Axiom colleague Juan Pablo Gonzalez in Workspan magazine shares ideas for aligning strategy, organization and talent to drive business results.

1. 4 | 11
®
The Magazine of WorldatWork ©
The
Right Fit The Importance of Talent
in Creating Alignment
and Driving Results
By Juan Pablo González, Axiom Consulting Partners
To create With rapid developments and shifts in
shockproof the economy, technology and customer
businesses, expectations, businesses — even those
widely regarded as successful — are
leaders must be
often only one shock away from failure.
diligent in how
Leaders spend countless hours trying
they manage to derive the perfect business strategy
talent and execute or organization design, only to be
a shockproof thrown off-kilter by an unanticipated
approach. change. When faced with a crisis that
puts a business in peril, some leaders
make the mistake of turning to quick-
fix solutions, such as downsizing,
eDItOr’S nOte
This is an excerpt from Shockproof: How to
Hardwire Your Business for Lasting Success.
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2. divestiture, hiring a “savior” leader or and rewarding talent in helping organiza- most valuable. In some cases, the best
overinvesting in the latest flavor-of-the tions maintain alignment among talent, candidates may have a great deal in
month management consulting fad. strategy and organization. common with current staff. In others,
To succeed, leaders need to focus on To create shockproof businesses, it’s just the opposite.
aligning business strategy, organiza- leaders must be diligent in how they 2. Talent deployment: Placing
tion and talent so their organizations manage talent and execute a shock- the right people in the right jobs is
are more resilient. This point was proof approach, composed of the a hallmark of shockproof organiza-
proven by the authors’ interviews with following four critical elements. tions. These businesses maintain a
more than 50 executives from leading 1. Talent acquisition: The right thorough understanding of the talent
public and private companies for the approach for talent acquisition is they have and the talent they need.
book Shockproof: How to Hardwire Your specific to your business and very They have a clear sense of the rela-
Business for Lasting Success. The book’s much a function of the talent you seek. tive value of key positions, and make
premise is that by aligning strategy, Unfortunately, many organizations sure that they assign their best talent
organization and talent (see Figure 1), gloss over this point and treat talent to the jobs that have the greatest
HR leaders and other executives can acquisition as nothing more than impact. By segmenting their talent
prepare their businesses to better filling open job requisitions as fast as the way many businesses segment
withstand changes in their environ- they can. This approach often results in their customers, these organizations
ment (i.e., “shocks”). This is in contrast mismatched talent and missed oppor- are smart about how they allocate
to a more traditional approach where tunities to bring in people who can resources. Furthermore, realizing
leaders seek to succeed through excel- take the business to the next level. that talent is always in flux, they
lence in one or more of the three Excellence in talent acquisition continuously assess the alignment
alignment areas — for example, begins with determining what types of between their talent needs and the
conducting the most thorough analysis roles, skills and people are required for talent they have on board. Leaders in
to devise the best strategy, creating success. Because talent is such a valu- talent deployment maintain detailed
the perfect organization design or able and important asset, and because talent inventories and compare their
just getting the best people on the the cost of bad decisions is so high, company’s talent needs to both current
proverbial bus. However, prioritizing smart businesses conduct “make, buy and anticipated bench strength.
alignment over these essential areas or rent” analyses to determine their Like a chess master, organizations
is the foundation of lasting success, talent requirements before beginning that excel in talent deployment think
because most organizations are the recruitment process. They begin several moves ahead. They are delib-
multifaceted and face continuous sourcing and evaluating candidates erate in staffing “feeder” roles to build
change in their external and internal only after they have gained a clear bench strength to meet their expected
environments. Thus, trying to get sense of the skills, competencies, talent needs. This practice is evident in
it perfect fails to address the issue values and experience that will be organizations that hire employees into
of sustainability. rotational assignment programs, with
This article takes a closer look at a key FIGURE 1: THE SHOCKPROOF MODEl the objective of teaching new recruits
element of alignment — talent — cour- the business prior to assigning them
tesy of two excerpts from Shockproof. to permanent positions.
Strategy
3. Talent development:
FIRST ExCERPT: The Role of Talent Talent development represents a
The following workspan-exclusive excerpt tremendous opportunity for busi-
explores what HR leaders and other nesses to protect and increase the
executives can do (and have done) to align value of the talent they already have.
strategy, organization and talent. In this leadership Often thought of as the work of the
chapter from Shockproof, the role of human resources or training depart-
talent in creating lasting success ments, talent development is an area
is explored. Specifically, the chapter Organization Talent where leaders and employees can work
illustrates the role of talent acquisition, together to make their organizations
talent deployment, talent development more shockproof.
52 workspan 04/11

