Finding Clarity

in Chaos
HR trends and the new
world of work in 2021

Finding Clarity in Chaos 1

 As the proverb goes,
“hindsight is 20/20.”
The same can be said
for this past year.
2020 brought about a flurry of unexpected challenges when the
COVID-19 pandemic first rippled across the world. Everything we
once considered to be “normal” in daily life suddenly got flipped on
its head. This also forced businesses to adapt quickly to a series of
ever-evolving changes. It certainly hasn’t been easy—and it’s clear
that the months ahead will continue to be challenging for all.
Fortunately, there is a light at the end of this tunnel. The most
challenging and chaotic times tend to fuel unparalleled
innovation, spark new ways of thinking, and even bring newfound
clarity to what feels like non-stop chaos.
This has been true for us at Talentsoft, too. We’ve
accepted and embraced all of 2020’s challenges
We must continue to stay
to reimagine what the future of work will look like
patient, flexible, and nimble
in the years ahead. What we know is that life post-
in the face of massive
COVID won’t be the same as we once knew it. To
change.
adapt, we must continue to stay patient, flexible,
and nimble in the face of massive change.
It’s time for businesses to seize this unprecedented moment in
history to identify new ways to boost organizational effectiveness
while also empowering their people to drive greater impact in
everything they do.

Here, we’ll take a look at four key trends that

we believe will define, shape, and forever
change how people work in the future.

Finding Clarity in Chaos 2

 The 4 trends:
Virtuality
The role of technology and the
virtual world at work
p. 7-12

Humility
Facing new challenges means
admitting we don’t have all the
answers
p. 13-19

Connection
Diversity, inclusion, and
collaboration in a virtual world
p. 20-26

Authenticity
Blurring the lines between the
personal and the professional
p. 27-31

Finding Clarity in Chaos 3

 No such
thing as
“back to
normal”
29 %of employees
worked remotely
at least some of
the time prior to the
COVID-19 pandemic1.

Responding to COVID-
76 %
of employees worked
19 has essentially forced remotely in April 2020,
organizations to accelerate during the pandemic2.
the evolution of the work
environment3 by

5 - 10
years Company leader intentions
regarding flexible working
after COVID-19 reveals

82 %
of company leaders now say
1. Gartner, Remote Work Rates Before, During and After
the COVID-19 Pandemic, Human Resources Research they’ll let employees work
Team, 04 June 2020
remote some of the time .
2. Gartner, Remote Work Rates Before, During and
After the COVID-19 Pandemic, Human Resources
Research Team, 04 June 2020

3. Gartner, The Distributed Workplace of the Future Is

Now, Suzanne Adnams, 17 September 2020

4. Gartner Press Release, Gartner Survey Reveals 82%

of Company Leaders Plan to Allow Employees to Work
Finding Clarity in Chaos 4
Remotely Some of the Time, Mary Baker, 14 July 2020,
 As this pandemic rages on, many people may find themselves
reminiscing about life pre-COVID. But the writing’s on the wall: the
workplace of the future won’t be the same as it was before.

Accepting and embracing change

is the only path forward
2021 will be no ‘ordinary’ year—and planning for the year ahead will
be quite different than it has been in years past. It really all comes
down to embracing an entirely new business mindset.
Even though change can be grueling, 2020’s series of unexpected
events has taught us all that businesses—and their employees—
are more resilient than we could have ever imagined.

Now’s the time to take constant chaos by the reins and set the
groundwork for evolving our business models, talent management
strategies, and corporate philosophies for whatever lies ahead.

Finding Clarity in Chaos 5

 A new V(h)UCA for finding clarity
amid non-stop chaos
For years, businesses have embraced the VUCA model—an
acronym standing for ‘Volatility,’ ‘Uncertainty,’ ‘Complexity,’
and ‘Ambiguity’—to navigate through the most challenging
circumstances. In today’s pandemic-stricken world, these words
have never been more relevant.
Everyone around the world has been trying to figure out how to
survive and thrive in this ominous VUCA state. Fortunately, this
has given the team at Talentsoft the time to reflect on the ups
and downs of this past year. And in doing so, we’ve learned some
important lessons to shape our approach to new innovations that
will help us and our customers overcome future challenges—as we
enter into the new world of work together.
This also inspired us to come up with a new take on VUCA—or
rather, V(h)UCA—through the lens of HR: ‘Virtuality,’ ‘Humility,’
‘Connection,’ and ‘Authenticity.’ We wholeheartedly believe that
these will be the levers businesses must pull to rise out of this
pandemic like a phoenix. They will also be the “drum beats” guiding
our vision, philosophy, and strategy moving forward.
The years ahead will offer new opportunities to think differently,
break inefficient processes, and reimagine what the future looks
like. Innovation is ripe for the taking. We just need to approach it
differently.

