- Align your people and talent strategies with your business strategy, ensuring clear, visible linkages so that your people can see why it matters and how it makes a difference
- Embed the people strategy into clear goals of all leaders and managers, across the organisation
- Make sure there is a continuous, cognitive drive to implement great talent development and management approaches through communications, your performance management approaches and even in day to day meetings
- Reward and recognise people for doing the right things in the right way, which align to your people strategy. Celebrate success openly
- Invest in your people, not just for today, but for tomorrow
- Involve and trust your people – to get the best out of them.
Strategic Importance of Leadership
A recent McKinsey report reveals a worrying disconnect between CEOs and HR leader’s overly buoyant beliefs around their talent and people development strategies compared to other leaders within their organisation. While 64% of both HR leaders and CEOs said their companies were high adopters of such strategies, only 42% of all other survey respondents agreed with the findings.
The report suggests that leaders within an organisation are the biggest impediment to implanting successful talent strategies into an organisation by placing a lack of emphasis on their strategic importance. So how do we help organisations address these issues and ensure success in this crucial area?
The need to embed people strategy into your company culture
A closer look at the findings show that organisations are often subconsciously giving out a message that people strategy isn’t important to the business. When thinking about the strategy, the route to success and growth it is easy to assume that the individuals in the leadership team will take care of developing and managing their people as part of their role. In fact, it often takes a back seat to the operational goals and individual tasks (especially when individuals are focussed on getting the job done). One third of non-CEOs agreed with the statement that ‘Our leadership doesn’t value talent best people practice’ seemingly underlying the need for people strategies to not only be talked about but also ‘lived’ amongst all levels of leaders in the business.
Investing time now for the future
McKinsey’s own analysis highlighted ‘short-termism’ affecting talent strategy, talent development and recruitment. Because of this, businesses may wake up one morning and find there is a lack of diversity, or key skills within their organisation; or that their people are demotivated and dis-engaged. In the long term this will impact both operational efficiency and profitability. It is only with a longer-term commitment to investing in talent, will organisations be able to grow and develop with sustained success. Leaders need to accept that they need to listen to, and involve their people at all levels; even if what they hear surprises them.
Making People Strategy come alive
People strategy needs to be a thread that runs through the entire business, not just something that appears on strap lines and mission statements. Here’s our top tips for making your people strategy come alive: