Imagine a company that has doubled its growth over three years, but is suddenly struggling to move the needle. What could have happened? The obvious guess would be to blame it on the talent pool — a scarcity in the required skills of the employees.
While a dearth in talent may have been an obstacle in the past for a firm's growth, it is no longer seen as such. Only 5 % of senior leaders say a lack of the right capabilities or talent is the biggest drag on delivering their business priorities, according to a survey released by Biz Staffing Comrade Pvt Ltd.
The primary drag, as agreed upon by 59% of the leaders surveyed, is instability in the context of priorities and business requirements. A close second is lag in processes, systems or ways of working. Slow decision making by management does not even find a place on the map.
"The data challenges the widely held belief that talent scarcity is what holds organisations back. When strategy keeps moving and the systems behind it lag, even strong teams struggle to deliver," the survey said.
However, the people power is perceived to be trailing when compared to technology as 50% of the leaders said that the change-management effort is what organisations most often underestimate when investing in technology, AI or transformation.
Simply put, more than nine in ten leaders believe transformation falters on the people side, not the technology.
"Companies are budgeting carefully for technology but treating adoption as an afterthought. When half of all leaders say change management is the most underestimated part of transformation, the message is clear: the return on AI will depend on how well roles, skills and ways of working are redesigned around it," said Puneet Arora, Managing Partner, Biz Staffing Comrade.
If the same organisation had to get its 2X pace for growth back, the biggest drag in its stride would be the operating model, processes and systems, according to 41% of the leaders surveyed, closely followed by culture, alignment and decision-making.
Of all possible constraints, critical talent and leadership capacity ranked far lower, with only 14% and 9% of the surveyed population seeing them as hurdles to growth.
"Resilience will depend less on how quickly organisations hire and more on how well they align strategy, operating models and people. The organisations best placed to grow will be those that modernise how work gets done before scaling headcount, and that give change management the same priority as technology investment," the survey outlined.
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