New jobs for a new corporate age

How we need to think anew about engaging our mistrustful employees is one thing, getting a handle on what these people will be doing in terms of jobs is quite another.

There is a lot of evidence out there right now that points to some type of revolution in how our organisations will function in the future and how they will be staffed. Most of this is not predicated on it being a ˜nice thing to do', but on the simple fact that our highly complex, technologically advanced and global businesses will demand it. While I don't predict the wholesale removal of marketing, finance, HR and other long- term job functions, we do see major change on the horizon, driven by necessity not fashion.

Business has changed so much in recent times that there are new imperatives driving our firms. These imperatives demand that we create new positions of responsibility and authority that have not existed before. Although not sure what their titles will be or just how wide their responsibilities, it is certain that we are on the verge of a new organisational structure that will require totally new jobs to achieve its goals. Indeed, what it most looks like is that job titles are going to be a wide, eclectic mix dependent on corporate culture, industry and the relative importance of the role.

Here are some of the new jobs that the twenty-first century business is going to need, and why we will need them. ^[2]

Corporate integrationists

These professionals are already a hot-ticket item for many corporations. Why? Well there are not many truly professional, skilled integrationists around and they are in very short supply. Why do companies need them? Following the acquisition craze of the 1990s many businesses never entirely got to grips with their new prizes. In case after case, they never actually got around to fully integrating the companies they had bought into one homogeneous whole. Now, they have an urgent need to make cost savings and ˜manage the hell' out of their total operation. In doing this the skills of a corporate integrationist are paramount. They are able to look across management disciplines to see how the overall business could look by massaging all the parts in the right way. While a lot of this is based on getting the right sort of people equations in place and knocking down the silos of stand-alone corporate inefficiency, it is also about helping others in the business leverage savings and opportunities (eg better logistics, brand development, R&D sharing, bulk purchasing and so on). Whether they are called corporate integrationists or not, senior managers with these skills are deeply involved in redrawing the future of a host of corporations around the globe. Expect them to stay premium priced and in ever shorter supply. And a final word. If you find them, have a plan to retain them. These are the type of skills that are in such short supply that they are highly prized targets for almost any company and they are easily industry transferable.

Great salespeople

You could argue that great salespeople are always at a premium. But today this is different. Mostly because of the complexity of today's business operations, industry now needs a much smarter individual to lead the sales effort. Contracts are more complex - and often involve the bundling of several firms' services into one offer - last longer and often involve a board-level decision. To make these major sales, companies need highly sophisticated salespeople who not only understand the products or services and how they can integrate with others to make a compelling opportunity, but the ability to sell that concept at board level. These people have to be able to negotiate with senior management, but also have well honed people skills to lead and enthuse diverse teams of specialists. Already there is evidence that these people are in short supply.

Logistic gurus

There is no doubt that logistics (and that includes purchasing) is going to have a long- lasting influence on our businesses. Highly experienced logistics professionals are already in great demand, even to the extent of regularly crossing industry boundaries. The simple reason for their popularity is that they can make the difference between profit and loss throughout a business. Logistics in one form or another, is going to be one of the key drivers of the next economic cycle. Whether it is organising global purchasing opportunities, or delivering just-in-time solutions for manufacturing or customers, the logistics professional will become a major part of any corporation that makes, moves and markets stuff. And as manufacturing gets moved away to second- and third- tier suppliers, their role will become ever more important. Equally, in professional service firms, the logistics role is critical. One company calls its senior logistics professional the ˜ beach -master', echoing the role of the logistics chief in the D-Day landings who made sure that the front line forces were constantly supplied with what they needed to do the job.

Within the logistics boundary are other key players. Number one is the outsourcer. Outsourcing has now become one of the main tasks of industries that used to manufacture everything themselves . But as we know, outsourcing now covers everything from security and office cleaning, to manufacture, distribution, marketing, HR and after-sales service. Many managers believe that you can outsource anything if the price is right. There is little doubt that outsourcing is getting more and more prevalent . Not only that, it is finally being recognised as a job function in its own right. If you consider that up until recently, outsourcing has been done by managers in different departments with no links to one another (HR outsources pensions and salary administration; manufacturing outsources whole lines of products; IT outsources the entire management information system), then you can visualise what would happen if your Chief Outsourcing executive began to put a lot of this together. Outsourcing professionals are going to be key. They may carry a logistics title, they may even be those integrationists referred to above, but, whatever the job title, they will begin to revolutionise how we operate our businesses.