Read on the learn what

V(h)UCA means to us!

Finding Clarity in Chaos 6

 TREND #1

Virtuality
The role of technology
and the virtual world
at work

Finding Clarity in Chaos 7

 The COVID-19 pandemic has forced a large number of workers to
shift from office spaces to the virtual space. Our conversations,
collaborations, and interpersonal relationships are now mediated
by technology —and via screens of all shapes and sizes—more
than ever before. And although modern technology has this
incredible power to keep people and teams connected and
productive in seamless ways, it also has an uncanny ability to
make us feel far apart. This is just one take on how virtuality
continues to impact the changing nature of work today.

“We have an important choice to make. We can either use

technology to do many inefficient things more efficiently
or we can harness its power to reinvent the processes and
systems that enable people to work. Technology can play a
transformational role in our lives, but only if we allow it to.”
ALEXANDRE PACHULSKI, CHIEF PRODUCT OFFICER AT TALENTSOFT

Finding Clarity in Chaos 8

 Let’s apply this same juxtaposition
to Artificial Intelligence (AI).
On the one hand, AI offers the promise of automation
and efficiency; on the other hand, it has unlimited potential
to fuel business transformation. There are essentially
two sides to this AI coin:

Transactional AI Transformational AI
... puts technology in a position to ... empowers us to rethink how we go
automate certain processes that about day-to-day processes. This can
will eventually replace the work of free up employees to dedicate more
humans. While offering businesses time and attention to more meaningful
enticing ways to reduce costs, improve and impactful work, create new
efficiency, and increase the speed opportunities to get to know ourselves,
at which certain tasks are done, the our colleagues, and our customers
threat it poses to people’s jobs is, better, and ignite more creativity in
ultimately, its biggest drawback. That everything we do. Transformational
is, only if we allow it to take over these AI exists to make people and teams
processes completely. smarter so they can drive greater
impact, accelerate human innovation,
and spark meaningful change.

The truth is, we are at AI’s inflection point; it already influences us in

ways we probably don’t even think about. But that doesn’t mean AI
has to control us. Nor should it ever.

Finding Clarity in Chaos 9

 As humans, we have the power to define our relationship with AI
and to apply it to how people work, communicate, collaborate,
and innovate in the way we know best. For instance, in the context
of performance management, Gartner notes regarding the most
common use cases for AI in HCM, performance feedback “providing
advice on giving better feedback, reducing bias, analyzing culture,
value, and behavior, and automating training plans5.”

This can change the

entire dynamic
between managers
and their employees
for the better.

In addition, other smart technologies, like virtual reality (VR) and

augmented reality (AR), can help us create more immersive, multi-
user learning and remote team-building experiences that break
through the barriers limiting the potential and engagement of
distributed teams.
For these reasons, it’s clear that technology will play a central role
in changing the norms around how people work in the future. For
better or worse, the COVID-19 pandemic has established virtuality
as not merely a passing fad; rather, it’s a new way of being, of
5. Gartner, AI Use Cases
in Human Capital experiencing, of transacting, and of communicating that is very
Management Technology,
Helen Poitevin, Refreshed much alive and well in everything we do today. We simply must
25 August 2020, Published
4 March 2019 harness its power to drive even more value.

Finding Clarity in Chaos 10

 How Talentsoft
fuels virtuality

“Ready to Move” Talentsoft Learning

Smart Assistant Among the many features within
This unique tool in Hello Talent Talentsoft’s comprehensive
uses AI to find candidates for open learning platform, AI is used to
positions who are highly likely fuel an employee’s self-guided
exploring new job opportunities. learning experience. It knows
It also helps recruiters re-engage the perfect time to recommend
talent pools around new new learning content, to create a
opportunities when they arise. more personalized and relevant
experience that addresses the
specific learning needs of each
employee with accuracy.

