Shopee, a marketplace built by a Singapore‐based company, started out as a team of ten young people in 2015. It grew to 700 people in 2019 and expanded its business activities to places such as Vietnam and Indonesia. This massive expansion pushed Shopee to attract talent to fill managerial, operational, and creative posts.

Shopee faced several challenges in recruiting talent. It had to explain the corporate culture; convince young, fresh talent to build a company with a volatile business landscape; and attract senior talent to establish itself as a professionally run organization.

To tackle these challenges, Shopee created several pathways. First, it communicated its vision, mission, and goals in its online presence. Second, Shopee hosted regular onboarding meetings for newcomers to help them adapt to the fast‐paced working environment. Third, Shopee built their “Life at Shopee” page on LinkedIn to show their daily activities and share perspectives on their business moves (such as “Why 9.9 Shopping is important to Shopee”).

Now, once the talent market understood Shopee as a company, they could search for an available position. Shopee put the technical details in their vacancies, such as talent officer, legal, finance, creative design, product manager, and employer branding associate. To date, Shopee has 37,774 team members globally and its e‐commerce app is currently available in 13 countries, including Mexico and Chile.¹

The Shopee case shows that a company can no longer rely solely on one or two capabilities. It must build several capabilities and leverage them simultaneously for rapid expansion. Converging, balancing, and leveraging those capabilities aligns with the idea of building omni capabilities. This―in addition to referring to the name of the primary model that we use―means an organization has all the necessary capabilities and can use them in value‐creation processes to shape powerful competitiveness. Therefore, we need to include people who have these capabilities, shape them, and keep them in our organization.

In the following discussion of the omnihouse model, we will look horizontally at the elements of CI‐EL and PI‐PM (see Figure 12.1). We will explore the omni capabilities needed to carry out the strategy.

Preparation and Execution

We have the “preparation” section (which includes CI and PI elements) on the left section of the omnihouse model and the “execution” section on the right side (which includes EL and PM elements) (see Figure 12.2).

We can see the summary of what we have to do in the preparation section in Figure 12.3.

And, Figure 12.4 shows what we have to do in the execution section.

A company that wants to be successful must identify what capabilities are required for its operational, managerial, or strategic positions. After that, the firm should invite talent with different capabilities and competencies to join and carry out an integrated value‐creation process with maximum results.

Developing the Omni Talent

The use of affordable technology and information dissemination liberates and empowers people to work and think independently. However, we remember that the benefits provided by technology and information that are very convenient for people in a company to access are not enough to secure long‐term competitiveness. People are potential sources of creating disruption now and in the future―both individually or as part of an organization―which will bring competition to a much higher level.

Currently, we are facing the industrial revolution in the workplace based on combinations of various technologies, forcing companies to rebuild their way of doing business.² All companies will provide multiple technologies and information to people in their company. Technology and information will eventually become standard elements or generic factors in a company's value‐creation processes across various business organizations. In essence, technology and information are necessary but insufficient for creating long‐term competitiveness.

The critical factor distinguishing between competitive and noncompetitive companies lies in how the company recruits, develops, and retains talented people. In the current fourth industrial revolution era, many senior executives and business leaders in an organization should understand the challenges the business operations team faces in the changing environment due to technological advancement.³ Companies especially need people who understand how to leverage various technologies and have the skills to analyze information and interpret it well to be used as a strong basis in the decision‐making process. This situation will force companies to abandon conventional staffing approaches and shift to more sophisticated methods that focus on acquiring and developing talented people.

Building Creative Capability

What is the character of the people we call creative whom we should involve in our business processes? Here are some traits to consider:⁴

• Strong curiosity. Wanting to know everything in detail, questioning everything, trying to understand problems in‐depth, and not being satisfied with what they already know. Curiosity is a gray area of human knowledge. It is about getting to learn more about something outside our expertise.⁵
• Open‐minded. Able to quickly understand reasons and be ready to argue, dare to test diverse opinions, try all possibilities, share adjustments, and be prepared to fail but immediately look for replacement ideas. This includes being flexible, objective, and collaborative.
• Fun to work with. Communicative, uses language that is easy to understand, can express thoughts clearly, treats others as horizontal partners. Attitude tends to be playful, energetic, and passionate.
• Out‐of‐the‐box thinking. Uses high intelligence and strong intuition to read complex patterns, has a strong imagination, stays focused on the main goal, and doesn't forget reality. Doesn't tire of spawning ideas because they can think divergently and convergently to obtain the ultimate idea.⁶
• Dare to accept challenges. Individuals who are highly motivated by challenges are willing to learn new things, respond quickly to difficult questions, motivate themselves to not give up quickly, and motivate others.⁷

