Your Business Strategy Needs A Talent Strategy

Last week I was a guest blogger over at CEO.com.  

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So what happens if I create strategy and ‘ignore’ the talent side since we have never paired the two together?”

As a senior faculty member for the Human Capital Institute, I was leading a two-day strategic workforce planning session in Aduja, Africa when that question was posed to me. I stopped in my tracks and tried to take my facilitator hat off while putting my consultant hat on.

I thought, “How could you not?” If the CEO and her team are developing their strategic plan, this process cannot be complete unless the talent implications are reviewed. I like to think of it as shining your strategy through the prism of talent. It is meaningless to conduct or create a strategic initiative if your talent configuration is not there. If your plans are to move your organization to the proverbial “next level,” your chance of being successful is hampered because the consideration of the organizational capabilities is not within the equation.

Today, as business leaders are struggling to get their organizations back on track, the organizational leverage and its connection to the enterprise are becoming more important. The vast majority of companies develop a business strategy that typically covers strategic plans on market positioning, investment, growth and other major initiatives. This is normally a rigorous process; however it is rarely paired to the talent strategy of the organization.

Execution by its very nature begs for talented individuals being in the right spot to increase the propensity of success. You can lay out the best strategic direction covering all the key areas within your organization, but if you are not equipped, or the talent implications are not taken into consideration, your successes could be hampered.

For any company to confidently pursue its strategy in this uber-competitive environment, organizational considerations have to be recognized as the key to unlocking organizational success.

Every organization must make significant investments in its talent to be successful. Success requires visionary leaders, not only in the C-Suite but through exceptional talent at all levels. There must be not only organizational strategies but also strategies to keep that talent current, motivated and focused.

Whether it is managing talent worldwide or nationally, you must have a thorough assessment of your workforce to know your organizational capabilities and achieve superior results. Every organization needs to support a culture of high performance where teamwork, accountability, results and recognition are ingrained.

In a study by Right Management the question was asked, “Do you believe your organization’s talent management strategy is aligned with its business objectives?”

These were the responses:

• ·         37% — Yes, the strategy is aligned to meet our business objectives.
• ·         46% — Yes, but the strategy is only somewhat aligned to meet business objectives.
• ·         18% — There is no alignment with business objectives.

That means that close to 65 percent are at various stages of misalignment. It also means that strategic initiatives that could possibly have resulted in untold millions in opportunity were lost. Yet this is a continual process during their strategic review process. These numbers will probably not move significantly unless the mindset of leadership changes and talent levels become paramount in the strategic equation.

Any organization that creates an effective talent management strategy not only enhances the brand of that organization but develops a DNA of their workforce, work-groups and strategic roles that are paramount in driving strategy. With this knowledge in place no matter what the endeavor or strategic emphasis you have a way to analyze the directions through the talent you have.

This DNA-driven process with profile data, work-group analysis, trend analysis, talent levels, organizational culture and talent capabilities may prove that the strategy was the easy part. However, once you create this profile of your workforce, you have a snapshot of the capabilities of the organization.

This fact-finding initiative will give you a blueprint of your workforce, enabling any leader to thoroughly assess their initiatives through a talent lens. Once this overlay of your workforce is done, it should become part of the standard process in strategy creation. It will provide a level of laser-like focus that you would not have had if this most important step were not included in the process.

So as your organization seeks innovation, globalization, market superiority or whatever the strategic vision, the defining line will be the capabilities of your talent level. Use it and increase the level of execution.

Don’t use it and you are pretty much assured business as usual.