The Gartner Talent Angle

Employers and employees are putting in tremendous effort in trying to make work better. There are now more ways for employees to connect with each other, more opportunities to learn at work and more tools to help work get done than ever before. However, neither employers nor employees are seeing the expected increases in results such as productivity.   Jessie Knight, vice president of research in the Gartner HR practice, joins the Talent Angle to discuss how organizations can shift their thinking on how people, skills and tools can work together for the betterment of everyone.   Jessie Knight is a vice president of research in the Gartner HR practice. She leads research teams to identify best practices and new opportunities to address HR executives’ most urgent challenges. Her areas of focus include employee experience, organizational culture, change management and the future of work.   Peter Aykens is the chief of research for Gartner’s HR practice. Peter is responsible for building and leading research teams within the practice to address clients’ key initiatives. Before his current role, he spent over 25 years at Gartner leading research teams focused on banking and financial services strategy, producing numerous studies that addressed business strategy, channels, marketing, customer experience and product challenges. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from St. Olaf College, a master’s degree in international politics from Aberystwyth University (formerly known as the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth) and a master’s degree and a doctorate in political science from Brown University.

After working from home gained widespread adoption out of necessity, organizations must now optimize their remote work strategies for the long term. Stanford Professor Nicholas Bloom joins the Talent Angle to explain the implications of return-to-office mandates for organizations and their workforce. Drawing upon data on employee sentiment, workforce productivity and organizational performance, Bloom shares how organizations can set the right strategy for their context. He argues that, in many cases, remote work enables enough profitability to outweigh leaders’ concerns about productivity, and shares how to approach collaboration in a hybrid world.   Nicholas Bloom is the William Eberle Professor of Economics at Stanford University. Nick’s research focuses on working from home, management practices and uncertainty. He previously worked at the U.K. Treasury, McKinsey & Company and the IFS. He has a BA from Cambridge, an MPhil from Oxford, and a PhD from University College London. Nick is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the recipient of the Guggenheim and Sloan Fellowships, the Frisch Medal and a National Science Foundation Career Award. He was elected to Bloomberg50 for his advice on working from home.   Caroline Walsh is a vice president in Gartner’s HR practice.Her teams help HR leaders build and execute talent, diversity, rewards, and learning strategies and programs. Caroline has also led Gartner research teams on commercial banking strategy and leadership. She holds a bachelor’s degree in East Asian studies from Columbia University, and a master’s degree in public affairs from Princeton University.

Increased automation and use of tools like robotics and generative AI have fundamentally changed the expert-novice relationships that organizations and knowledge transfer are built on. Professor and author Matt Beane joins the Talent Angle to share his insights on how learning and development (L&D) leaders can play a strategic role in unlocking human ability in the age of intelligent machines. Drawing upon examples across industries and eras, Matt explains why challenge, complexity and connection are key drivers for effective learning in today’s working environment.   Matt Beane is an assistant professor in the technology management program at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Matt does field research on work involving robots and AI to uncover systematic positive exceptions that we use across the broader world of work. He received his Ph.D. from the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the information technologies department. Matt also took a two-year hiatus from his doctoral studies to help found and fund Humatics, an MIT-connected, full-stack IoT startup.   Peter Aykens is the chief of research for Gartner’s HR practice. Aykens is responsible for building and leading research teams within the practice to address clients’ key initiatives. Before his current role, he spent over 25 years at Gartner leading research teams focused on banking and financial services strategy, producing numerous studies that addressed business strategy, channels, marketing, customer experience and product challenges. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from St. Olaf College, a master’s degree in international politics from Aberystwyth University (formerly known as the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth), and a master’s degree and a doctorate in political science from Brown University.

