A talent strategy to power the Energy and Utility sector: Workforce challenges and solutions
WHAT DEFINES A GOOD LEADER? LOOK FOR THESE SIX QUALITIES
Modern business challenges can require new approaches. Leadership will need to evolve in order to continue to guide organisations in tomorrow's world of work. But what are the characteristics of a good modern leader in the workplace - and how can organisations develop them?
Many studies draw parallels between effective leadership and solid organisational performance. But whether they’re a junior manager or a senior executive, the qualities that leaders need are changing.
Nearly 1,500 HR professionals ranked leadership development as the number one priority for 2025, with managers feeling 'overwhelemed' by the expansion of their responsibilities. In today’s unpredictable world, you must combine traditional leadership skills with new abilities. So, what does an effective modern leader look like?
1. Remember what makes a good leader
Before looking at the new skills future leaders may need, it is worth reflecting on what a leader actually is.
What are the qualities of a good leader? It’s not what you may think.
Being in charge of colleagues does not necessarily make you a ‘leader’. Former Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg explains: “Leadership is about making others better as a result of your presence and making sure that impact lasts in your absence.”
Retired astronaut Chris Hadfield believes that good leadership is: “Not about glorious crowning acts. It’s about keeping your team focused on a goal and motivated to do their best to achieve it. Especially when the stakes are high and the consequences really matter.”
There may be varying opinions on the strengths and weaknesses of leaders. But overall, most people believe that great leaders motivate their team members to perform their best and achieve common goals.
What traits do you need to achieve this in the modern workplace?
2. Use blended leadership styles for a VUCA world
Stacey Philpot from Deloitte Consulting maintains that the core skills needed historically in leadership roles have remained unchanged.
“These skills allow someone to become a leader faster than their peers. This is even true in today’s volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) environment,” she says.
The core skills for leading in a VUCA environment include:
- Pattern recognition
- Motivation
- Agility
- Emotional intelligence
- Ability to understand, control and express emotions
This represents psychological assessments of 23,000 senior leaders globally over the past 25 years.
Consider introducing servant leadership:
Leaders need new styles of leadership to deal with changing cultures. Being comfortable with not having the answer and owning failure can create an environment of trust and openness.
Collectively, these behaviours form ‘servant leadership’. The Chartered Management Institute (CMI) defines servant leadership as emphasising behaviours and values such as:
- Active listening
- Empathy
- Leading by example
These are instead of opting for a more authoritative, ‘command-and-control’ leadership style. Leaders create the conditions for team members to excel by displaying vulnerability. But given the stigma around servant leadership, how can organisations encourage it?
How to combat stigma surrounding servant leadership:
Alsu Polyakova, HR Leader for GE Healthcare, says reducing stigma around servant leadership will take a specific strategy. Most importantly frequent performance appraisals for leaders.
“We give leaders lots of opportunities for self-reflection, so they understand how they behave,” she says. GE Healthcare’s most successful leaders help to encourage behavioural change, Polyakova says. The company measures success by how well employees rate leaders on achieving GE Healthcare’s ‘cultural pillars’. These pillars include inspiring trust and empowering employees.
3. Create a culture of trust in the workplace
Gaining workers’ trust is more important than ever. One way to build trust is for leaders to take action on issues such as climate change. 71 percent of employees consider their CEOs’ social awareness as critically important, according to the Edelman Trust Barometer.
Social awareness may yield rich rewards. The Edelman poll shows that workers who trust their employers are far more engaged and remain more loyal than their more sceptical peers.
Leadership styles are clearly changing. The most effective leaders will need to tailor their styles to suit different scenarios, says Professor Sattar Bawany. “Leaders need a broad repertoire of management styles and the wisdom to know when each style should be used,” he says. “In crisis scenarios like cybersecurity breaches, for example, leadership should be authoritarian because the scenario is unstructured.”
4. Adapt your leadership style for different generations
Managers must also balance leadership styles to suit different generations. Modern workplaces will soon house up to five generations under one roof. Therefore, there will be many people with differing preferences on leadership style.
As of 2023, millennials are the biggest group in the UK workforce, at 35 percent. Modern leaders must mix old and new leadership styles that meet the needs of younger generations. Doing so will future proof organisations. However, new leadership approaches cannot come at the expense of alienating older workers.
5. Commit to lifelong learning
With the workplace evolving so rapidly, leaders cannot rely on past experience alone to get by. Ben Farmer, Head of HR at Amazon UK agrees: “Experience is not always synonymous with wisdom and judgement. And naivety doesn’t always engender novel thinking and openness to change.”
Organisations should look for leaders who understand the future as well as those with experience. “Success comes from the ability to combine understanding of exciting, new trends with the experience required to put that knowledge into action,” says Farmer.
But what is the right balance? There is no one-size-fits-all approach when balancing experience with adaptability. Achieving the right balance will mostly depend on the organisation and the sector it operates in.
