals and doctors’ surgeries; they are becoming increasingly sought after for roles in education, industry, and long-term care. And it isn’t only the pandemic that makes them even more indispensable – amongst other factors, the ageing population is also driving demand. Demand for nurses is almost 30% higher than in 2019, which is one of the reasons why we need to pay them a little more.

10 – Professional and Personal Coaches

With gyms closed in many regimens and outdoor exercise often significantly curtailed in times of lockdown, the need for personal and professional coaches to keep our bodies and minds in shape is booming. Since 2019, the demand for these roles by organisations and individuals is up over 51%.

12 – Mental Health Specialist

The pandemic and associated lockdowns continue to take a heavy toll on people’s mental health. Isolation, fear, burnout, anxiety, and depression are just a few areas where people find they need more support. Demand for jobs in this field is growing at around 24% per year and will continue to grow year on year.

The best of the rest

The other high demand jobs include Loan and Mortgage Experts at number 2; Business Development and Sales Professionals at number 4; Experts in Workplace Diversity at number 5; Educational Professionals at number 8; and Specialised Engineers at number 11.

2 – Loan and Mortgage Experts

Despite the pandemic, money continues to make the world go round. Borrowing is big business, and the demand for experts in the field is up by 59% compared to a year ago. There are also opportunities to work from home while commanding a healthy salary.

3 – Business Development and Sales Professionals

The pandemic has forced many businesses to adjust rapidly to new circumstances or fail. While many have fallen by the wayside, adaptable, agile companies are urgently seeking business development and sales professionals to help them navigate through the turbulent waters of a post-pandemic world. Job openings for the sector are up 45% over the year.

5 – Experts in Workplace Diversity

Our attitudes to diversity in the workplace have undergone a sea change over recent times, especially in terms of anti-racism, gender, disability, and sexual orientation. Businesses are looking to bring new voices into their organisations, and are urgently seeking help from those skilled in workplace diversity & inclusion. Demand for such experts has almost doubled over the last year.

8 – Educational Professionals

Education at all levels has suffered significant challenges during the pandemic. However, many educational establishments have been impressively creative in the measures they have taken to mitigate the damage to students and pupils. The need for educational professionals is over 20% higher than in 2019.

11 – Specialised Engineers

Keeping systems running during the pandemic as progressively more services move online is a considerable challenge that requires engineers of many specialisations. Jobs in web development, program management and systems engineering are up by a quarter since last year.

Finally

LinkedIn assembled this information by analysing over 15,000 job titles to uncover those that have grown the most since 2019 and assembled the job titles into the above categories. It’s excellent news on the jobs front and suggests we may anticipate a post-pandemic boom time ahead.

The post The Most In-demand Jobs In 2021 Based On LinkedIn Data first appeared on Horton International.

Leadership In A Time Of COVID: An Interview With Linde Material Handling

Amy-Cutbill — Fri, 28 Jul 2023 08:40:33 +0000

Over the last year, every business has had to adapt in ways that we could never have imagined. Organisations in the manufacturing and logistics sectors have had to keep our supply chains moving despite enormous challenges.

We spoke to Peter Pesthy, Managing Director at Linde Material Handling, Hungary, about his professional journey through COVID-19.

Linde Material Handling is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of forklift trucks and warehouse equipment and is part of The KION Group, which are the world’s second-largest manufacturer of industrial trucks and one of the leading suppliers of automation solutions for intralogistics

Peter, can you tell us a little bit about Linde and how COVID has impacted your business?

At Linde, we provide forklift trucks, automation, racking systems and related services to any industry that needs to move or store anything. COVID heavily impacted the production and manufacturing industries, and yet we needed to keep going. So, we have made a substantial number of changes here.

Linde was among the first companies in Hungary to go into lockdown. It’s been 12 months, and we have had no single infected personnel at Linde Hungary. We have had some quarantined employees, but other than that, we managed to put strategies in place to keep everyone safe and keep the business moving.

Like most companies, we had to adapt how we work and how we communicated with our employees and our customers.

Also, our leadership team soon realised that we needed to re-plan our entire budget for 2020. It was a challenge, but we adjusted our costs and made it work!

