Hot Off the Press: Top 5 People Challenges Right Now
Angelique Rewers
Media Commentator | #Inc5000 CEO | Keynote Speaker | Founder, Premier Global Community of Experts Winning Corporate Clients | Business Consultant
Last week, I spoke at ATD23, where more than 9,000 corporate people leaders and related experts gathered in San Diego.
At our BoldHaus booth, we had the chance to speak to hundreds of these leaders one on one, including heads of HR, learning and development, talent development, recruiting, internal coaching, sales training, and more.
We asked them point blank:
What’s your biggest people challenge right this minute?
Here are the top 5 challenges they shared:
Challenge #1: Insanely Fast Growth.
Not only was this the most frequently cited challenge that we heard — it was, frankly, the one that surprised us the most.
Again and again, people leaders told us they've added dozens, hundreds, or in some cases thousands, of new employees in the last 3 months... 6 months... 12 months. Their companies are growing so rapidly they can barely keep up with the hiring demands. This has meant more onboarding, more training, more culture assimilation, more talent development, more of everything.
Challenge #2: Focus & Productivity.
Political news. Economic news. Supply chain disruptions. Mergers. Acquisitions. Failed mergers. Failed acquisitions. AI. Internal reorganizations. New IT roll outs. CXO-level leadership changes.
These are just a few of the headwinds the people leaders who we spoke with are facing inside their organizations. Leading them to say that keeping their people focused on their work, engaged, and productively moving forward on key initiatives — despite these distractions — was their biggest struggle right now.
Challenge #3: Figuring Out Their Biggest Challenge.
We loved the honesty here. Time and again the response was: "I have no idea. We don't know. That's our biggest problem."
Through our follow-up questions what came to light was a sense of paralysis by overwhelm. There's simply too much of everything. Too much information. Too many demands on people's time. Too many distractions. Too many ideas. Too many moving parts. Too much digital disruption. Too much of everything.
Recommended by LinkedIn
Challenge #4: Preparing for the Future of Work.
The only surprise here is we would have expected to hear this as the No. 1 challenge. But that in itself is rather insightful: despite knowing this issue is bearing down on organizations at lightning speed, people leaders are too busy putting out urgent fires. In other words the tyranny of the urgent is crowding out the foresight of the important.
Challenge #5: Turnover and Retention.
This continues to be a challenge for organizations, although less so than even a year ago. Still, the people leaders who cited this as their biggest challenge felt strongly that the risk factors and financial costs related to turnover, particularly in what continues to be a tight labor market, warrants this issue staying on the front burner for now.
Sad, But Not Surprising.
It would be remiss not to mention there were a small handful of people leaders who we spoke with who lamented that their senior executives still haven't fully "bought into" the importance of a people strategy and the urgent need for leadership development. For these folks, continuing to build the business case is the most important and urgent challenge.
What are you most surprised about on this list? Was there something you would have expected — or perhaps would have hoped — to see?
Want more BoldHaus insights?
Mentor | Founder | Close the Skills Gap 3x Faster at Half the Cost with AI-assisted Human Coaching | Microsoft #Buildfor2030 Hackathon Winner | Microsoft Partner
1y#3 is exactly why external service providers are needed! The pea cannot see how it’s part of the pea soup! What clear insights. 🎯
Middle managers are among the most valuable leaders in a company. I help middle managers be more respected and tapped for growth and advancement.
1yAngelique Rewers, you asked the most straightforward question possible and put your audience at ease - the best part is that all of it - frank and matter-of-fact -is an admission change is imminent. So what surprised me is the responses were mostly at the 10,000-foot level. What is missing is a call to action to elevate the individual and tap into what needs to be done for/with people to prepare them to handle future challenges. Challenge 4 came close, though still at a high level. Your audience identified 5 real challenges, so the next step is to look inward and focus on ensuring their people are mentally equipped to handle the needed transformation. Thank you for sharing your conference insights.
★ Brain Tumor Survivor ★ Professional Speaker ★ Advocate for women leaders to SPEAK UP, articulate their value and claim their seat at the table! ★ Employee Engagement & Leadership Strategist #IamRemarkable facilitator
1yGreat insights as usual, Angelique! The one I’m not surprised about (but love tackling) is number three. If I told you how many large companies and their executive teams thanked us for helping them stop trying to “boil the ocean.” They valued things like helping to unpack all of the many big ideas and conflicting strategies in their heads. There’s sometimes not a lack of genius, but more a lack of filter, and they need outside perspective to almost slow down a bit, get their heads clear and focused… Then they can take best advantage of the team they already have, or have folks like our seasoned team come in and complement, supplement and pull through programs.
Helping high-growth companies translate innovation into predictable cash flow | Corporate Innovation Expert Leadership | Advisor
1yI find it most surprising that number 5 wasn't higher on the list because the right awareness and strategy there could facilitate solutions for the other 4.
Leverage, Monetize & Impact… on Purpose | Closing the access gap & redefining success @InterCultural Voices • 100 Women to KNOW in America • INTL Hall of Fame • ForbesBLK •🔺
1yThe most pleasantly surprised answer was Challenge #3: "I have no idea. We don't know." Like you Angelique Rewers, I sincerely appreciate the honesty because many companies spin wheels and burn money trying to fix the wrong problem. I just had a private conversation this morning with the CEO of a top 10 company who brought me in as the leadership consultant for their c-suite. Food for Thought. In the end, every challenge they faced boiled down to seeing the truth, speaking the truth, and embracing the truth. Without that...all challenges turn into kryptonite. Thank you for sharing.