When you look two, three or more years into the future, it’s important to not only have a sense of how your company will change, but also of how the world around you might be different.

Why? Because it’s the intersection of these two realities that will determine whether you have access to the right talent and to enough talent.

To use a simple example, let’s say that your plan is to double your revenues in just three years. To do this, you will aggressively expand your engineering teams, adding a wide range of capabilities and delivering several new service offerings to the market.

But your competitors have a similar strategy. In fact, countless firms across numerous industries also plan to hire more engineers and expand their offerings.

What will be the source of these new engineers? Do you have an effective, defendable plan to train and/or recruit enough engineers in the face of rapidly expanding demand from other companies? For that matter, do you have a way to position your company as an employer of choice?

You could use a similar way of thinking in many different parts of your organization:

• The CEO role is shifting rapidly in today’s society; instead of just driving revenues, they must now deftly navigate societal issues. Are you developing potential successors with an eye on those changing expectations?
• AI is “suddenly” a hot area, which means you may need fewer people doing certain jobs but more filling other roles. Are you ready for such a shift?
• As more and more cybersecurity hacks become public, consumers may change their expectations for what is considered reasonable or safe corporate behaviors. Will you be prepared?

Depending on the size of your company, the industry, and your rate of growth, it may be wise to futurecast your talent needs once or twice a year.

Ask questions such as:

• What does it mean to be more digital and AI-driven?
• What will our world be like when things are even more connected?
• How will we drive collaboration and innovation to solve our most complex problems?
• What types of capabilities do we expect all our team members to possess in the future?
• How will leaders need to lead and manage differently going forward?
• How is the bar being raised by our competition and what are the implications for our talent?

No one operates in a bubble, and the faster you intend to grow, the further into the future you need to look to ensure your ability to secure the talent needed to power that growth.