By Bill Allen and Dhaval Bhagat
Heading into this next decade, all eyes are on HR to navigate us through the complexities of our post-pandemic reality.
“We have bigger things to do right now than focus on value.”
This is what I have been hearing in many of the conversations I’ve been having with private equity owners and operators in the last while. We live in strange times indeed when value (traditionally expressed as market cap), an all-encompassing indicator of success, takes a back seat.
The way I look at it, onboarding programs should be taken more seriously in the world of talent management. Done well, onboarding can help people in roles critical to a company’s value agenda get traction in their jobs much sooner, accelerate results, and reduce time to value. Onboarding, therefore, has to be more than just a matter of lining up a series of personal introductions. It should be a matter of precisely introducing a person to what is “new” to them—the specifics of their work, the challenges of the business, the anticipated risks they will face, as well as their key working relationships—in a way that will have a significant positive impact on both their performance and their results.
Like most CHROs, I have spent all of my career operating within the universe of talent management. The established, widely accepted practices and processes of talent management, many of which are highly consensual, have stood me in good stead. In fact, I and my C-suite partners have only ever had one serious concern when we look at our well-equipped HR departments: how we manage talent isn’t always linked tightly with what is relevant to the company’s performance.
It is up to you as CEO to calm the chaos and focus your organization’s people and resources on values-based value creation.
Considering the number and scope of the decisions you have to make these days, it’s probably not even humanly possible to look at everything being brought to you. The reality is that the important, urgent issues being thrown at you are not going to stop. The emotions being stirred up are not going to subside quickly. Spreading yourself thin to cover everything won’t get you or your company far in this day and age. What you need is leverage.
C-suite leaders have been inundated by the practical problems they are facing in the wake of COVID-19. Many have had to completely rethink what matters to their business and adjust their operations accordingly. In the initial turmoil of the pandemic, many people became more amenable to change. Now some individuals are insisting, “Everything will be different.” Such desire for sweeping change, while it may be based in good intentions, noble aspirations and opportunistic thinking, is not always realistic.
Welcome to part 2 of our New Work of HR series.
In part 1, our Founders considered their perspectives on Talent and Performance Management within the context of the Jobs To Be Done. Part 2 builds on these insights by exploring how Talent and Performance Management practices must change in order to meet today’s demands of greater impact and growth.
Welcome to part 1 of our New Work of HR series.
In this 6-part video series, our founders Sandy Ogg, Sumeet Salwan and Shefali Salwan discuss the new work of HR. This new work requires us to focus our attention on Talent Management, Organization Shaping and connecting talent — and values — to value. In part 1 of our series, Sandy and Shefali consider their perspectives on Talent Management and Performance Management within the context of the Jobs To Be Done, the pre-defined jobs that will deliver the value outcome as specified in the Role•Talent Card.
Sandy Ogg and Shefali Salwan discuss how HR leaders can elevate their function by understanding the value of getting the right talent in critical roles.
Once seen as a necessary, but mundane function of the business, HR leaders were the people with “soft skills”. The traits of a great CHRO have evolved again as CHROs are now at the core of the business, reporting directly to the CEO. That means new skills and abilities are required to help propel the business forward.
