Rewards Tag Archive

Decentralizing Your Operating and Talent Models the Right Way

October 2, 2020| 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.

(more…)
Read More →

New Leadership Challenges for the Virtual World of Work

June 4, 2020| 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.

(more…)
Read More →

A Long Time Until the Economic New Normal

April 10, 2020| 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.

(more…)
Read More →

Your operating model needs a Brand Strategy

October 3, 2019| 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.

(more…)
Read More →

Deploy a Strategic Human Capital Operating Model to Build Critical Org Capability

September 24, 2019| Organizations, People|

We live in a world of constantly evolving technology and ways to organize work. This means that people are in constant threat of their skills becoming less relevant or even obsolete. At the same time, organizations face the challenge of building new capabilities internally to take advantage of new technologies that will transform what they produce and how they produce it.

Organizations today take two different approaches to align their employees’ developmental needs with the business’ human capital needs: the laissez faire model and the planning model. Here I propose a third way, the strategic human capital operating model. It is currently used in a rare number of cases, and should become the standard all large companies strive to meet. It can reduce turnover and adoption costs for new technology, while improving employee morale, engagement and productivity.

(more…)
Read More →

Talent is an organizational capability

August 23, 2017| 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.

(more…)

Read More →

High Performance Work Design Trumps Employee Engagement

April 6, 2017| 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.

(more…)

Read More →

Show me the money: How and why compensation matters

April 27, 2016| People|

Every leader wants the best people possible working for them. Compensation is the most prominent and costly part of job design that directly impacts the bottom line in multiple ways. So not surprisingly line leaders pay inordinate attention to compensation when trying to maximize margins and performance. Yet there are many aspects of compensation that get lost or glossed over in the search for the perfect pay rate. Before your next heated conversation about how much to pay your people consider the following points.

(more…)

Read More →

Those contradictory Millennials!

January 28, 2016| People|

Who are Millennials and what do they really want?  There are so many stereotypes and caricatures of Millennials, it’s hard to know what’s fact versus fiction.

In Jennifer Deal’s and my new book What Millennials Want From Work we take a look at the complete picture of what defines Millennials and their desires. The book is based on survey data from more than 25,000 Millennials and 29,000 people from other generations in 22 countries.

We find that some of what you’ve heard about Millennials is true – to a certain extent – but that most of the hype is just that: hype. What’s most interesting is the complex and seemingly contradictory picture of Millennials that emerges. This truly is a “both/and” generation that is both complex and much more dynamic than much of what you’ve heard. (more…)

Read More →

Strategic Analytics is a team sport

November 10, 2015| People, Systems|

Right now senior leadership in both the business and in HR are leaving value on the table. We have to end the “business as usual,” nonintegrated way enterprise analytics and human capital analytics are conducted.

The lack of coordination is understandable at first glance. People are very busy: dividing business and HR process management and the accompanying analytics up into separate domains makes it easier to tackle the tasks. That way the leadership of the business and the leadership of HR stick to what they know best, including the analytics needed to monitor and assess progress. But the divide-and-conquer approach is precisely where things go wrong. (more…)

Read More →
↑