For years, organisations have talked about “the future of work” as something just over the horizon. Something to plan for. Something to prepare for eventually… But it’s time to realise the future has already arrived.

AI, automation, shifting workforce expectations, and increasingly fluid career paths are no longer theoretical disruptors. They’re actively reshaping how work gets done, who does it, and what “talent” even means. Yet many organisations are still operating with talent strategies designed for a world that simply doesn’t exist anymore.

As Sarah Blanchard, Head of Talent Advisory here at Solve, puts it:

“Most organisations are still designing talent strategies for stable roles, linear careers and predictable capability needs – but the last few years have shown us that those assumptions no longer hold.”

And that gap is becoming a serious business risk.

Talent strategy isn’t an HR exercise anymore

One of the biggest misconceptions our team sees is the belief that talent strategy sits neatly within HR. Something operational, tactical, and can be revisited once the “real” business decisions have been made.

In reality, talent strategy is now one of the strongest determinants of whether a business can execute its strategy at all.

“Business strategy defines where value will be created,” Sarah explains. “Talent strategy defines how capability is identified and mobilised to create that value.”

Without a future-ready talent strategy, even the most compelling business strategy struggles to get off the page. Execution slows, risk increases, and your competitive advantage erodes.

This is why talent strategy has moved firmly into the boardroom and why organisations are increasingly turning to talent advisory services to help close the gap between ambitions and capability.

Why yesterday’s talent models are falling short

Traditional workforce models tend to focus on roles, headcount and FTE. They assume the relative stability of clearly defined jobs, predictable skill requirements, and gradual change.

But AI and automation are breaking ‘work’ down into tasks and skills, many of which can now be performed by technology, external partners, or alternative talent pools. At the same time, workforce expectations around flexibility, autonomy, learning and purpose have shifted dramatically.

This results in a growing mismatch between how organisations plan for talent and how work actually happens.

“Competitive advantage is increasingly going to depend on how quickly organisations can access and redeploy critical capabilities,” Sarah says. “Not just whether they can hire for them.”

This is where modern integrated talent advisory becomes critical – helping organisations think beyond permanent headcount to a broader ecosystem that may include internal mobility, contingent workforce models, partners, and automation.

AI isn’t the question, but readiness is

Many organisations feel pressure to “do something” with AI but adopting new technology without the right talent foundations often creates more risk than value.

“The critical question isn’t whether to adopt AI,” Sarah explains. “It’s whether your talent strategy is actually designed to capitalise on it responsibly and at scale.”

A future-ready talent strategy gives leaders confidence that the organisation can execute today’s priorities while staying adaptable to tomorrow’s disruption. That means thinking in terms of capability, governance, leadership readiness and risk, instead of just the tools.

This is a recurring theme Solve sees when working with organisations across talent advisory, workforce transformation, and capability planning, with technology continuing to move fast, but talent strategies oftentimes lagging behind.

From future-focused to future-ready

So, what does “keeping up” really look like? At its core, a modern talent strategy should help leaders answer three fundamental questions:

1. Which capabilities will create value now and in the future?

2. How quickly can we access, develop or redeploy those capabilities?

3. Are our leaders equipped to operate in an AI-enabled, constantly evolving environment?

Without clear answers, organisations risk investing heavily in roles with declining strategic value while underinvesting in the skills that matter most, and that risk compounds quickly.

“The pace of change we’re seeing means organisations won’t fail because they lack strategy,” Sarah notes. “They’ll fail because they lack the capability to execute it.”

Why organisations are turning to talent advisory

Often, at moments of inflection like a new business strategy for the next financial year, a major transformation, M&A activity, or when organisations realise their existing workforce plans aren’t delivering the outcomes they expected, is when our team at Solve can enter the conversation.

Through varied talent advisory services, engaging with Solve helps leaders move from reactive workforce planning to proactive, capability-led strategies that support long-term value creation. This includes detailed consideration of the full talent ecosystem from permanent roles to contingent workforce solutions, partners, and automation.

The future of work is already here, the real question is whether your talent strategy is ready for it. Let’s talk.