How did you pivot the company during the COVID crisis to ensure profitability?

We formed the “Linde Crisis Team.” This team decided the critical actions needed for our field workers, office workers, and internal systems. Over two weeks, we transformed the whole company into a remote and digitised working environment.

During the first few weeks, employees were bringing their desktops and monitors home with them, trying to do their jobs, as usual, thankfully we utilised mobile solutions quickly! The whole thing was a tremendous change, a new way of working, mainly because anyway we were already undergoing a substantial organisational restructuring around the time COVID came.

One of our main revenue streams is the maintenance and servicing of material handling equipment. Our customers cannot run their businesses effectively if these machines aren’t working. So, we needed to rethink how to ensure that we took care of our customers in these new circumstances. On the back of this, we strengthened our field technicians’ training sessions, making sure they are even better prepared getting things done for those who rely on us. At the same time, we also generated additional revenue sources. For example, we introduced a new service to our customers: we would sanitise forklift trucks between shifts so that the truck driver who steps into the vehicle is in a disinfected environment.

We also knew that we needed to change how we communicated with both our customers and employees immediately. For our employees, we introduced a weekly Sunday message that I created, where I covered how we ere doing as a company, our cash situation, what our order situation was, and how we were doing for instance with recruitment of new colleagues.

For our customers, we kept in regular contact on social media channels and via direct mail and picked up the phone to see how they were. We quickly made sure to let our customers know that we were still there for them and that Linde was still running.

How did you respond personally and professionally to the crisis when it started?

After the initial shock, I looked at how we could manage our response. Together with the leadership team, we needed to think, “What is it that really makes this company sustainable?” and the end of the day, as cliched as it may sound, a company is about the sum of its people, both it’s customers and employees. So we made the people our focus.

In the beginning, it was challenging to find solutions to basic things such as acquiring masks from our suppliers. Our response was survival mode initially, but after three or four months, we realised that this is business-as-usual.

With our employees, we strengthened our development programmes to provide them with comfort and confidence. For example, the commercial career path programme initially planned for late 2021; we brought it forward to keep Linde’s commercial team engaged. It was essential also to keep all motivated. We tried to keep things going digital, while elevating interaction: we introduced new e-learning courses, virtual sport challenges and team competition, named “FittLinde” programme that was highly appreciated among all employees.

We have also managed to continue our Vision 2025 programme, which we are very proud of. It is a co-creation programme where we created our long-term vision and detailed plans together with employees. So our response has been to, again, focus on our two most essential asset groups: our customers and our employees, and trying to adapt to the digital way of working.

How did you approach marketing during this time?

We re-planned our marketing activities, both event and digital marketing. We introduced a new marketing approach, which, of course, is now only digital. We changed our customer contact; we introduced live chats and live meetings – which they seem got used to and like a lot.

Thanks to this, we have increased our order intake and increased our revenues while keeping our costs low. We didn’t achieve our original budget for 2020, but the whole business has ended up growing, so it was a real success story in the end.

What was your Human Resource strategy during COVID?

We have fortunately been able to increase our headcount rather than reduce the headcount. I’m proud to say that no single person left the company between February and December, in fact we ended up expanding our workforce!

We worked with few consulting partners on our HR strategy during this time, including very closely with Horton International on two particular projects.

Firstly, our management teams received competency-based recruitment training to have the capability and the knowledge to recruit online applying competency-based selection process. We also introduced online assessment centres, led and organised by Horton International, to find specialists in certain areas or mid-managers. Horton was extremely quick at implementing this compared to other companies we have worked with within the past. I was pleased with the speed and the quality of delivery.

The other area is the commercial career path and succession planning, which is an opportunity for the team to develop their skills and make sure that we select the right people, based on competency requirements, to rise through the ranks in the company.

It’s a brand-new programme, so we are yet to see the results completely, but we have the systems in place, and Horton has helped us to build this competency-based development program for our employees, which has been very well received

What would you consider your top three leadership challenges to have been during the pandemic?

I would say adaptability, how to continue the business and concentrate on the company’s newly set main focus points, and how you adapt to the whole situation.

