Organizations that have comprehensive talent management strategies benefit from exciting work environments, higher performing, innovative employees, and top-tier financial success. So, halfway through the year, how are your talent management strategies working out? Are they accelerating the profitable growth of your business? What are your predictive measures telling you?
Just as the different elements of an organization’s financial plan need to be integrated, talent and organizational capability plans need to be integrated as well. For example, an organization will fail at an aggressive hiring plan to support the development of a key product if its compensation structure is behind market, or if its brand isn’t distinguished. An organization will fail at preventing a rise in turnover if pay is not competitive (in this tight labor market). Also, if its key employees don’t see that the organization takes an active interest in their careers and is investing in near term and long term innovation.
If your organization looks like it’s going nowhere, your top talent will be going somewhere!
It’s halfway through the year. What are your predictive measures?
Does your workforce identify with your company’s purpose? Do they understand and have confidence in the organization’s strategies? When asked on pulse surveys, do over 90% of your workforce plan to stay with the company over the next year? Or, are you seeing a rise in employee turnover and rejection of your job offers? Are you tracking these leading indicators?
Do you have strategies and measures in place for these emerging trends?
Pay. Last month, the U.S. economy added 287,000 jobs, and pay rose and average of 2.6%, the fastest annual rate since 2009. Many economists expect pay to rise further because they see it as fundamental for attracting and retaining millennials. Are you preparing for the highest salary program in several years? Do you have good mechanisms for differentiating your best performers from the rest so that you can reward them for their significant contributions?
Benefits. Paid family leave for both genders is increasingly becoming a key benefit. So is being able to take uninterrupted vacations—not wired to a laptop while on the beach in Cancun. Are you keeping up with these trends? What do your employee satisfaction surveys tell you?
Motivation and engagement. What is the best way to motivate and engage your employees? It’s not having a barista bar or being able to take your dog to work. Instead, it is offering innovative and exciting work! How innovative is your work environment? Your organization’s culture of innovation can be measured and managed.[i] Companies that score highly on empirical, well-researched assessments of innovation have higher financial performance[ii] Rather than repeat the same employee engagement survey, why not assess your organization’s culture of innovation? Then, act on the recommendations and watch the engagement of your workforce, and your financial performance rise!
Leadership agility. Today’s fast changing, digital, global workforce requires leaders who can build relationships with all employees, whether they were born in Bangalore, Detroit, Frankfurt or New Rochelle, NY. Employees need leaders who can relate equally to men and women, baby boomers and Generation Z. Companies need leaders who can learn quickly, adapt to rapidly changing circumstances, and remain calm in the face of tough challenges and ambiguity. Those leaders who can align, inspire and hold accountable diverse teams in our fast-paced business world are the leaders who will accelerate the growth of their companies. How are your tools and processes for identifying the employees with these competencies? How effectively are you developing and motivating them? Are your leaders up to the challenge?
Performance Management. You won’t achieve a strong culture of innovation and the top-tier financial results that go with it, without a performance management system that communicates the company’s business model and strategies and effectively aligns, motivates, develops and manages your workforce. The performance management systems of the 1990s, with their rankings, ratings and annual-only performance feedback and reviews, won’t cut it today. Many companies have abandoned these systems for more interactive, collaborative and frequent-feedback systems that emphasize collaboration and development, as well as performance. Read More. Do you know the impact of your performance management system on the innovation and performance of your employees and teams?
Flexible work. Surveys consistently show that today’s employees want exciting work, great work technology, meaningful mentoring relationships and flexible work. Are you moving toward this trend, or are you too comfortable in an “everyone shows up at work” environment? Do you know the best mix of work space, technology and time for your various departments and teams? Read More.
It’s half way through the year. What are your talent management and business measures telling you about the success of your talent management strategies? What changes are you planning for 2017? Join the discussion.
Victor Assad is the CEO of Victor Assad Strategic Human Resources Consulting and is a Managing Partner of InnovationOne. He consults on talent management, leadership development and coaching, innovation, and other strategic initiatives. Please e-mail Victor at victorassad6@gmail.com or visitwww.victorhrconsultant.com. For innovation visit www.InnovationOne.US.
[i] C. Brooke Dobni, (2008), Measuring Innovation Culture in Organizations: The development of a generalized innovation culture construct using exploratory factor analysis. European Journal of Innovation Management, Vol. 11, No. 4, 2008. Pp. 539-559. Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 1460-1060. DOI 10.1108/14601060810911156. Found at www.emeraldinsight.com/1460-1060.htm.
[ii] C. Brooke Dobni, (2011), “The relationship between innovation and orientation and organizational performance,” Int. J. Innovation and Learning, Vol. 10, No. 3, 2011. Copyright 2011 Inderscience Enterprises, Ltd.