The transformation tripod: don't forget the critical people leg

Change has become an accelerated norm. In response, organisations have become more agile, resilient and forward-thinking - but many transformation efforts still lean heavily on operations and digital delivery while undervaluing the third leg of the tripod: people.

Operational change has been deeply affected by the last few years, forcing businesses to rethink physical space, real estate, departmental silos, team sizes, capabilities and scope. At the same time, digital transformation has become impossible to ignore, with cloud migrations, big data, IoT, cyber security and previously delayed programmes moving back to the top of the agenda.

What often receives less attention is whether the organisation's current workforce and hiring strategy still fit the new operating model, new strategy and new vision. As businesses continue to redesign how they work, it becomes just as important to bring in the right people for the next phase of that journey.

The changing talent market

Finding the right talent at the start of a pivot seems obvious, but the challenge lies in how organisations go about it. The goal is to identify, verify, impress, hire and onboard people who can help deliver every other change outcome - and that requires a process that goes deeper than technical capability alone.

Match identified three recurring hiring challenges for organisations trying to find the right people:

1. Money is not everything - remuneration is no longer the only deciding factor, particularly for younger talent. Flexibility, sustainability, ethics, digital maturity and diversity can all matter just as much.
2. Office politics is off the table - with more people working remotely, selling a role on office culture alone has less pull than it once did. The strength of the organisation and its trajectory matter more.
3. Fewer floating free agents - contingent labour has tightened as flexible permanent offers have improved, people have sought stability and IR35 has shifted the market.

These challenges make it harder to rely on old recruiting assumptions, especially when change is happening fast and talent pools are already competitive.

Building internal capability

There may be a renewed contingent labour market over time, but amid today's constraints many organisations have turned to consulting firms to help with complex talent searches. That dependency is understandable, but it raises two important questions: is it financially sustainable, and if the hiring drive is not being shaped from within, can the business guarantee the eventual hire is the optimum fit?

Match's approach is to work as an extension of the client while helping build the client's own internal capability for accessing talent on demand. The matching model leans on decades of experience and thousands of use cases for the benefit of both employer and candidate, aiming for a match rate that materially exceeds the market average.

Crucially, the process keeps the specific employer and the specific worker in mind from the start. It begins before interviews through identification and verification, and remains relevant through onboarding and integration into the business.

When that process becomes part of the client's normal operating model, the organisation is left with a more agile and adaptive way to find the right people regardless of the business climate around it. With the right people in place to reflect the company's new outlook and vision, operational and digital transformation programmes become more effective - and the tripod stands on all three legs.