6. Be conscious of culture
Organisational culture is an important factor. Risk-averse firms may prefer experience over novel thinking. Leaders may be fearful of a backlash from stakeholders should novel thinking fail. To lower risk, companies should seek leaders who use both scientific evidence and intuition when making decisions.
Ultimately, there’s no single blueprint for an effective modern leader. Each organisation must tailor their approach to leadership development. There must be a focus on organisational culture, industry nuances and employee mix.
But above all, leaders should recognise that today’s reality may be old news tomorrow.
For more expert advice, take a look at the following articles:
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A TALENT STRATEGY TO POWER THE ENERGY AND UTILITY SECTOR: WORKFORCE CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS
The energy and utility sector is set to undergo 'major transformation' within the next decade.
Ongoing geopolitical tensions across Europe and the Middle East have exacerbated inflation and elevated energy costs, encouraging a large-scale diversification of energy sources and greater investment in renewable energy.
Pushed by government policies and incentivised by large-scale investments, organisations in the energy and utility sector are expected to accelerate carbon reduction goals and embrace digital solutions.
But the sector is at risk of a talent outage. The sudden shift in requirements and surge in the volume of ‘green’ skills needed means that the industry is at risk of unprecedented talent shortages.
To help you address these challenges, we’ve teamed up with market-leading research firm, the Everest Group, to shape a six-step strategy to help you future-proof your organisation amid a rapidly changing landscape. In this blog, we offer a snapshot of the white paper.
Download your free copy and dive deeper into our insights.
How is talent transforming?
The rising importance of clean energy is reshaping the skills needed by organisations. The urgency attached to the widespread adoption of sustainable energy sources means a shift to green skills is occurring at an incredible pace, with demand currently outweighing the supply of available labour.
And more ‘traditional’ roles are also under review. As providers of oil and gas seek to ‘clean up’ both their operations and their image, we’re seeing a surging interest in candidates with expertise in unconventional oil extraction, for example.
Some of the key skills in demand include:
- Renewable energy specialists to design, install and maintain energy systems.
- Data analysts to optimise energy production, distribution and consumption.
- Reservoir engineers to optimise extraction techniques and maximise recovery rates of raw materials.
- Electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure planners to design and implement the infrastructure needed to support EV charging stations, including urban charging networks.
What are the key challenges faced by companies in the energy and utility sector?
Talent networks are losing power: The sector is facing a retirement crunch, with estimates stating that between one-fifth and a quarter of the current workforce is set to retire within the next decade. At the other end of the pipeline, the sector is struggling to attract fresh talent, with unclear opportunities for growth and demanding working conditions putting people off.
The sudden shift is creating skills gaps: The rapid move towards sustainable technologies such as Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) and offshore wind farms means that the volume of qualified talent is falling far short of demand. Investment in upskilling and reskilling the workforce has been both limited and yet to reach fruition, creating skills gaps in R&D, regulatory expertise and sustainability management.
Diversity and data are both in short supply: Diversity and inclusion remain key challenges across the industry, with limited representation of women and minority groups. What’s more, a lack of comprehensive analytics and intelligence make it even more difficult to understand trends or locate the most pressing skills shortages.
What impact does this have on talent attraction?
As organisations in the energy and utility sector attempt to tackle these challenges head-on, we’re seeing a number of key strategies emerge.
There’s a growing interest (mirrored by greater financial investment), in training and development programmes to help bridge the skills gap. CCS technologies, petroleum engineering and environmental compliance are just a few of the focus areas seeing an uptick in programmes.
And with one eye on the future, we’re seeing more organisations partner with educational institutions. Preparing the next generation of workers with the skills and understanding tailored to industry needs cultivates a stronger talent pipeline, enabling these individuals to make a difference from day one.
Organisations are increasingly driven by their data, and this is reflected in the desire to measure and monitor all forms of input and output, including people.
The report reflects on the shift we’re witnessing in the energy and utility sector. Traditionally seen as a ‘slow adopter’ of technology solutions in relation to talent management, there’s huge growth in the deployment of Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), Vendor Management Systems (VMS) and Candidate Relationship Management (CRM) tools to better identify, recruit and retain essential talent.
We’re also witnessing a greater number of organisations seeking support as they tackle the skills shortage. Workforce solutions providers offering Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) and Managed Service Programmes (MSP) are an increasingly essential partner. Indeed, the size of the RPO market for the energy and utility industry nearly doubled between 2021 and 2022 – and continued to report steady growth in 2023.
The number of hires managed by outsourced providers will continue to climb as organisations seek to enhance their access to talent.
Discover the six steps to power your talent strategy forward
As G20 leaders aim for net zero emissions by 2050, the energy and utility sector is set to undergo major transformation.
Ensure your organisation stays ahead of the curve with a six-step approach to talent attraction and management. Download the latest report to access exclusive insights from the Everest Group.