Secondly, agility. How to keep serving our customers, who may have different requests, and how you respond to these customer demands. We also have to consider the long-term liabilities to our financing partners while accommodating our client’s payment needs.

Number three, which is something key for a leadership team, is confidence, the confidence that we still can make a success of the year, no matter how unusual the circumstances are.

Did you draw inspiration from other leaders during COVID-19?

It was great to read outlooks from some of the big analyst companies like BCG or McKinsey. That helped us when we were re-planning our financial figures for the year. We had an original budget when we started the year, and two months later, we needed to rethink everything. Those insights helped us in the way of thinking, “What could happen? Which industry segments could grow? Which industry segments might get into trouble?”

But honestly, the biggest inspiration I received was from our customers. I encouraged the leadership team and sales team to be in touch with our customers. We wanted to keep up the connection. We ended up sharing with other companies more than ever before, asking each other things like “How do you organise your shifts?” or “What do you use for sanitising in the office?” We started sharing basic stuff initially, and then as we have been progressing with the pandemic, other different questions. It’s become much more usual to collaborate in this way. This information from our customers was the best thing we could utilise.

What do you see happening in the future as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic?

Well, at the start of this pandemic last March, I would not have believed that we could make our way through in a way that allowed us to increase our revenues beyond those of 2019, but we did it, so I think that for the future anything is possible.

Our way of working is not going to be the same as it was pre-covid—for example, the utilisation of digital tools and the home office. I will support the hybrid home office and office combination moving forward. I think this is where the whole world is going, towards digitisation and finding good flexibility between working from home and on-site.

We are not an industry-dependent service provider, so we can go wherever there is a physical material movement. This year has taught how me that business can pivot according to what is going on across various industries, which we may not have thought of before. I think it taught us a lot about how to respond to an unplanned

I would be interested to see in a year’s time what the broader impact is, because it will be felt long-term. But I am an optimist, but if this year has taught us anything at Linde, it’s that we can think our way through any crisis and find a path to success. I am so grateful to everyone who pitched in to make it happen – We will be throwing a big party for our employees when it is safe!

The post Leadership In A Time Of COVID: An Interview With Linde Material Handling first appeared on Horton International.

How Will We Work? 5 Concepts for the Post-Pandemic Future

Editorial Team — Fri, 28 Jul 2023 08:04:25 +0000

The pandemic is remoulding new work. A year ago almost to the dot, we started to transform our spaces, our time management, our relationship with technology. Editor-in-Chief Natascha Zeljko at FemaleOneZero, and experts from Horton International Germany examine the pandemic work trends that will help us move forward

1. Corporate culture will become a crucial success factor

The COVID-19 crisis has made it clear that good leadership is influenced by several key human factors: trust, social cohesion even with social distancing, compassion, respect, solidarity, understanding, personal responsibility, flexibility and tolerance. All of these ingredients make up the cement that holds us together in such challenging times.

In just a few days, these values became the theme of remote leadership. Supportive leadership was in demand. Issues of workload and time management have taken on greater significance during the crisis. The possibility of working from home has mutated from benefit to necessity overnight. Any corporate culture is characterized by the degree of flexibility and supportiveness with which it reacts to new circumstances. The strength of a culture always emerges if it can stand the test of time in a changing environment. A change in culture is always accompanied by a shift in responsibilities. In today’s world, employees have to take even greater personal responsibility, to organize themselves well and manage their energy realistically: how much can or should I expect of myself? The ambassadors of a good corporate culture are employees and managers alike.

“A stable corporate culture overcomes crises, ensures that goals are achieved and presents an attractive image to the outside world.“

Thomas Wetzel, Head of Training & Coaching – Horton International Germany

2. Digital is radical

The technology was already there, but no one was using it. Before Corona, who could have imagined holding workshops and conferences virtually? Or testing out hybrid models? The courage to try things out, to improvise, to fail sometimes and to pivot towards a new direction – that’s what’s new. This new mindset won’t leave us after Corona. And neither will the certainty that everything that can be made digital, should be made digital. Plus, everything that promotes innovation should not be put on the back shelf – despite the old urge to save a buck.