Multi-tasking general managers

The first thing to say about these people is that they are not a new talent discovery at all, they have always been there. It is just that no one has looked very closely at them for some time. Now they are back in fashion. Why? Consider this. You are opening an operation in China. What do you do, send a newly minted MBA? Of course not. What you need is a seasoned management professional who knows enough about your business, your products, people, finance and manufacturing to get the job done: the sort of person who hits the ground running and just keeps on running without calling head office all the time. Well, the good news is that they are still out there. The bad news is that a lot of them are needed as we expand our businesses so they are also going to be in short supply. Part of the reason for the shortage - as I explained earlier in the book - is that by the end of the 1990s we had a total fixation with narrower and narrower areas of specialisation. It was the era of the niche player. Unfortunately, we failed to give these niche players much in the way of general management, across-the-organisation skills. Now we are reaping what we so mistakenly sowed. If it wasn't so tragic, it would be rather amusing to realise that all this coaching and mentoring - sold to employees as a ˜we really care about your development' story, is a belated attempt to pack some people skills into narrow, niche expertise, managers.

Senior-level people developers

Coaching and mentoring may be popular right now (for whatever reasons), but I am not referring to those. I am talking about the ravenous need by corporations to make their best people better. Take your top 10 per cent and make them 10 per cent more productive and you have a winning concept on your hands; at least that is the prevailing view of the majority. Several senior managers I discussed this with explained, ˜It doesn't matter about the other 90 per cent, they'll do their jobs one way or another, but if we can get that top 10 per cent of our people doing 5, 10 or 20 per cent better, then we are breaking through all sorts of barriers and boundaries.' To do that corporations are going to need a whole new breed of development specialists who under- stand how to make the already exceptional even more so. Companies are already bringing these people on board (some firms use outside help, others claim that the confidentiality aspects preclude that) and they are tasked with one simple goal: ˜Get the people we have identified as tomorrow's key players into the best shape you can.' Look for this ˜crusade-to-be-better' to continue. And one final comment. Good coaches are very hard to find. If you find one, or two or three, do ˜off limits' or ˜exclusive' deals and tie them down.

Security hotshots

Post 9/11, corporations the world over went hunting for talent that could ring-fence their business. Now they have wised up a little and stopped pounding the panic button. That means that they have taken a measured, sober look at their needs, equating the search for the right talent to where they operate ( geographically ) and how their organisation functions. With that settled, most companies have concluded that they don't need Rambo-style lookalikes who can physically defend them. The real threat comes much more from computer- related crimes, most of which (due to deep corporate embarrassment) never get reported . However, all the organisations we have talked to have in one way or another accepted that an external hacker (even those just bent on simple-minded mischief) could seriously damage their operations. So security takes on a bigger role in these new business models as well.

Talent managers

Talent managers (or whatever you choose to call them in your business) are going to feature large in the business world of tomorrow, for the simple reason that we will not be able to sate our appetite for good people. Smart corporations have already done their homework, done their audits and know two things: (1) who they want to keep whatever the cost; (2) who they want to buy when they become available or go job hunting. We will all need talent managers in one form or another, be they former HR professionals or totally new recruits into the business world. Expect the best to be - as usual - in short supply.

Communication professionals

Communications, both internal and external, are set to take on a bigger and more overt role in all of our businesses. To make that happen we are going to have to find, train and develop a whole new set of professional skills (because there aren't many around right now), to lead revamped , and hopefully refunded, communication structures. Expect to see this as a new, exciting career path (that can well include responsibilities for shareholder relations and corporate social responsibility). Right now - like talent managers - there are not many of these professionals around, but expect the ranks to grow as firms rush to be more transparent and more accountable, motivated by the view that it's just good for business to do it that way. Chapter 6 explains further the role of the communication professional in the business of tomorrow.

There may well be other ˜new jobs' in the business world of tomorrow. A case, for example, could certainly be met for a revised HR manager , one who will willingly lock horns with the CEO, and also gets his respect and full attention when people issues arise. The role of HR in developing employee respect and commitment is detailed in Chapter 7 later in the book, so the only thing to say here is that HR professionals are already taking on a different profile in many companies, and that certainly looks set to continue.

^[2] This listing has been updated and adapted from the original research published in JOHNSON, MIKE (2003) Creating Dynamic Organisations: Human Capital Issues and Options for Tomorrow's Business . Financial Times/Prentice Hall.