There are several efforts companies must make to accommodate creative people:⁸

• Banish the silos. Silos can hinder talent from connecting with others, resulting in unproductive collaboration.⁹ Companies must be able to embed a variety of diversity. The organization needs to be utterly fluid to allow open communication through multiple channels. Communication is also horizontal, without being hurdled by the level of position in the organizational structure.
• Give autonomy. Companies can provide clear guidelines but not restrict the freedom necessary for the seeds of creativity to grow. Providing autonomy to talent in an organization shapes a sustainable flow of trust.¹⁰
• Offer a tolerance of failure. Companies can create a safe environment to fail and foster a willingness to try.¹¹ A company should allow a trial‐and‐error approach, encouraging experimentation and exploring possibilities. Credit should be given to brilliant ideas.
• Provide an appropriate allocation of resources. Resources are needed to build multiple facilities or infrastructure (including technology) to support the creative process.¹²
• Support flexibility. Companies must have a clear plan and room to improvise if necessary. In addition, the company can balance idealism with practical commercial goals, support people to express themselves both individually and in groups, and provide enough time to work. Flexibility allows talent to have the desire to create something new and generate ideas.¹³
• Offer clarity of strategic intent. Companies should place creativity as part of their corporate values ​​and recognize creative people as their essential capital. The company must explain a challenging vision and mission that will attract creative people to be called on to contribute their thoughts and commit to supporting the company in achieving its goals.¹⁴

Building Innovation Capability

For innovation to occur, we need talent with the following characteristics:¹⁵

• Solution‐oriented. A great imagination to provide solutions in different, challenging, even risky ways because they introduce entirely new, authentic, non‐mainstream ideas. They take advantage of resources that are sometimes limited by looking at the multiple complexities and the potential or opportunities in the market. Innovation can be a problem‐solver or problem prevention.¹⁶
• Continuous innovation. Ongoing innovation from a company can keep customers loyal.¹⁷ Continuous innovation relies on people who are aware that they must get out of their comfort zone and make a breakthrough to stay competitive and sustainable.
• Perform iterations. These talents carry out an iterative process between ideas and concrete forms for the best result. In the process, they seek information or arguments, ask critical questions, are not fascinated and fixated on one innovation, dare to experiment, and are open to different alternatives, always perfecting them and realizing them.
• Mentally strong. These talents are thorough, patient, and not prone to giving up. Falling and getting up is daily, but they're always ready to race against time and the ongoing competition.
• Spread positive energy. These talents are self‐motivating, passionate, and intense. They are always ready to be a team player and willing to share knowledge, pass on skills, and transmit an innovative mindset to others for the common good.
• Attention to detail. These talents have the ability to see minor points that are relevant. They use high intelligence in making detailed observations. They are innovators who understand a process thoroughly.¹⁸

Companies cannot simply accept the creative power of a group of genuinely innovative individuals. They must build an environment to foster capabilities while also developing them. Here are some characteristics of innovative companies:¹⁹

• Innovation‐based strategic intent. A company must instill an innovative spirit in its vision, mission, and strategy. The company also has to communicate it well to understand it easily. The organization's value‐creation processes must reflect the concept of innovation, which triggers excitement.
• Provide a consistent, innovative culture. The company demonstrates commitment to ongoing real and implemented innovations. It creates the right conducive environment, supported with proper recognition and appreciation, to encourage people to innovate.
• Provide broad opportunities. The company offers room to express opinions and applies a control approach that is not too tight. This shows trust and provides autonomy to individuals, empowering and encouraging them to innovate through training programs. Failure is not taboo.
• Promote collaboration. Open‐mindedness and transparency are imperative for cooperation in a highly diverse environment. The leaders should exemplify this attitude.
• Offer strong knowledge management. Open access to knowledge and data can help a company find a solution to its problem.²⁰ Knowledge helps understand risk so that firms are more informed and can execute.