“Before the pandemic, virtual events were the exception rather than the rule. But ever since the virus took hold of everything, everyone has realized that hardly any areas are exempt from digitalization. Many entrepreneurs have mustered up the courage and the innovative spirit to venture down new paths, even accepting failure in the process. This change of heart has often arisen out of necessity, but quite honestly, we have all become aware that digital transformation also brings success and, incidentally, has conveniences for many. Therefore, all I can do is strongly advise each and every decision maker not to make a U-turn towards old patterns. Keep going and going, as my role model Oliver Kahn used to say.“

Martin Krill, Managing Partner – Horton International Germany

3. Human-Machine Interaction – a fruitful connection

In the future, the key aspect of tech will not be the technology itself, but man-machine interaction, says Professor Marion A. Weissenberger-Eibl, Head of the Department of Innovation and Technology Management at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). Technology only unfolds its full potential in its interaction with a modern organization of labour and motivated employees. Professor Wilhelm Bauer of the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering believes that “people and technology will interact much more ubiquitously and substantially change the way we work.

“Virtual and augmented reality in man-machine interaction are just now moving from the experimental phase into widespread commercial use. But this will not be the end of its development. In the coming years, we will see machines grasp and control increasingly complex situations. The consequences of this close human-machine interaction will dominate discourse in the coming years; the opportunities, such as accessibility and the expanded possibilities of human action, but also the risks, such as hacker attacks and misunderstandings in man-machine communication.“

Dr. Monika Becker, Business Unit Director Software – Horton International Germany

4. The office will be back, only different

We all know by now that the home office is one solution, but not the solution – and especially not the permanent solution. The office as a physical location will by no means disappear. On the contrary, it will even be given an upgrade and a new quality. Concretely, as the central place for meetings and close collaboration, and in its more abstract significance, as the location of each firm’s specific corporate culture. It’s literally in the air. Anyone who enters a company’s office for the first time senses it immediately – for better or for worse. What will certainly change, however, is the interplay of different working formats. People will choose the best option according to individual or situational needs: home office, in-house, co-working spaces or mobile working. Meetings at a café or walk-and-talks: why not? The term “activity-based flexible office” has already caught on in professional literature.

“The world of work has changed radically in recent months, becoming significantly more hybrid. More than ever, we have been asked to renew the old. Contrary to some people’s preconceptions, the home office has established itself as a reality. There will be no going back to old structures after the pandemic. The future of work will be more digital and more agile. At the same time, we have seen that in the end it’s always the people the company employees, who make the difference in terms of competition. The integration of modern technologies, the design of offices as social meeting places too, new organizational structures, and a stronger focus on corporate culture will become central issues of the future. They will require the right managers and the best possible team composition.“

Ulrich Pohland, Business Unit Manager – Horton International Germany

5. Spacious city centres

The pressure on business metropolises has been enormous in recent years, and prices have become astronomical. The pandemic has massively slowed down the Tokyoization of German city centres. Because look, there’s another way – a better way. Less traffic, more space in open-plan offices. Less stress, more time for exercise, because we don’t need to commute anymore. Who wants to go back to the old madness? For metropolitan suburbs and rural areas, this opens up completely new perspectives: co-working spaces are being created and we’re finally investing in better digital communication infrastructure. Being able to live and work in the countryside – if that’s not a good prospect, I don’t know what is. Over time, this will also have an impact on real estate prices for commercial or office space. That’s not good news for everyone, but it is for most people. And it’s definitely good news for start-ups and for Germany as a centre of innovation.

“Germany and the whole world are experiencing a true transformation. For some it’s a positive one, for others it’s harmful, but everyone is affected. The centre of the metropolitan areas has lost its appeal, because people now have the Internet for shopping, their own four walls to work in, and they can meet in the village for coffee. We’ll see whether this will affect office pricing in the next few years: there are still many investors and project developers who invest in inner-city commercial real estate. Therefore, any iron-tight prophecy for future development should certainly be viewed with some scepticism.“

Sahar Faraji, Business Unit Manager Construction & Real Estate at Hager Unternehmersberatung.

