I have to admit I found that particular metaphor very catchy when I encountered in Nilofer Merchant’s June 2 blog post on the Harvard Business Review site. Her blog post titled People Aren’t Cogs discussed some of the same issues that have perplexed me for decades- why don’t more organizations get the fact that investing in the talents and abilities is not only a critical strategy, but it is good for business?
I think the following two quotes sum up the conventional wisdom that continues to be proliferated in most organizations-
"Companies have a hard time distinguishing between the cost of paying people and the value of investing in them."
- Thomas A Stewart
1948
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I have been kind of following a post on the Harvard Business Review blog about a hypothetical conversation between a CFO and a CEO that goes something like this – “The CFO says, ‘what if we invest in people through training and development and they leave us for a competitor? ’
The CEO responds ‘what if we don’t and they stay’.”
To date that post has received close to 400 “likes” and 350+ comments ranging from anecdotal to pedantic dialogues on the merits of both positions with the occasional shot at why HR stinks thrown in.
I personally despise the term human capital. As I have said here before the term to me implies something very transactional and short term. We lose sight of people as individuals. The combined talents and abilities of our staff do represent a significant asset and investment, but here is a news flash -
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Maybe it was the few days I got to spend in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains last week with a number of truly talented students, faculty, and industry leaders representing the biomedical engineering field. The venue at Clemson University was amazing and it wouldn’t be an overstatement to describe many of the people I had a chance to interact with as brilliant.
Whatever the cause I found myself very thoughtful and contemplative as I flew west and receptive to new ideas and the interpretation of ideas I had previously.
I am a big fan of the site BNET.com. I feel like they provide a lot of value added content, but this week they were on fire. A couple of articles/posts particularly stood out for me.
Making the transition from individual contributor to manager or entrepreneur to “corporate” executive is one of the most difficult shifts most of us will face in our careers. A study conducted by a national management consulting firm a few years back indicated that more than 40% of newly appointed managers fail in their first 18 months on the job!
As a consultant working with many entrepreneurs attempting to grow their businesses either for continuity purposes or for sale I see them experience many of the same issues.
In many cases these issues boil down to developing and maintaining effective relationships.
Our educational system has a bias towards “technical” skills and individual achievement. Winning means getting the best grades and “setting the curve” as an individual.
“Inside my empty bottle I was constructing a lighthouse while all the others were making ships”
Charles Simic
Last week as I mentioned in my blog I had a chance to talk with my sister in law; a very talented communications professional, about iconic brands, connections and related concepts.
We talked about what creates an iconic brand, she felt the elements include among other things:
- A defining brand truth. Think about the concept of a defining brand truth. It articulates value statement not only to your customers, but also to your employees. It allows them to commit rather than merely comply.
- A set of in transient principles. Great brands refuse to compromise on their principles. They may change a process or a look, but they retain their essence. What they represent is foundational and consistent.
“When the pace of change outside an organization becomes greater than the pace of change inside the organization, the end is near.”
John R. Walter, President, ATT
Our current situation is in turmoil. We are facing the most significant recession since the 1930’s, we see businesses closing or cutting back. So far at least half of the financial bailout hasn’t yielded significant results. Banks are still not lending.
Here are a few other “pre-meltdown” considerations for you as well-
Eric Allenbaugh, a Lake Oswego based managed consultant published an article describing the three primary cultures represented in corporate America-
You may already be familiar with Compliance to Commitment™, which I have also referred to as forging employee engagement as a strategic weapon in your competitive arsenal. While much of the information I have shared previously has been anecdotal, a recent white paper from the Peppers & Rogers Group, Engagement - the New Competitive Advantage, provides additional validation for developing employee commitment to improve your business.
One of the first things the Peppers & Rogers study distinguishes is a new view of engagement relative to the traditional view of intellectual, behavioral, and emotional levels. To describe those a little more fully, the intellectual level is when an employee agrees with your company vision statement, and/or a customer values the attributes of your brand. The behavioral level, recommending or purchasing your product or service, is when you start to see energy or discretionary effort. The third level, the emotional level, is when you actually see “buy in” and enthusiasm. You can see how, in some ways, this approach parallels Ron Willingham’s three dimensions of congruency: I think, I feel, and I am. Willingham pointed out, and Pepper and Rogers agree, that the emotional “buy in” is much more impactful than the intellectual appeal.
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