“We are an IT company, so we

talk a lot about the disruptive
world and technology.
Talentsoft is really a step
ahead when it comes to
building a strategy for the
world of tomorrow. That’s
what makes them such a
good partner.”
Teske Schröder, Global HR Manager at
Planon
Finding Clarity in Chaos 11
 Want to learn
more about our
approach to
virtuality?
We gathered a panel of
HR experts from across
Europe to discuss this topic.

l WATCH THE SHORT VIDEO

Finding Clarity in Chaos 12

 TREND #2

Humility
Facing new challenges
means admitting we don’t
have all the answers

Finding Clarity in Chaos 13

 This pandemic has caused many of us to shift our focus
internally—and listen. What are managers, teams, and employees
thinking and feeling? What struggles have people faced as
work has gone virtual? What leads to the most communication
breakdowns? What new tools and technologies do we need to
build for a remote and distributed workforce? And the list goes on.
But it’s in listening to what’s weighing on the hearts and minds of
employees that we have been able to bring new solutions to the
table to overcome our shared challenges.

“We are facing new challenges today that we have never

faced before. No one should be expected to have all the
answers. In fact, it’s ok to say, ‘I don’t know.’ Because not
knowing the answer isn’t a sign of weakness; it’s an invitation
to work together and build solutions for whatever new
challenges lie ahead.”
SÉGOLÈNE FINET, CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER AT TALENTSOFT

Finding Clarity in Chaos 14

 In many ways, this era of endless turmoil and change has forced
us to let go of tendencies towards “hero leadership” and, instead,
create new opportunities for “community leadership.” Part of this
meant giving ourselves more freedom to do things differently
in order to move our business—and people—forward. Another
part of this required unlearning many of our former business-
as-usual habits that simply no longer applied today. This was an
eye-opening reminder for us that our businesses can’t truly be
successful if our people aren’t successful, too.
This is what humility is all about. We won’t always have all the
answers. Sometimes we are better off saying, “I don’t know” than
trying to wiggle our way around the unknown. But ‘not knowing’
is not the same ‘not trying.’ As businesses, we must do whatever
we can to remain flexible, nimble, and agile in the face of change.
We must also encourage our people to take risks together, even
knowing that some of those risks may ultimately fail.

Finding Clarity in Chaos 15

 A lot of this comes down to giving people and teams the space
to innovate just as much as it requires providing a means for
honest, transparent, and free-flowing communication. In fact,
businesses that have adopted this more human-centric
approach to leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic —one that
engages every employee in building solutions for the future— have
seen employee excitement around their jobs tick up by about 12%.
That’s why it’s so important for businesses to give their
employees the tools and resources to thrive during challenging
times. This includes:

1 Building soft skills

Just because colleagues no longer
see each other face-to-face on a
daily basis doesn’t mean the basics
of communication and collaboration
go out the window. In a virtual
environment, we must go the extra
step to ensure that information isn’t “During disruption and
lost in translation. This is where soft uncertainty, demonstrating soft
skills come into play. You don’t learn skills is no longer optional —few
them once and then file them away will be able to ignore the need
for safekeeping. Soft skills must be to adjust their actions, attitudes,
learned and re-learned as either the and coping mechanisms
environment around us changes to support harmonious
or we face new obstacles. interactions and to overcome
collective adversity.”
GARTNER, 9 PREDICTIONS FOR THE POST-COVID
FUTURE OF WORK, 14 MAY 2020

Finding Clarity in Chaos 16

 Developing more
2

empathetic managers

During the pandemic, many

managers have faced the challenge
of overseeing remote teams for
the very first time. They’ve had to
identify new ways of keeping their
people happy, motivated, and
productive amid uncertainty. They’ve
also had to maintain a free flow of “The COVID-19 pandemic is
communication in order to spot escalating the need to have
the early ‘warning signs’ of when strong leadership skills to help
employees are struggling. Their team members adjust to the
role within organizations today is new work experience. This goes
indispensable; they are the ‘glue’ beyond managing processes
keeping teams together. That’s why and procedures. Leadership is
we must support them in being both focused on helping each team
operationally and empathetically member cope with uncertainty,
effective. This is the future of overcome challenges and
management in 2021 and beyond.. perform at their best.”
GARTNER, BALANCING THE 4 DIMENSIONS OF 2020
LEADERSHIP, S. ADNAMS, M. HANCOCKS, 10 JULY 2020

Finding Clarity in Chaos 17

 How Talentsoft
fuels humility

Talentsoft Continuous
Content Conversation
Our bespoke and highly This powerful performance
personalized content platform management solution enables
provides a scalable way to offer all businesses to create a culture of
employees an unlimited number of ongoing feedback around goals,
opportunities to skill up on the most by empowering managers to build
important soft skills. stronger relationships with their
teams.

