Finding the right talent has consistently been one of the major issues highlighted by companies in recent years, and Fiona Hewitt, chief executive of the Institute of Management New Zealand said it was one that was not going to go away.
Hewitt said one of the most important things companies could do was to invest in their staff through development programmes, and although a number were already doing this, she said there was room for improvement.
"I think organisations can do more to develop and grow their people," Hewitt said. "That's in a number of ways not just from a technical skills capability but also in their soft skills around how they connect and engage with others."
Simon Moylan, Executive General Manager, Asia Pacific, Hudson Talent Management, said the importance of bringing younger staff through into leadership roles was highlighted by recent global studies conducted by the firm, which showed significant differences in personality and leadership traits between generations.
"Our overall finding was to say that if you look across all of the different generations, none of them are a perfect match for all the traits you need from leaders," Moylan said. "So you have to have a good generational balance across your organisation to get all of those different assets."
Moylan said the research showed the younger generation was 12 per cent higher on abstract thinking than the previous generation in terms of how they approached problems.
One of the more interesting aspects, said Moylan, was a lesser degree of extroversion in the younger generation, however this seemed to be a reflection of how the younger generation was interacting - more through technology and social media than the previous generation.
One company highlighted as having a high number of younger staff was accounting firm Xero and chief executive Rod Drury said this was important from a personal development aspect and had a flow-on effect through the business.
"What we're seeing now is these great young leaders coming through and as an entrepreneur it's been an interesting journey for me to move from doing the work myself to seeing young people and empowering them to take the reins," Drury said.
"I think the big thing I've learned is to actively give young people opportunities and just let them go, maybe coach them a few times but then once you actually see them doing their thing and they've got it, it's really scalable."
Hewitt said the younger generation and staff tended to be more ambitious and driven, and focused on how they could improve aspects of their business or job - something that needed to be encouraged.
"What I see in a lot of young, successful people coming through is there's an attitude or a drive to challenge the status quo and make a difference."
Moylan said this was also seen in Hudson's research of the 28,000 people, with the younger generation being 32 per cent more ambitious than the previous generation. He said it was important to recognise the benefits of having staff across different age brackets.
