Lack of talent tops list of limits to strategic growth success

Companies face a variety of barriers to the success of their strategic growth plans, among them being uncertain about how to grow the value of their business, not understanding how to create customer value and ill-prepared for supply chain disruption. When attendees at a recent Baker Tilly webinar on strategic growth planning were asked what their biggest barrier was in implementing a strategic growth plan, however, 46% replied a lack of the right talent.

As part of the webinar, Prof. Mark Frigo of DePaul University outlined his “Return Driven Strategy,” designed to help businesses manage their present business and create future business, meaning their growth, innovation, opportunities and strategy. “In today's environment, the critical success factor for companies is to confront the brutal facts in terms of where the company is currently, where it stands, taking a fresh look at the strategy of the company and how it creates value,” Frigo said.

Key talent questions

Asking and answering key questions is important and when it comes to talent, these should include:

• How has the pandemic impacted employee engagement?
• How do the employees feel about returning to work?
• How has remote working affected productivity, employee satisfaction and turnover?
• Does the organization have a recruiting plan to identify potential new employees through the recovery?

Jeff Vrabel, partner and growth leader in Baker Tilly’s manufacturing and distribution practice, noted that Baker Tilly’s executive search consultants are seeing serious talent gaps across senior leadership executives. This is in part due to the impact of COVID-19; as executives rethink their careers, they are more open to the idea of moving up their retirements. Vrabel suggested implementation of business succession plans could soon be at a high level.

Companies had to quickly implement technology improvements to support the shift to remote work over the last year, and it yielded unexpected benefits. Vrabel said, “One surprising outcome is that with most business travel at a standstill and meetings shifting to online only, it has facilitated the ability to more effectively and efficiently have more decision makers together to be involved remotely when negotiating contracts, deals and other items.”