The post How Will We Work? 5 Concepts for the Post-Pandemic Future first appeared on Horton International.

What’s The Most Critical Personality Factor Of A Transformational Leader?

Amy-Cutbill — Thu, 27 Jul 2023 09:51:21 +0000

Being a good leader is about so much more than getting work done and hitting targets.

In order to achieve impressive results and succeed in business, leaders need to think past their own self-interest and work with their teams to push forward change – this is known as transformational leadership.

What makes a transformational leader?

In a recent poll, I asked a range of business professionals about their ideas on transformational MDs and CEOs.

They were asked what the most critical personality factors are in a transformational leader, and you might be interested to see the results:

● 51% said that having the guts and ability to drive change was most important

● 22% said that the ability to think big and long term was most important

If a leader has these two important skills, it’s a true sign that they have what it takes to be a transformational leader and will be able to move the company forward in the right direction – towards growth.

A great example of these skills in action is Louis Gerstner who moved from Mckinsey to American Express (AmEx) to RJR Nabisco and finally IBM.

Using his skills to think big, and having the guts and power to make changes, he was able to transform each of the companies he worked at. It’s a great example of how ‘out of the box thinking’ can be applied again and again with truly impressive results.

The sector you’re in doesn’t matter either, as Gerstner proved. He moved from consultancy, financial services, FMCG to technology, but the principles of being a transformational leader were the same.

Remember ‘elephants can dance’

After his success, Louis Gerstner wrote a book titled “Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance” where he outlined the principles and philosophies that he developed through his successful career.

Some of his most important points, that can be applied to anyone wanting to be a transformational leader, include:

● Manage through principles, not procedures;

● Look to the market to dictate what your business needs to do;

● Focus on quality, competitive strategies, and teamwork;

● Get yourself involved in setting the strategies, but let your team be in charge of implementing them;

● It’s always better to be quick and make mistakes than be slow;

● Hierarchy isn’t important, the priority should be to collaborate and solve problems as a team;

● You don’t have to be an expert in everything. Learn what you need to understand, but don’t concern yourself with being an expert

When you think about the leaders, MDs and CEOs that you find inspirational, chances are that they exemplify the majority of the points listed above.

These traits, as well as out of the box thinking are the perfect combination for an incredible manager.

The post What’s The Most Critical Personality Factor Of A Transformational Leader? first appeared on Horton International.

What Does The Future Of Payments Mean When Hiring Experts?

Amy-Cutbill — Thu, 27 Jul 2023 09:42:19 +0000

Like other industries, the payment sector was hit during the 2020 pandemic, with revenue declining by 5%. However, what happened in this period was a chance to reflect on the current state of payments and an opportunity to plan what the sector needs for the future. This time provided clarity to reflect on the trends such as declining cash usage, in-store to online payments and increasing use of instant payment.

Now, with a recovering global economy, the future looks bright for the payments sector, and a growth of 6-7% per year looks likely, with many predicting this industry will reach $2.5 trillion in 2025.

With the sector set to grow, there is an increasing demand for talent that can help to drive said growth. As many businesses are now struggling to find new hires to meet their needs in payment and IT security sectors, we’re looking at what skills businesses really need so they can adapt to the future of payments.

Beyond The Point Of Sale

In the past, payments were a discrete, standalone process. Now, with the Internet of Things, networking and other factors, payments have become a thriving ecosystem that now encompasses the end-to-end process taking into account all of the services, platforms and systems that play a part in the commerce journey.

What Does The Future Of Payments Look Like?

When considering the talent needs for payment industries, it is important to consider the emerging trends in the sector:

Real-Time Payments

In 2020, real-time payments grew by 41%. A trend that is set to continue as they play an increasingly important role in the global commerce ecosystem. However, as real-time payments increase, there is a greater risk of payment fraud. In 2020, 13.7% of fraud incidences were real-time payment scams, while digital wallet hacks accounted for 6.2% of payment fraud.

With this, IT security requirements will need to increase to help payments stay safe online. This is an in-demand skill for many financial organisations. For example, a search of vacancies at Deutsche Bank lists over 2,000 looking for IT security while JPMC lists around 4,000 roles requiring IT security.

