Welcome to part two of our Top 5 Business Acumen Predictions for 2022. In part one we reviewed three
topics that will affect business and your employees in the upcoming year, global supply chain, global demand, and the VUCAD world. The second part of the post will now focus on two critical topics that your company needs to be prepared for, politics and the political agenda and what the workplace may look like post-pandemic.
In the United States, the failure of the ruling Democrats to pass two foundational legislative imperatives will spill over into the new year and stay with us through the 2022 mid-year elections. Navigating these waters and predicting outcomes is difficult and the uncertainty will impact business decision making. My predictions are:
- There will not be a compromise for the Build Back Better legislation, and it will become a deciding factor in the mid-term elections
- The voting rights legislation will have a similar fate and not much will get done in terms of redistricting and the way the lines are drawn for congress.
- The Democrats will face a tough mid-year election cycle and there is a strong likelihood that they will lose the House of Representatives.
- There is going to be something big and unexpected that will further disrupt the current balance of power.
So, what does this all mean for business and business decision-making? Once again having the skills needed to adapt quickly could mean the difference between success and failure in the following areas:
- Dealing with inflation and the impact it will have on two critical business elements – prices and labor
- The impact of less government spending – If Washington ends up in gridlock, there are implications to businesses in and serving defense, healthcare, digital technologies, food, water, and emphasis on fixing an ailing environment.
Obviously, in a global environment, the political issues in every part of the world are critical and we will address the implications on Business Acumen in a follow-up blog.
5) Work and the “Workplace”
The re-emergence of the pandemic via the Omicron variant has already changed the perspective on work and the workplace through the first quarter and in most likelihood through the first half of the year. Where and how people are going to work has gone from the interesting and exciting, to complex, to hard, to burnout, to now confused. Business leaders know that decisions must be made, and lead times must be fair and equitable. There is also a timer on all of this because in my opinion, once you pass year three, there will never be any going back to a pre-COVID workplace.
According to Forrester, who I think has strong and accurate insights, they predict:
“Only 10% of firms will shift to a fully remote model, and 30% will go back to a fully in-office model. The remaining 60% of firms will shift to a hybrid model, and one-third of those firms will fail in their first attempt at anywhere work.”
Assuming these numbers are accurate, then the implications to the way business organizations are run will be profound. Regardless of the way it ultimately turns out there are a few absolutes in terms of the people side of the business:
- Hiring, onboarding, and getting workers productive will continue to become digitized to reflect the new workforce and because it’s more efficient.
- Training and development to accelerate performance has never been more critical. This is real. The way organizations set and execute their talent development strategies is going to be the difference between success and failure. We can already see the leading, innovation companies shift to digital strategies of learning through sophisticated learning pathway tools, artificial intelligence, and interactive learning modalities such as digital simulations.
While all skills will be critical, early indications are that Chief Learning Officers are focused on the foundational skills required to address all the challenges and take advantage of everything 2022 will present including better Business Acumen, Business Leadership, and Strategic Business Selling.
It’s a different world and it’s going to evolve in ways that will force us to adapt quicker than ever. Happy New Year!
Read Part one - part one
