Decentralizing Your Operating and Talent Models the Right Way

Organizations, People, Systems|

This article was first originally published in Sloan Management Review in October 2020.

As companies recognize that the timeline for moving past the impact of COVID-19 may lengthen into 2021 and maybe even beyond, key structures and processes within global organizations are coming under great strain.

Before the pandemic, centralized experts within organizations could easily travel across the globe to where they were needed. Global talent development and culture strategies relied on sending experts between home country and international assignments, and on developing local talent that was subsequently deployed in other regions in order to develop a true global mindset.

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New Leadership Challenges for the Virtual World of Work

Organizations, People, Systems|

This article was first originally published in Sloan Management Review in June 2020.

The COVID-19 pandemic has suddenly and dramatically upended the working world, creating unanticipated business and leadership challenges. Some organizations are pivoting hard to new delivery channels, new products, and new operating models without having enough time to manage the impact of these changes thoughtfully. As a result, many executives currently find themselves shooting from the hip, bereft of their usual channels to engage deeply with stakeholders and gain agreement on the path forward.

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A Long Time Until the Economic New Normal

Organizations, People, Systems|

This article was first originally published in Sloan Management Review in April 2020.

We are in the middle of a historic rupture in the economic fabric of our society. The COVID-19 pandemic has already had a pervasive impact on the United States, and economic and financial market experts are hotly debating how quickly the economy will recover once we get “on the other side” of the contagion and the enormous pressures it has placed on our health care system. Although it is too early to estimate the exact economic impact, it is likely that full recovery of economic activity, including GDP growth, jobs, and unemployment, will take at least a year, and likely much longer.

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Your operating model needs a Brand Strategy

Organizations, Systems|

A winning brand strategy is essential for a successful business strategy. Done right, the brand strategy clearly articulates the customer value proposition – why our customers pick us over the competition. Leaders know this and strive for the clarity of purpose a winning brand strategy provides. A simple and compelling brand strategy can focus everyone’s attention on a very small number of strategic priorities that define strategic success, providing a “true north” to focus on.

Yet when it comes to implementing the brand strategy through the operating model, that same sense of clarity and purpose is often lost. An enormous amount of complexity has to be addressed to bring it to life in the areas of organization design, staffing, developing capabilities, goal setting, accountability for performance, operational excellence, and so much more. That complexity is why organizations struggle with many aspects of strategy execution.

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Systems diagnostics are essential to create high performance

Organizations, Systems|

I have spent the better part of two decades helping organizations solve big, complex challenges that hold back performance and create problems with strategy execution. The problems have varied from talent to teams to the operating model and workforce management. And the solutions have ranged from compensation, to communication, to work redesign, matrix decision making, leadership behaviors, and much more. But the one thing that has been a critical part of the diagnosis and finding solutions in all cases has been systems thinking.

Systems thinking has roots that trace back over six decades ago to Kurt Lewin (1951), and include approaches promoted by prominent authors including Leavitt (1965), Galbraith (1977), Tichy (1983), and many more. At its most fundamental, this approach demands that we look at the entire organizational system when diagnosing the sources of performance problems to identify solutions that work.

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Talent is an organizational capability

People, Systems|

Everyone knows what talent management means, right? Yet despite widely accepted common practice, most talent management approaches fall way short of the mark when it comes to improved strategy execution and organizational effectiveness.

When we talk about accomplishing business objectives and achieving strategic success, the talent that’s embodied in people plays a critical role: without the contributions of individuals, nothing would ever happen. Yet this traditional way of defining and focusing on talent leaves a gaping hole in what we need to know: there are other major components of work design that must be included to optimize organizational performance and achieve strategic success. No one is an island, and that applies in spades at work.

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Beware the HR Analytic Barbarians

People, Systems|

“We have met the enemy and they are us” – Commodore Oliver Perry, 1813

I am truly impressed at the explosion of interest in HR analytics in recent years. It seems like almost every week there is another conference somewhere in the world where people come together to share war stories and compare best practices. The excitement about what people are working on and what might be accomplished is palpable, and I don’t want to be a buzz kill. However …

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Winning the HR Analytics Arms Race

People, Systems|

People usually equate high performance with employee engagement. Yet engagement is not the same as productivity and performance. How engaged people are depends on the work design, and the work design itself can promote productivity separately from employee engagement. Individual ability also is a critical contributor. Together they are the three main contributors to job performance: state of mind, ability, and job design. Engagement refers only to the first, yet the other two are arguably more important, especially for sustained performance over an extended time.

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I solemnly swear … an HR data and analytics manifesto

People, Systems|

In the spirit of the election season, I would like to propose a type of nonpartisan party platform for candidates for analytical leader or officer positions within organizations. And even if you aren’t in charge of analytics, these are good principles to live by as someone who has to wrestle with what the analyses in your organization really mean and how best to use them – or ignore them.

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Let ‘em eat Pi: Making sense of the HR analytics revolution

People, Systems|

In honor of Pi Day (March 14), I decided this is a good time to channel Marie Antoinette and take stock of the current state of the HR analytics revolution. Just like with any revolution, the current state of HR analytics appears to have its share of zealous converts, soldiers and civilians, active resisters, and PR that obscures what’s really happening on the front lines. And perhaps the biggest question is whether it’s a genuine revolution that’s truly advancing the “national interests” of the business or a distraction that’s drawing attention away from where the real battles should be waged. As the risk of the analytics hoards storming the castle in protest, here are some personal reflections. (more…)

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