Staffing
critical to success
How
many times have you heard or read the statement, “people
are our most important asset?” I am willing to bet that
almost everyone who works or has worked in an organization
has been subjected to that phrase. Sometimes it has a ring
of truth and sometimes, more often than not, it is a meaningless
statement, made by a senior leader, designed to assure everyone
that they are an important part of the organization effort.
In
reality, people often get less attention than they actually
deserve. This is not a column about paying attention to people.
It is, however, about how you make the people in your organization
central to your success by putting meaning behind the ‘people
are our most important asset’ saying.
The
Corporate Strategy
In any meaningful planning process, the organization starts by identifying
the corporate strategy. The strategy may include developing or renewing
products or services; entering new or emerging markets; coping or
taking advantage of new technologies or enhancing key processes.
These are things that management has direct control over and can
affect by their decisions and actions.
Key People Practices
Where strategy implementation often falls off the rails is in the
failure to align and realign key people practices with the strategy.
Imagine trying to develop new products without talented and creative
designers. Or worse, just as you are poised to enter a new market,
several of your key employees defect to the competition because
they felt that they would be more valued over there.
Imagine if you will, trying to recruit key talent for a new technology
initiative and finding that your compensation system does not allow
for paying outside your current range or including a bonus in the
compensation arrangement.
Think
about trying to enter a new market with no one who has knowledge
of that market. To paraphrase the old real estate saying, there
only three things to remember in strategic implementation, “alignment,
alignment and alignment!” Again management can control this
process.
Creating Needed Competencies
Once
the key people practices are aligned, its time to create the competencies,
individual, team and organizational that will provide the connection
between strategy and results. Excellent people, with the right skills,
in the right environment, focused on the right tasks will move the
organization forward like nothing else can. Management can encourage
excellence, set the right environment and ensure the skills are
in place to succeed. This is a matter of influencing the organization
to deliver results.
Producing Positive Performance
A
solid corporate strategy, an aligned organization with the needed
competencies is a recipe for success. The name of the game is to
achieve the corporate strategy and produce positive performance
outcomes or results. Results can come in the form of growth of the
business, acquisition of a competitor, generating profits or increasing
market share. Some companies value growth, some value market share
and every company values profitability. Management has no real direct
control over these elements, only influence.
Evaluate and Refine the Strategy
The fifth and last part of the cycle is to re-visit the strategy
and compare the actual results with the business plan. The idea
is to test out reality against the plan, valuing and rewarding achievements
in relation to it and discovering what did not work and what needs
to be change in subsequent plans. The strategy can then be refined
to reflect current reality and a re-forecasted future. While strategic
planning looks to a three- to five-year horizon, the process of
planning is an annual one so that adjustments and fine-tuning of
the plan can be made without the plan becoming irrelevant.
It’s easy to see that without strong leadership and a highly
skilled workforce, no plan, however elegant would ever get implemented.
