Collaboration: The Real Seat at the Table

At TCS Insights, we’ve seen a consistent truth: Collaboration is the bridge between being a recruiter and a trusted Talent Advisor.

That elusive “seat at the table” with the business isn’t granted because you filled every requisition on time. It’s earned when you work with leaders, understanding their world, pressures, and future workforce needs, and then shaping talent strategies that actually move the business forward.

In an era when Talent Acquisition is rapidly evolving due to automation and AI, collaboration has never been more critical. It’s not just about partnership; it’s about shared understanding and proactive alignment.

The recent CXO 2.0 Conference highlighted that collaboration is becoming a defining capability of modern leadership, not just a “soft skill.” It’s central to executives making strategic decisions, managing transformation, and leading cross-functional teams. That aligns perfectly with what TCS Insights measures and develops: the ability to think collectively, influence across silos, and deliver outcomes that matter to the business.

So, how do you collaborate better with the right people?

Step 1: Know the Business, and Their World

True collaboration starts with curiosity.
You can’t add value to a conversation you don’t understand.

The best Talent Advisors go beyond job descriptions. They learn the language, products, challenges, and competitive landscape of the business units they support. That means becoming both a Talent expert and, in many cases, an IT, Finance, or Engineering expert, whatever domain your stakeholders live in.

Stay close to what’s happening:

• Attend internal business reviews and listen to what’s changing.
• Subscribe to industry updates relevant to your hiring areas.
• Track trends, not just talent ones, but market shifts that affect demand for key skills.

Collaboration becomes natural when you can speak the same language as your business.

Step 2: Prioritise Who You Collaborate With

Not every business unit needs the same level of attention.
Use a simple Criticality and Scarcity Matrix to decide where to focus:

• Critical & Scarce: Functions that drive the organisation’s success, but where skills are hard to find, these require your closest partnership.
• Critical but Plentiful: Still important, but your strategy can lean more on efficiency and internal mobility.
• Non-Critical but Scarce: Consider contingent or gig strategies.
• Non-Critical & Plentiful: Standard processes may suffice.

In today’s market, location, volume, and recruitment velocity all matter. If you’re hiring 200 roles in one geography or tackling a talent-short region, that’s where your collaborative energy should go.

Step 3: Build Talent Intelligence into Every Conversation

The best collaborations are built on insight.

You shift the conversation when you walk into meetings with current data, such as where talent is located, what skills are trending, and how internal mobility or contingent solutions could play a role. You’re no longer being asked for a shortlist; you’re helping shape how the business achieves its outcomes.

That means staying up to date with:

• Latest talent trends (remote work models, emerging skills, retention strategies).
• AI and automation shifts that impact the function or its workforce.
• Internal skill pathways and redeployment opportunities that could offset hiring.

Your goal: bring clarity, context, and choice. That’s the essence of Talent Advisory.

The Measurable Side of Collaboration

Collaboration isn’t just a feeling; it’s a skill.
At TCS Insights, we don’t just talk about collaboration; we measure, benchmark, and help develop it.

Through our diagnostic tools, we can pinpoint how well individuals and teams collaborate, where the gaps are, and what development looks like in practice. We’ve found repeatedly that collaboration isn’t just about being nice or agreeable; it’s about shared ownership of outcomes, transparent communication, and a deep understanding of business priorities enough to challenge and co-create.

If you lead a Talent Acquisition or Talent Advisory team and want to understand how you or your team perform in relation to collaboration, please contact me.