“Talentsoft enables us
to establish a clear link
between leadership,
engagement, performance
and organizational
development, with a user-
friendly gateway to all of
these processes.”
Alexander A. Jaffe, Group Director HR
& Communications at Bunker Holding
Finding Clarity in Chaos 18
 Want to learn
more about our
approach to
humility?
We gathered a panel of
HR experts from across
Europe to discuss this topic.

l WATCH THE SHORT VIDEO

Finding Clarity in Chaos 19

 TREND #3

Connection
Diversity, inclusion,
and collaboration in
a virtual world

Finding Clarity in Chaos 20

 Humans are emotional beings by nature. We like to engage
in conversations and debates. We thrive on the energy of
other people. And we want to collaborate with our teams and
colleagues to build a better future together.
Coincidentally, some seemingly commonplace aspects of daily
life are never fully appreciated until they are suddenly taken away.
This can be said about the sense of connection that was lost
within teams and between employees at the onset of the COVID-19
pandemic.

Finding Clarity in Chaos 21

 Here’s why this is important. Today’s business problems are more
complex than ever. Teams exist to accelerate a business’s ability
to turn big problems into meaningful solutions. But when people
and teams begin to feel disconnected, either from each other or
from a business’s greater purpose, it becomes harder for them to
know how to solve problems collaboratively.
We know that getting the right people together —each with
their own unique experiences, skills, competencies, perspectives,
and other qualifications—to tackle these problems is critical.
However, for this to happen effectively in a distributed team
environment, businesses must know who their employees are
inside and out, what their goals and career aspirations are, and
how best to tap into their skills and interests to drive the greatest
value out of their work.

“Employees don’t come to work just to work. They come to

create relationships, drive meaningful impact, and nurture
their own goals and aspirations. A connected workplace
simply uses technology to amplify this.”
SHANA ROY, CHIEF PEOPLE OFFICER AT TALENTSOFT

Finding Clarity in Chaos 22

 Amplifying the potential of each and every employee is a big part
of this equation. You must raise all of your people up, giving them
the tools to succeed during this incredibly challenging time. It’s
absolutely critical for businesses to realize that every employee
has an important role to play in ensuring a business’s long-term
success. This goes beyond simply working our way out of the
COVID-19 crisis. This is about looking into the future and defining
how your employees can be an active part of your business’s
master plan for years to come.

This is also a time to recognize the value of a diverse workforce.

Hiring a mix of employees and freelancers from different ages,
genders, ethnicities, religions, and academic backgrounds not
only fills a company with diverse ideas and perspectives, but it also
encourages respect, understanding, and tolerance. Think about it:
When you pair up two people, with vastly diverse backgrounds and
experiences, to tackle an important project, it’s no surprise when
amazing things happen. The sum is greater than its individual
parts. This is the value of diversity at work.

Finding Clarity in Chaos 23

 Even though recruiting, hiring, developing, and growing a diverse
workforce should be the number one priority for all businesses
today, doing so for the sake of diversity alone is only half of the
battle. Diversity doesn’t really mean anything without inclusion.
Inclusion is acceptance. It’s recognition. It’s about celebrating our
differences, and not simply claiming “diversity by the numbers.”
Your employees aren’t numbers. They are the most active
stakeholders in your business’s success. Giving them the freedom
to bring 100% of themselves to work each and every day can
breathe new life, energy, and innovation into your business.
Creating deeper connections across your entire business won’t
happen overnight. It requires thoughtful intention to become a
lasting part of your company’s culture, which is a solid strategy for
setting your business and your people up for long-term success.

Finding Clarity in Chaos 24

 How Talentsoft
fuels connection

Microsoft Teams Talentsoft Marketplace

Integration Following our acquisition of
We’ve collaborated with Microsoft to Crafty earlier this year, we’ve
build a powerful integration allowing developed a unique internal talent
managers and teams to engage matching solution. It uses a range
in the performance management of career information within an
process in a more collaborative, employee’s profile to pair them up
conversational, and tech-driven with new projects, training, cross-
way. functional opportunities, and even
new job roles.