Author Tiffani Bova argues organizations don’t see the strong connection between customer experience and employee experience. Despite continued investments in the customer experience, organizations tend to overlook how those changes affect how employees get work done. Tiffani lays out the components of her experience model — people, process, technology and culture — for addressing employee experience challenges and growing the business. She also shares advice for how HR leaders should make the business case for employee experience to other leaders and how organizations can hold themselves accountable through metrics.   Tiffani is the former global growth evangelist at Salesforce and author of the Wall Street Journal bestselling book, “The Experience Mindset: Changing the Way You Think About Growth.” Her previous book “Growth IQ” was also a WSJ bestseller. Prior to working with Salesforce, she was a sales, marketing and customer service executive for startups and Fortune 500 companies. Tiffani is also a former Gartner distinguished analyst and research fellow.   Caroline is a managing vice president in Gartner’s HR practice. Her teams help HR leaders build and execute talent, diversity, rewards, and learning strategies and programs. Caroline has also led Gartner research teams on commercial banking strategy and leadership. She holds a bachelor’s degree in East Asian studies from Columbia University, and a master’s degree in public affairs from Princeton University.

Organizations often unknowingly send mixed signals to their employees. For example, they might encourage innovation but punish failure. Uri Gneezy, Ph.D., joins the Talent Angle to explain how organizations can structure incentives to unlock employees’ full potential. He explains how HR leaders can use incentives to nurture intrinsic motivation in employees and create habits in the workforce that support organizational performance.

Uri Gneezy, Ph.D., is the Epstein/Atkinson Endowed Chair in Behavioral Economics and professor of economics and strategy at the Rady School of Management at the University of California, San Diego. Before joining the Rady School, Gneezy was a faculty member at the University of Chicago, Technion and Haifa. Gneezy received his Ph.D. from the Center for Economic Research in Tilburg. Gneezy was born and raised in Israel, where he learned applied game theory firsthand in the streets of Tel Aviv.

Jessica Knight is a vice president of research in the Gartner HR practice. She leads research teams to identify best practices and new opportunities to address HR executives’ most urgent challenges. Her areas of focus include employee experience, organizational culture, change management and the future of work.

Author and professor Mauro Guillén joins the Talent Angle to explain how generational labels, such as “baby boomers” or “millennials,” can be counterproductive in the workplace. Guillén offers an alternative vision of a postgenerational society and advocates for a workplace in which individuals are not confined by their age. He urges HR leaders to instill a “perennial” mindset in their organizations to foster intergenerational collaboration and engage diverse talent pools.   Mauro F. Guillén is one of the most original thinkers at the Wharton School, where he is a professor of management and vice dean for the MBA for Executives Program. He combines his training as a sociologist at Yale and as a business economist in his native Spain to methodically identify and quantify the most promising opportunities at the intersection of demographic, economic and technological developments. He has received Fulbright and Guggenheim fellowships, was honored with the Aspen Institute’s Faculty Pioneer Award, and was elected to the Macro Organizational Behavior Society and the Sociological Research Association.   Peter Aykens is chief of research in Gartner’s human resources practice. He is responsible for defining research coverage within the practice and building and leading research teams that address clients’ key initiatives. In prior roles at the firm, he spent over 25 years leading research teams focused on banking and financial services strategy, producing numerous studies that addressed business strategy, channels, marketing, customer experience and product issues in financial services. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from St. Olaf College; a master’s degree in international politics from the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth (now known as Aberystwyth University); and a master’s degree and a doctorate in political science from Brown University.

In recent years, organizations have started to experiment with skills-based hiring by dropping degree requirements and other credentials in job postings to unlock new talent populations. However, a fully-realized skills-based hiring approach demands deep change in talent processes and hiring manager practices. To this point, most organizations have been unable to weave this method into the fabric of their talent strategy.

Joseph Fuller, professor at Harvard Business School, rejoins the Talent Angle to discuss his latest research: “Skills-Based Hiring: The Long Road from Pronouncements to Practice.” Joseph shares data to show the extent to which skills-based hiring commitments have translated to meaningful action, and offers practical guidance to help organizations broaden the aperture of their talent pools.

Joseph Fuller is a professor of management practice in general management at Harvard Business School and co-leads the school’s initiative, Managing the Future of Work. He founded the consulting firm Monitor Group, now Monitor Deloitte, and has worked with senior executives and policymakers on a wide variety of issues related to corporate strategy and national competitiveness.

