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The rise of the hybridised role
I've been with ambition for seven years, heading up our Transformation team, and have been recruiting in the Change Management /Transformation space for nearly the whole seven years.
As we come into the second half of 2022, what I am seeing is, the rise of the hybridised skill set. Coming out of the other side of the pandemic, clients are more often coming to me with these briefs when hiring people for their team.
Newly hybridised roles
There are several strong examples of this. A combination role of a business analyst and project manager has emerged, where you have the support connecting role, with the responsibilities of overseeing and delivering.
The same goes for change management. The combination of a change analyst which is a more hands-on, tactical role, with the more strategic components of someone who’s actually managing the change.
Challenges in creating these roles
The first challenge with this is obviously finding candidates who are comfortable and better yet yearning for a role with two hats. But the most common problem we run into with roles like this is that often the organisation doesn’t fully understand what they’re looking for right away. What kind of work is coming along in their business and are those kinds of roles appealing to candidates? It is important for them to consider: is this something people actually want to do?
Historically, within a lot of these areas, there has been bias between the two roles, which is being overcome by these hybridised roles. Within change management for example, like any transformation function, there are different levels of seniority, but they are also responsible for different tasks. A Change Analyst, for example, is in a more junior position that performs tactical change management activities: things like change impact analysis and communications. A Change Manager, in a more senior position, does more of the change plan and the change strategy. Historically, I've noticed them very much separated, with change analysts doing the grunt work and then a manager or managers focused on directing the strategy.
The way forward
If we think about future-proofing, the world and its businesses are consolidating in terms of roles and responsibilities, with a present rise in technology, especially in areas like automation. The attractiveness of these roles is that people are able to continue performing the tasks that they started off with, while taking a more strategic position. Some people do want to wear multiple hats within their role, and with the hybridised role, they are achieving the best of both worlds.
Watch our Small Talk, Big Insights video series discussing these points, in our video library.
If you are interested in exploring more hybridised roles within your organisation, or are searching for recruitment advice within the tech space, you can reach out to me for a confidential chat