“When asked to shift our operation to produce

hand sanitizer and masks during the COVID-
19 pandemic, I knew I needed to rely on the
diverse skills, entrepreneurial spirit, and agility
of the people within our company. In just a
few weeks, we were able to reinvent ourselves,
to begin producing and distributing hand
sanitizer and masks at a time when they were
needed most.”
Sébastien Graff, Human Resources Director at InVivo
Finding Clarity in Chaos 25
 Want to learn
more about our
approach to
connection?
We gathered a panel of
HR experts from across
Europe to discuss this topic.

l WATCH THE SHORT VIDEO

Finding Clarity in Chaos 26

 TREND #4

Authenticity
Blurring the lines
between the personal
and the professional

Finding Clarity in Chaos 27

 Employees today don’t want or need pomp and circumstance
from their employers. They simply want transparency and
honesty —and they expect their business leaders to deliver on
that. This doesn’t mean that business leaders have to be “buttoned
up” at all times. Quite to the contrary, they should let their hair
down from time to time to let their human side shine. When they
do, they set a positive example for all employees to follow, one that
allows everyone in an organization to be honest and open about
what they’re thinking and how they’re feeling.

“Today’s employees expect absolute transparency. They look

to business leaders for answers and want to know you have a
plan. But they also want you to listen to their needs, too. Doing
so is the best way to gain their trust.”
JEAN-STÉPHANE ARCIS, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER AT TALENTSOFT

Finding Clarity in Chaos 28

 The truth is, everyone is dealing with the pressures of this pandemic
in different ways. For some, it’s really impacting their ability to do
their day-to-day work. Businesses need to be mindful of this, so they
can catch on to any warning signs of fatigue early on.

At a time when incomplete and sometimes contradictory

information is swirling around, employees now look to their
business leaders—including their own managers—to help them
make sense of all the noise. They want answers just as much as
they want solutions. And they want a sense of purpose, too. This is
even more important when the path forward is still a bit murky. To
do this, you must be able to rally employees around a vision for
the future that resonates with everyone, from senior leaders all the
way down to the most junior employees.
That’s why business leaders today now have a moral(e)
imperative to listen and respond, not only because employees

Finding Clarity in Chaos 29

 expect it, but more practically because it’s the key to boosting
long-term employee engagement and retention. Authenticity in
leadership, and in an organization’s broader culture, is truly about
internalizing, embracing, and projecting the voice of employees.
Even Gartner predicts that, “by 2023, 80% of enterprises with
2,500+ employees will augment annual engagement surveys
with pulse, focus-group-based or indirect methods to better
understand worker sentiment6. This is the key to becoming more
employee-centric.
Unfortunately, authenticity in a business context isn’t always
natural for many. In fact, we’ve been taught, in one way or another,
to keep our “poker faces” on at all times and play the role that is
expected of us. But that’s not what the world needs today, nor
is it what employees need from you either. By putting your true
self on display—during the ups and the downs—you demonstrate
vulnerability in a positive way, which invites others to support
you and collaborate with you to overcome challenges. When
approached in this way, authenticity can create a sense of
6. Gartner, Market Guide
for Voice of the Employee openness that has the incredible power to fuel stronger team
Solutions, Ron Hanscome,
Helen Poitevin, 29 May dynamics over time.
2020

Finding Clarity in Chaos 30

 Want to learn
more about our
approach to
authenticity?
We gathered a panel of
HR experts from across
Europe to discuss this topic.

l WATCH THE SHORT VIDEO

Finding Clarity in Chaos 31

 Are you ready to break
through the chaos?

While 2020 has been a year of more downs than ups for most
people, it has also been a year for learning how to be more resilient,
patient, understanding, and nimble in the face of non-stop change
and uncertainty. The businesses that have successfully embraced
this chaos—and innovated alongside it—are those that will be
better positioned to realign their people and
processes for a more successful future.
As we look forward to 2021, we must begin
to adapt to the new world of work. For some
businesses, this will be easy. For others, this Contact us
will require a good amount of change. So today to
whether you need a nudge to get moving schedule your
in the right direction or for someone to customized
guide you every step of way, the team at VhUCA
Talentsoft is here to help you assess your Readiness
business through the lens of Virtuality, Assessment.
Humility, Connection, and Authenticity
(“VhUCA”).

Finding Clarity in Chaos 32

The world of work is rapidly evolving. Future business
success will belong to those who transform the skills and
talents of their workforce with agility and purpose. That’s
why, at Talentsoft, our mission is to unlock the potential
of every single employee, transforming your organization
in the process. Thousands of organizations leverage
our open People@Work platform to accelerate talent
transformation, in ways that fit seamlessly with their
context, needs and existing tech ecosystems.
We’re the European leader in Human Capital
Management. From our 15 offices around the world,
we empower more than 2,200 customers, from every
industry, in over 130 countries.

GET IN TOUCH
WITH OUR EXPERTS:
T. +33 1 41 86 05 60
contact-ts@talentsoft.com

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