Building Entrepreneurial Capability

We need people with an entrepreneurial mentality who have several characteristics:²¹

• Resource allocator. Are knowledgeable and can use the available resources and tools, have an awareness of their strengths and weaknesses, and a focus on creating value with their capabilities for the organization.
• Opportunity seekers. Have a high curiosity, a genuine interest in the learning process, and aren't resistant to the development of science and technology. They never get satisfied with what is already known. Instead, they ask new questions.²²
• Risk‐taker. Approach risk like exercising; they try to mitigate the risk to generate value.²³ Entrepreneurs feel comfortable with failure and are able to learn from past mistakes, determine tolerable affordable loss, reduce the risks faced, and have the ability to experiment.
• Self‐starter. Are motivated, not dependent on rewards from others, understand the passion that can encourage more optimal activities, and have a clear purpose in running their duties.
• Network collaborators. Able to build meaningful relationships with others, are oriented to teamwork, like to do things together, and can involve other parties with multiple competencies to support a common goal.

Companies need an entrepreneurial approach to identify opportunities in the market and offer multiple solutions resulting from the innovations carried out in a company. Here are some characteristics of companies that intend to develop an entrepreneurial mindset within the organization:²⁴

• Facilitate experimentation. The company encourages employees to dare to try new things and provides constructive input on the successful and unsuccessful results. The company inspires employees to daringly test their ideas directly on the market or with customers, including through prototyping.
• Nurture learning culture. The company encourages employees to use the lessons from their past activities. The definition of learning also needs to be expanded through books or written sources and experiences and interactions with customers. Every interaction with customers needs to be a valuable lesson to improve the solutions in the company's products and services repertoire. Learning opportunities should be available for everyone.²⁵
• Increase sense of ownership. Entrepreneurial employees will grow when they have a sense of belonging to the company. Companies can encourage this by providing incentives in partial share ownership to eligible employees. Giving specific authority to lead a program or project will also increase the sense of belonging in employees.²⁶
• Provide autonomy. Companies need to involve employees when setting goals or targets. They must avoid micromanagement in the process of achieving these goals and give employees the freedom to make decisions independently. Companies still need to establish an effective evaluation method without much intervention. Giving a space where talent can showcase their achievements and work progress is a valuable reward from the company to keep the talent loyal and consistently contributing to the value‐creation process.²⁷
• Strengthen cross‐functional collaboration. Companies need to facilitate the formation of cross‐functional teams. They must optimize the use of technology to encourage collaboration between physically far apart teams.

Building Leadership Capability

Here are some common characteristics of strong leaders:²⁸

• Act strategically. Ready to adjust according to the challenges and opportunities faced. Must have a helicopter view of problems, not just focus on the issues at hand.²⁹
• Good communicator. Have the ability to influence others and convey ideas clearly and persuasively, both for issues related to strategic goals and technical tasks. Listen to other people's opinions. Able to communicate in an interpersonal context (one‐on‐one) and public communication (one‐to‐many). Good listening skills build effective communication.³⁰
• Visionary. Have the ability to predict future situations and relate them to the organization's strategies. They can motivate team members to look ahead to the future with optimism. In addition, they balance stability and growth.
• Delegate and empower others. Not doing everything alone, but instead involving team members according to their abilities. Delegation of tasks does not mean a leader escapes responsibility. They are still present to empower team members, both technically and psychologically.³¹
• Show integrity and responsibility. Conveys consistency between words and actions. Gives orders or instructions and is a role model for team members. Even though they involve other team members in completing the task, a leader does not let go of their responsibilities.

The following describe several characteristics of a company that is serious in encouraging the development of leadership capabilities within its organization:³²

• Recognize potential candidates. Companies need to identify the potential of each employee from the very beginning of the hiring process. Routine evaluations carried out by the company can also be a source of reference.
• Provide coaching and mentoring. Coaching will encourage employees to reflect on their leadership potential. Meanwhile, mentoring will assist them in overcoming personal issues.³³
• Offer new challenges. Companies need to provide a variety of jobs to employees. Those who can handle new, higher challenges will likely get more significant responsibilities. Those new challenges will also be a test of leadership for employees.
• Measure progress. Companies need to evaluate the development of each employee, especially related to their leadership abilities. Evaluation can be based on routine responsibilities that have become part of the job description or through special assignments. Companies also need to reward those who deserve it.
• Facilitate personal development. Systematic training will help increase the understanding and skills of employees regarding leadership. In a team, every talent should have the same opportunity to develop a personal relationship with each other and experience the process of gradually taking on more responsibilities in order to be the future leader.³⁴

For a summation of how to build CI‐EL capabilities, see Table 12.1.