Dion Love is a vice president of research and advisory services at Gartner. Dion is a labor market expert, focusing on global labor market trends and what they mean for organizations’ talent and business strategies, as well as broader social and economic issues. In his work at Gartner, Dion advises clients on key aspects of talent acquisition, including talent acquisition function planning and management, talent needs definition and internal recruiting, employment branding and recruitment marketing, and talent sourcing and selection. He has co-authored more than 12 strategic research studies at Gartner. His work has been featured in the Harvard Business Review and industry publications, as well as Gartner HR Leaders Monthly and Smarter With Gartner.

When organizations break employee trust, Peter H. Kim argues those employees are less willing to go above and beyond to contribute to the organization. Peter, author of “How Trust Works,” goes on to detail why trust in institutions has been declining significantly, despite its importance to our work and lives. Peter explains why we mismanage and misunderstand trust and dives into counterintuitive findings from his research, such as why most people believe they are more effective assessors of trust than they actually are. He also shares why efforts to mitigate risk can have a negative impact on trust between employers and employees.   Dr. Peter H. Kim is a professor of management and organization at the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California. His research on trust has been published in numerous scholarly journals, has received 10 national/international awards and has been featured by The New York Times, The Washington Post and National Public Radio. He’s the author of “How Trust Works: The Science of How Relationships Are Built, Broken, and Repaired.” His website is www.peterhkim.com.   Jessica Knight is a vice president of research in the Gartner HR practice. She leads research teams to identify best practices and new opportunities to address HR executives’ most urgent challenges. Her areas of focus include employee experience, organizational culture, change management and the future of work.

Three-fourths of HR leaders agree they will be lagging in organizational success if they do not adopt and implement generative AI (GenAI) in the next 12 to 24 months. However, GenAI’s long-term impact on jobs is yet to be determined, and as a result, organizations must prepare for multiple scenarios as they engage in workforce planning and adopt GenAI to their unique context.   In this episode of the Talent Angle, Helen Poitevin, a distinguished vice president analyst at Gartner, shares a framework to help organizations evaluate the context-specific workforce impact of GenAI by identifying the market and technology drivers that matter for talent decisions. This Gartner model will help HR leaders establish workforce strategies as they align technology and business investments with talent implications.   Helen Poitevin is a distinguished VP analyst with a focus on human capital management (HCM) technologies and advising clients on their HCM technology strategies. In HCM, areas of particular focus include talent analytics, voice of the employee analytics, workforce planning and AI in HCM. Ms. Poitevin also conducts research regarding the future of work with a focus on technology’s effect on how people will work, the gig economy, talent marketplaces and ecosystems, and future talent practices.   Peter Aykens is the chief of research for Gartner’s HR practice. Mr. Aykens is responsible for building and leading research teams within the practice to address clients’ key initiatives. Before his current role, he spent over 25 years at Gartner leading research teams focused on banking and financial services strategy, producing numerous studies that addressed business strategy, channels, marketing, customer experience and product challenges. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from St. Olaf College, a master’s degree in international politics from Aberystwyth University (formerly known as the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth) and a master’s degree and a doctorate in political science from Brown University.

In their pursuit of heightened productivity, organizations are leaving little room for failure. However, failures are an inevitable part of the innovation process and often serve as a precursor to breakthroughs. By solely focusing on productivity, organizations may be missing out on valuable opportunities for innovation that could propel them forward. In the worst-case scenarios, a failure-adverse climate can lead employees to hide concerns or problems, which can lead to potentially catastrophic issues.

Amy Edmondson, the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at the Harvard Business School and author of "Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well," shares her expertise on the Talent Angle podcast, offering insights on how organizations should shift their mindset toward failure and embrace it as a catalyst for growth and improvement.

Amy C. Edmondson, the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School, is a management scholar best known for her research on psychological safety and team learning. She has been recognized by the biannual Thinkers50 global ranking of management thinkers since 2011 and was ranked No. 1 in 2021 and 2023. She is the author of eight books, including her most recent book, Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well, and more than 100 academic articles.

Jessica Knight is a vice president of research in the Gartner HR practice. She leads research teams to identify best practices and new opportunities to address HR executives’ most urgent challenges. Her areas of focus include employee experience, organizational culture, change management and the future of work.