3. Talent and what it must do to succeed
is continuously evolving. Changes in
When leaders
the economy, industry developments,
regional trends, cultural evolution
and new priorities within individual
and employees
businesses themselves will render even
the highest-level performer obsolete
if he or she doesn’t regularly hone the
share accountability
skills necessary to perform his or her
job. Like typewriters, eight-track tape
for developing talent,
players and rotary-dial telephones,
many of the things we once held dear
are quick to lose their relevance.
the result is much like what Employers and employees often look
to talent development as the means
happens when you hire a personal for renewing and recalibrating their
capabilities. Those who do it well make
trainer to improve performance. use of formal and informal learning
opportunities and share accountability
for results among key stakeholders.
When employees take ownership of
their careers and their development,
and the companies they work for
When leaders and employees share think of rewards as a paycheck, provide clarity regarding expectations
accountability for developing talent, the shockproof organizations take a more and resources, the result is more mean-
result is much like what happens when integrated view and include compen- ingful, more relevant development.
you hire a personal trainer or a tennis sation, benefits, culture, career and Organizations where this happens are
coach to improve performance. Practice work environment. These offerings better able to resist shocks because
becomes more focused and deliberate, form the basis for what is sometimes they maintain alignment between
and both student and coach have the termed an exchange relationship, in their business imperatives and the
same goal. The coach can’t exercise or which the employer offers rewards learning and preparation necessary
play on behalf of his or her student, to its employees in exchange for to achieve results. Susan Peters, GE’s
and the student must take personal their contributions to the employer’s chief learning officer, was quoted
accountability to improve his or her success. This view, which has been in BusinessWeek as saying that the
performance. Similarly, employees in persistent and evolving over the past company is “working on ‘21st century’
shockproof organizations are clear about quarter century, lays a foundation for attributes.” The same article says that
their objectives, know their strengths an emerging shockproof approach to John Lynch, senior vice president for
and seek opportunities to learn rewards. (Author’s note: To learn more corporate human resources, believes
and grow. They avail themselves of about the shockproof approach to rewards, that “the beauty of GE’s system is that
on-the-job learning opportunities, seek read “Renewable Rewards for Renewable it can be adapted rapidly to a shifting
informal mentors, and make the most of Enterprises,” workspan, January 2010.) environment. Under [former chairman
performance management and develop- and CEO John] Welch, for example, the
ment processes designed to help them SECOnD ExCERPT: The Power of prized skills were cost-cutting, effi-
develop new skills and abilities. leadership Development ciency and deal making. Then [Jeffrey]
4. Rewarding talent: Rewards The following excerpt features a detailed Immelt came in, calling for risk-taking,
often serve as the lens through which illustration of the success one company’s customer focus and innovation.”
employees view their relationships division had in creating a leadership Hudson Australia/New Zealand has
with their employers or prospective development solution that is aligned with had notable success hardwiring busi-
employers. Whereas many people strategy by design. ness imperatives through its leadership
workspan 04/11 53

4. development programs, as well. A division of $700-million and using the same language and capabilities,” effectively
professional staffing and talent management firm Hudson melting the “permafrost” Steyn had initially encountered.
Highland Group Inc., this business named Mark Steyn Steyn’s “willingness to invest his own discretionary time
president and CEO in 2008. Steyn had little experience and effort to be personally involved” in creating content
in the recruiting and talent management industry, so as stood out to Noon, and she believes that the leadership
a first step, he set about getting to know the business he team’s experience working together to create SmartBusi-
had been charged to lead. According to Tracy Noon, Hudson ness helped them “get the various strands of strategy,
Australia/New Zealand’s chief human resources officer, structure and people into alignment … which helped them
Steyn returned from his travels and described what he see how things hang together in ways that are not always
initially encountered as “permafrost” in his leadership evident at the ‘helicopter level.’”
layers — the further he went down the organization, the What about the program participants for whom Smart-
less alignment, understanding and support for the business Business was created? They were the ultimate beneficiaries
strategy. Steyn believed that to be successful, his leaders of Hudson’s efforts to link strategy development and
needed to be effective in “translating strategy into action strategy execution. In addition to working in an increas-
at the ground level,” and that “no matter how enthusiastic ingly well-aligned business, Noon reports that participants
senior and middle managers were about the strategy, they “said it was the most relevant, most useful ‘training
would not be able to do so” unless they built new capabilities. program’ they’d ever participated in. All of the feedback
Faced with this challenge, Noon and Steyn applied a was extremely positive,” and Hudson is continuing to
progressive approach to building leaders’ capabilities. refine its program to keep it fresh and relevant to its
Rather than just teaching them, they decided to engage Australia/New Zealand business.
the organization’s top leaders in instituting a develop-
ment program that they themselves would roll out to the Hardwiring Your Company for lasting Success
organizations they led. “It was a really good example of workspan readers — HR and total rewards leaders — are
experiential and action learning,” Noon said. “The benefits well positioned to help their organizations maximize the
were that these leaders had their own learning experience role of talent in aligning with organization and strategy
in developing the content because it challenged them to to drive results. By partnering with line leaders in creating
refine their ideas and decide what was really important.” effective solutions for talent acquisition, deployment,
As the Hudson team developed the program’s content, development and rewards, they are uniquely positioned
Noon says they “realized that [they] had to drive it deeper to help their organizations become shockproof.
into the organization, to frontline supervisors” in order
to “get everyone speaking the same language and get the Portions excerpted with permission from the pub-
business in synch.” lisher, John Wiley & Sons Inc., from Shockproof,
The team developed this program using “real [Hudson] by Debra Jacobs, Garrett Sheridan and Juan
data,” Noon said, rather than case examples, making the Pablo González. Copyright © 2010.
learning more relevant both to the program designers, as
well as to the intended participants. And, they worked ABOut the AuthOr
diligently to refine their strategy and business model along Shockproof co-author Juan Pablo González
the way. Building the curriculum — based on Hudson’s is based in Axiom Consulting Partners’
SmartBusiness program, designed by the company’s Euro- Washington, D.C., office. He can be reached
pean leadership team — created an opportunity for leaders at jgonzalez@axiomcp.com.
to come together and advance not only their understanding
of the business, but their perspective on the future, too.
Unlike many leadership development programs that are
RESOURCES PLUS
designed by human resources, the SmartBusiness curric-
ulum was created by the leaders themselves — all the way For more information, books and education related to this topic, log
on to www.worldatwork.org and use any or all of these keywords:
to the top. “What was really different about this was the
• Business strategy
engagement of the CEO and his team in developing and • Talent management
designing the content,” Noon said. The result, she said, was • Talent development.
“all levels of leadership singing from the same hymn sheet
workspan 04/11 55