Building Productivity Capability

The following list describes some of the characteristics of productive individuals:³⁵

• Focus on goals. The ability to point out essential goals that must be achieved every day and prioritize them. They can break goals into minor to‐dos.³⁶
• Create priority lists. Can divide their tasks according to importance in their personal or professional lives (even blending and balancing). They can understand the work that needs to be accomplished and what can be postponed or eliminated.
• Excellent scheduling. Managing a calendar (including to‐do lists) is one way to divide time properly. Productive people have priorities and organize their time to complete them one by one.
• Plan some rest. Able to manage time to rest but are not trapped in procrastination, the origin of the accumulation of workload. Allocating resting time can help boost concentration after rest and manage time more precisely.³⁷
• Monotask. Single tasking helps individuals reduce distractions at work and complete tasks efficiently, ranging from major assignments to minor activities such as checking email and text messages.

Companies should also accommodate productive people to maintain and even increase their skills. Following are some of the ways this can be done:³⁸

• Attention to time allocation. Effective time allocation is an impactful way to reduce stress during work.³⁹ Companies should provide sufficient space to complete tasks. They can implement a culture of short meetings, provide space for individuals to organize their to‐do lists, and offer short breaks amid busy times.
• Regulate meetings. Companies can provide guidelines for conducting meetings so that each team can run meeting sessions more regularly. A meeting time limit can be established and the meeting agenda sent out beforehand. The number of meetings, and their duration, should be regulated.
• Emphasize goals. Every team that can work productively knows the expected result. Team members then work quickly because they already understand specific objectives, tasks, and plans.
• Smooth communication. Every productive team has a habit of open discussion to solve problems and obstacles to work better.⁴⁰
• Provide enabler tools. Companies and teams can use productivity hacks according to their needs. These might include collaborative workspaces for remote teams, measuring work achievement, and tracking work in process and completed tasks.

Building Improvement Capability

The following list covers characteristics of individuals who want to make continuous improvement:⁴¹

• Never stop asking questions. Continually question the status quo and work every day to find loopholes for better operations. They ask the right questions and know about the system operations to identify areas that can be made better.⁴²
• Problem‐solver. Individuals can find room for improvement by first searching for a problem. Bringing solutions to the current problem is the first and most common reason for improvement.⁴³
• Clarify process. Find what to do with the process: improve, eliminate, or disrupt.⁴⁴ Individuals can view the current processes and seek possible adjustments.
• Never stop learning. Individuals need to upgrade their knowledge from time to time so that they can find improvement gaps.⁴⁵
• Know where to start. Defining the problem and identifying the root cause is usually the best starting point in dealing with a challenging situation.⁴⁶

The company must maintain a continuous improvement spirit in each employee. For this reason, here are some characteristics of companies that can encourage continuous improvement:⁴⁷

• Create a base for improvement. Every company can start continuous improvement from existing work standards by reviewing what goals they could not achieve with the current standards. This method can then be used as a new standard for people in the organization.
• Ensure flow of ideas. Companies can provide a simple platform for individuals to submit ideas for improvement in their respective functions. Companies can build a horizontal approach for managers and other workers to work together and improve. Anyone in the organization can contribute a great idea, such as the front‐liners who better understand customers' main problems.⁴⁸
• Make a habit. Companies can create a routine to pursue improvement and manage an exemplary communication environment so that everyone in the organization can develop their teams.
• Encourage. Companies need to understand the barriers affecting organizational members in their contribution to continuous improvement. Companies must identify and minimize fears so individuals can contribute.⁴⁹
• Provide learning space. Companies need to provide suitable learning opportunities to prepare employees with the knowledge and skills required for continuous improvement.⁵⁰

Building Professionalism Capability

When looking for individuals with professional capabilities,⁵¹ companies often seek out the following attributes:

• Well prepared and punctual. Get everything ready for a meeting, presentation, or phone call by practicing in a mirror or creating a script. Arrive 15 to 30 minutes early to prepare.
• Good communication skills. Use the right words when writing or speaking in the work environment. The words and terms used, comments, the choice of the topic of conversation, and the style of speech will form an opinion regarding a person's professionalism.
• Suitable appearance. Appearance is not only about how to dress but includes how to use the working desk and organize files. Presentable attire shows that the individual is ready to work and professionally engage with others.⁵²
• Always accountable. Shows a high commitment to carrying out various duties according to the agreement, hence, being someone you can count on. Being accountable means that a person can receive credit for successes, and vice versa: take the blame for failures.⁵³
• Demonstrates integrity. Being honest and having strong moral principles.⁵⁴ Because professionals are ready to be seen and judged by others, they need to display their honesty in their words, acts, and in the work they deliver.⁵⁵

Companies can strengthen professional capabilities systematically and institutionalize these capabilities by implementing the following:

• Establish workplace rules and culture. Small‐sized organizations need a strong leader. Medium‐sized organizations require company regulations or standard operating procedures (SOP). Large companies must have rules, regulations, and culture to direct how people work.
• Provide a performance management system. In addition to the regulations, a company should provide a fair measurement method for all parties to form professional behavior. Feedback and performance management systems are relevant so everyone can understand their work.
• Encourage coworkers to attend training or seminars. Companies must be able to adapt to current conditions. For this reason, employees need to update their knowledge and skills through training and education programs to carry out their work, create value, and maintain company competitiveness.⁵⁶

Building Managerial Capability

The following list describes those who demonstrate managerial capabilities:⁵⁷

• Helicopter view analysis. Able to make programs by looking at macroeconomics, industry, and competitor movements. A helicopter view enables a manager to lead their team to do the technical work by providing vision, mission, and the broader context of a project.⁵⁸
• Effective decision‐making. Able to see the advantages and disadvantages of several alternatives to make timely decisions and take actions that align with business objectives.⁵⁹
• Proficient in managing projects. Ability to plan (make goals, resource planning, and time lines), execute (make work processes or conduct training), check (audit or monitor), and act (take preventive or corrective actions) is needed to be able to carry out the organization's operations.⁶⁰
• Team‐building ability. Able to encourage and enable anyone to work as a team to complete projects or routine work. Managers don't have to work alone. They can form solid teams and use their collective strengths to achieve challenging organizational goals.⁶¹
• Adaptive. Quick changes in the business environment require a manager who can adapt to external and internal changes.

Companies must be able to maintain a management system that is constantly evolving and relevant. Following are some strategies to build and maintain management capabilities:⁶²

• Clear succession plan. A good organization is not only led by one person but several people. Therefore, it is necessary to plan for the replacement or rotation of the management team to ensure the continuity of the management process. Succession plans in an organization can come from ranking talents' scores in their feedback, performance management reviews, and interviews to assess communication skills and strategic thinking.⁶³
• Provide performance feedback. Managers can create opportunities for every team member to give feedback, forming a habit of constructive feedback.⁶⁴ Periodic performance feedback is needed to inform the expectations of each job and provide suggestions to make the team's work better in the future.
• Open communication. Companies can implement two‐way communication between managers and their teams through town hall meetings, weekly or monthly meetings, or a whistleblower system.

For a summation of PI‐PM capabilities, see Table 12.2.

In Practice

It's infrequent, if not impossible, for an individual to have all CI‐EL and PI‐PM capabilities at once. Having two or three of the eight is sufficient. However, one can also learn about other capabilities to understand other partners who have strengths in different capabilities.

Strategic talent management is essential to convert a business strategy into tangible results.⁶⁵ Companies must have a clear plan to find, unite, develop, assign, and retain people in the organization. They'll need to have talent aligned and integrated with the goals and strategies of the organization. Such an approach is the essence of strategy‐driven talent management and is imperative for today's environment.

Key Takeaways

• When bringing in talent, companies can review their CI‐EL and PI‐PM loops to see what type of workers are needed.
• Companies will want to build capabilities in these areas: creative, innovative, entrepreneurial, leadership, productivity, improvement, professionalism, and managerial.
• Understanding the mix needed and filling in positions can help everyone bring their strengths and contribute to a company's performance.