Sara Benwell: The Covid-19 pandemic has shone a light on how inadequate operational infrastructure can have a serious effect on resiliency. Considering this, what are the things you have been looking upon and how has this made you think about talent within your organisation?

Davina Goodall-Smith: When I look at our people, the ones that are shining through, can adapt, innovative, improve and those who are able to strongly communicate.

We identified a few superstars in our business that we probably didn’t know were there because they were in their processing teams, were running their teams and everything was fine.

This, in the operational world when you have so much going on means that you don’t always get to identify the people who are there who may be quieter and might not have a stated desire or urge to really expand their knowledge and move forward in the business.

“We identified a few superstars in our business that we probably didn’t know were there”

As you think about talent in the operational space, this is really changing. When I joined, we were in the process of first-generation middle-office outsourcing which was quite a stretch to do remotely.

All our teams were sitting at home doing this massive project that in the old world everyone would have been in the office for weekend work and things like that.

It has helped us uncover people who have that mindset to change but may well have not been identified until now.

Sara: What are some of the qualities or skill sets that we need to be fostering amongst team members so that we can do more value-added tasks?

Davina: The key factor is that you still need expertise, it doesn’t matter what you outsource or what you automate, you still need people who understand the business, the nuts and bolts of what your organisation is doing.

From a concentration perspective and a talent point of view, the first flag is that you don’t outsource the responsibility, the ownership and when you come to hitting problems, regardless of whether you have automated or outsourced, is the ability to troubleshoot or fix that really is at the core of an operational function.

Once you’ve got the space to use your talent in a different way and to think about how you can shape your team, it is about how you can keep on with continuous improvement.

“It doesn’t matter what you outsource or what you automate, you still need people who understand the business”

Continuous improvement is a big term and probably encompasses everything that we are talking about today.

If you think about the whole of the operational world in the asset management space, we are almost the team at the factory as we are the teams who are always looking to do something better, to show that we can improve and support what is going on from the investment space.

This continuous improvement mindset, being inquisitive and communicative, is key and enables businesses to support the teams when the environment changes.

Either because of regulations, ESG, new products, new markets or anything else. Having talent in the organisation with these kinds of mindsets and skills is really the key.

 

Please Sign In or Register to leave a Comment.