Merchant Focus

Another area of growth in the payment sector is the accessibility of payment options for merchants. Increasing the payment options for merchants enables smaller businesses to reach a wider base of customers. It also helps businesses to grow globally too.

It is this support to SMEs and small businesses that many financial organisations are looking to build, especially with a growing number of SMEs creating a lucrative audience.

Some brands are already working hard to improve payment systems for merchants. For example, Mastercard in India has created a solution known as Soft POS, which allows a smartphone to work as a payment acceptance device.

With new approaches such as virtual shops and solutions that can receive, record and store transactions, organisations will need talent that can help to facilitate these projects and keep delivering creative offerings that help small businesses to grow.

Digital Identity Payments

Through the pandemic, another sector of growth in the payments industry was with digital identity payments. This was important to governments to distribute welfare with ease as well as organisations that deliver social payments based on individual identity.

It is expected the sector will continue to grow to help with expanding ecommerce volumes and rapid, large-scale payments. With digital identity payments, McKinsey believes it is possible to unlock further economic growth of between 3-13% of GDP by 2030.

While there is potential in this sector, there are concerns about the authentication of payments and limits to the levels of security. While there has been an increase in authentication technology, aspects such as two-factor authentication do create more friction points for the customer. Going forward, organisations will need to look at solutions that create an enjoyable payment experience that doesn’t compromise security.

Cross Border Payments

Another area of growth during the pandemic was the rise of cross border payments which grew by 17%. So much so that a 6% revenue growth is predicted for the next five years in this sector. As well as revenue growth, the volume of cross-border payments has grown. For example, SWIFT reported a 10% increase in volume in December 2020 compared to the previous year.

However, with the increase of cross-border payments, there is a demand to get them as up to speed as domestic payments in terms of cost, accessibility, transparency and speed. For this, global projects and enhanced technology will be required to create a universal approach.

Finding The Experts To Enhance The Future Of Payments

With so many challenges and growth opportunities ahead for payments, sourcing the right talent is essential but complex with a diminishing tech talent pool. However, this is where Horton International come into play: we specialise in finding the “needle in the haystack”, the perfect fit for open vacancies.

As industry experts, we know where the future of banking is headed and can source the ideal candidate for any expert level position, from compliance experts in traditional banks to the CTO of a leading FinTech organisation. If you want to find out more about how Horton International can support your organisation and find the talents that will play a vital role in the payment ecosystem, please reach out to our team.

The post What Does The Future Of Payments Mean When Hiring Experts? first appeared on Horton International.

How To Attract Top Tech Talent

Amy-Cutbill — Wed, 26 Jul 2023 11:33:29 +0000

Key insights

Transparency and feeling valued are essential for tech staff
Jobseekers assess your existing tech scene
Coach-style leadership can be vital for younger tech talent
Technology is a critical part of almost every business and having the right talent on board to manage this technology is essential. Years ago, it was only the tech companies who were on the lookout for candidates for software and technology roles.

Today, hundreds of industries require tech talent, and the competition to find it is fiercer than ever. In 2019, over 40% of all software developer and engineer hires were employed by non-tech companies.

Sourcing candidates who have the skills and experience in the technology you need is a challenging task. Global tech companies are hiring top talent at extremely high rates, leaving the smaller businesses with less qualified and experienced candidates.

Start-ups and those working in non-tech organisations are those struggling the most to attract the top tech talent. If your business is finding it challenging to source the right candidates for tech roles, read on for our tips on how to attract the top technology talent.

Commit To Diversity And Inclusion

Having a solid diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) strategy in place can positively impact your business performance and help attract talented candidates. Many job seekers are considering DEI in their decision-making process for new roles, and if you do not have a strategy in place, you could be missing out.

A recent study revealed that 48% of employed adults would consider moving to another company if they had a built-out DEI strategy in place. When you are looking to attract the top tech talent, you need to make sure you’re not ignoring nearly half of the talent pool.

One way to help improve your DEI is to open up your recruitment beyond your typical sources. Instead of only relying on credentials and past experience when recruiting tech talent, look at testing capabilities and skills objectively.

