Talent issues dominated the CEOs’ list of top challenges for 2011. And, I am sure they will do so again this year. CEOs now know what they’re up against, and that they must find the right adaptive strategies and lead their organizations through significant change.

Senior leaders know they need to be proactive and adapt their organizations for success. As a result, there are two key talent trends that have emerged. For those of us in HR and recruitment who need to support this change, we must consider how well equipped we are to:

1. Develop talent: improving pipeline and diversity

Recession has accentuated the shortage of required skills in the workforce. An ill-prepared talent pool is faced with skill requirements they simply cannot deliver.

CEOs are looking for immediate talent pipeline improvement by expanding their recruitment strategies. Many are increasing their benefits packages, emphasizing development opportunities, or broadening their candidate search outside their country. They are looking to develop a wider variety of workers who will bring new talents, skills, and ideas to the table—diversity and pipeline are the key strategies for improving the current rate of talent development. More than half of CEOs surveyed by PWC (54%) say they are planning to work with government and the education system to improve the quality of the next generation of talent. Many are also overhauling their internal programs and improving the application of knowledge in the workplace.

Organizations are also shifting their talent focus. They’re looking to underused sources of talent and innovation—women, older workers and outside contractors, for instance—to feed the pipeline of skills and ideas that will meet local demands. There is also growth in the use of returning expats. Many companies entering new markets are identifying local talent to send abroad for training, or are repatriating talent to their home regions.

2. Mobilize talent: moving the work and the worker

The near future will see a significant shift in talent mobility, as skilled employees from both emerging and mature markets increasingly operate across their home continent and beyond.

Talent is more mobile than ever:

- This year, 59% of CEOs are planning to send more staff on short- and long- term international assignments.

- Many companies are allowing employees to choose between international assignments that are of interest, and that will develop their leadership talent.

- Virtual assignments are on the rise, thanks to technological tools such as instant messaging, cloud computing and social media, which facilitates collaboration.

In the long run, talent mobility has a positive effect on the quality of workforces, and on levels of innovation. Talent mobility manifests in a variety of ways:

- Expatriates are still widely used to manage expansions, with organizations in the Americas being the most likely to have expat leaders.

- Management trainers are widely used for medium-term contracts so that expansions/outsourced functions can eventually be run by locals.

- Repatriation is growing. Many repatriated workers that are recruited to return home are armed with skills and business acumen developed abroad, while retaining the valuable cultural insights of their home country.

This post is part of Turning the Downside Upside: Why Talent Management is now the Top Priority of CEOs, a new whitepaper on Talent Management free for download here.