Not only will this increase your talent pool, but it can help improve diversity in your company. Look for candidates with coding boot camp certificates or coding work samples online, regardless of whether or not they have higher educations from a top university. This can help you open opportunities to more underrepresented candidates and widen your funnel when recruiting tech talent.

Encourage Accountability And Transparency Among Management

Many major tech companies have increased their focus on ensuring management teams are engaging directly with employees and involved with the business on a day to day basis.

Employees want to work for an organisation that ensures managers are accountable, transparent, and decisive. A great example of this is business collaboration software Slack, who set up an internal ‘ask me anything’ chat channel, where employees have the chance to ask the executive team anything they want. Executives then respond openly and honestly to all employees.

The very best tech talent is always going to prefer companies that make them feel like their hard work is valued and making a real difference. When team members feel that management teams are unaccountable and intransigent, they are less likely to stay for the long term.

Making these values and processes clear to prospective employees will help you to attract the best in tech talent.

Develop A Coaching And Development Culture

Attracting top talent isn’t just about getting new recruits in the door, but it is about developing a culture they want to stay in and thrive in. Providing high-quality training and development to your staff is an excellent way to attract talent as well as retain existing team members.

Gen Z and Millennial workers in particular value this kind of culture in an employer and will be more inclined to join a team where coaching is present. Developing a learning culture can also help you to grow your talented employees. Particularly those with all the right capabilities but just lacking in experience.

Share Your Initiatives In The Tech Scene

It is all well and good having a DEI strategy, focusing on development, and encouraging transparent management, but none of these things will help you attract talent if you don’t tell them about it.

A study by Slack revealed that developers often learn about new potential employers through their content and media. When tech whizzes are job hunting, they are looking at your blogs, videos, and social channels to get an idea of your organisation.

Collaborating with your marketing department to share all the great initiatives your business has in place for employees is a great way to attract talent. Focus on producing content that showcases your company culture, your training initiatives and anything else which adds value to prospective employees.

Other ways to reach top talent is to take part in events and conferences in the tech scene or even use paid advertising to reach the right people.

Introduce Valuable Benefits For Employees

Tech candidates who are good at what they do have so much choice over the company they work for. Software developers and engineers with the right training and experience can afford to be picky over their employers, and your business needs to give them a reason to choose you.

Major tech companies like Google, Facebook and Twitter offer impressive benefits such as free haircuts, massages, and acupuncture to all team members.

It is unlikely that small brands will have the budget to compete with these impressive benefits, but you need to be offering something to encourage tech talent to your door. Consider benefits such as extra time off, remote working options, free food and snacks, discounts at local gyms, or anything else that comes to mind. Whatever you are offering, it needs to add value to your employees’ lives.

Attracting top tech talent isn’t something that happens overnight, and it will take time and effort to develop a culture that jobseekers are excited about.

Dedicating yourself to creating a workplace that tech professionals want to be a part of will undoubtedly pay off in the long run. You can soon expect to have a high-calibre and diverse workforce behind you, helping your business succeed.

Horton International’s Digitization and IT sector offers the chance for our clients to get ahead of the curve. Our global reach and the close cooperation between our offices means we can seek out the talent that helps businesses thrive and advance ahead of the rate of change.

At Horton International, we have been dealing with this industry since the very beginning and have a deep understanding of the goals and requirements for our clients.

Our expertise and experience allow us to identify talents who not only follow the technological changes but inspire and mould the digital transformation.

The post How To Attract Top Tech Talent first appeared on Horton International.

Asia Pacific Regional Review Q3 2021

Amy-Cutbill — Fri, 30 Jul 2021 10:08:57 +0000

We’re delighted to share our 2021 Asia Pacific review. As we did last year, each office has written about the current business climate, notable events and some predictions for the future. We haven’t dwelt on covid – sadly, we all know about that very well. Instead, you will read some personal statements about life in each country, mixed in with some on-the-ground economic and business assessments.

If you wish to know more about any country, please contact the relevant office directly. Or, if you prefer, come back to me and I will be happy to help in any way.

The report is available to download here.

The post Asia Pacific Regional Review Q3 2021 first appeared on Horton International.