DEVELOPING D
eloittes Human Capital Culture trumps strategy
Trends 2016 identified that,
The new organisation, as we call
it, is built around highly empowered
TALENT FOR
teams, driven by a new model of
management, and led by a breed of
younger, more globally diverse leaders.
THE NEW
To lead this shift toward the new
organisation, CEOs and HR leaders
are focused on understanding and
creating a shared culture, designing
ORGANISATION
a work environment that engages
people, and constructing a new model
of leadership and career development.
In competition for skilled people,
organisations are vying for top talent
in a highly transparent job market
BY NINA MOSTAFA and becoming laser-focused on their
external employment brand.
External employment brand is
about the people feeding the culture
internally. It is about a job being more
than just a job. It is about a culture
where every person passionately
gives the best that they can to a cause
they believe in the organisation. This
is priceless.
There can be no separation
between corporate culture and
brand. An organisation can have
the best marketing and corporate
communications aligned with a best
practice business strategy to market
its brand, but if its people do not
believe the brand and what it stands
for, they will not live it. And if they
do not live it. You will hear it in their
voice, see it in their actions, and feel it
in their work.
This means that human resources
(HR) and learning and development
(L&D) professionals lend a powerful
voice to the paradigm shift from
the old organisation to the new
organisation. And senior leaders
need to listen to them. Because the
competition for skilled people is
high and organisations need to focus
on developing their talent so they
stand a chance of survival in the new
world.
But how to do this?
12 | AUGUST 2016 | TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT
American management consultant,
educator, and author Peter Drucker
once said: Culture eats strategy for
breakfast. People make up the culture
of an organisation. It is the cumulative
traits of those people that organically
feeds the organisations culture. It is the
pervasive values, beliefs and attitudes
that characterise a company.
In the move towards a new
organisation, there is a hunger for
culture that encourages collaboration
and communication. And HR
professionals moving into the new
organisation are asking to feed culture.
Why? Because there is no point having a
brilliant strategy if your business culture
is toxic.
Before you start to blueprint what the
culture is, it is important to understand
that culture stems from job satisfaction.
Which leads us to a very important
question: What exactly do people want
from their jobs? Is it simply a matter
of a higher salary? Or do they want
security, good relationships with co-
workers, opportunities for growth and
advancement? Or perhaps something
else altogether?
This is an important question, because
it is at the root of motivation, indeed, the
art of engaging members of your team
in such a way that they give their very
best performance. The danger here
is presuming what motivates us also
motivates others.
By identifying the most important
factor that motivates a person at work,
managers and leaders can then use
this tool to enhance performance
management conversations with staff
and delegate appropriately. Because
once you find out what makes your team
tick, you can better engage and inspire
them.
It is then that you start to feed a
workforce that in turn, feeds the
organisation and culture. Once you feed
the culture and nourish it, the people
naturally want to give back to you.
WWW.AITD.COM.AU
People make up the culture of an organisation. It is the cumulative traits
of those people that organically feeds the organisations culture. It is the
pervasive values, beliefs and attitudes that characterise a company.
Feeding a workforce that feeds
the new organisation
Clinical psychologist Frederick Herzberg
identified that we have two sets of needs;
one to avoid pain, and the other, to grow
psychologically.
Touted as one of the great original
minds of management and motivational
theory, he was essentially concerned
with peoples wellbeing at work.
Herzberg was the first to show that
satisfaction and dissatisfaction at work
nearly always arose from different
factors, and were not simply opposing
reactions to the same factors, as was
previously believed.
Herzberg identified that to feel
satisfied in their jobs, people reached for
motivators, talent development being
one of them. In fact, talent development
ticks at least three of the motivational
factors as outlined by Herzberg. Talent
development is also identified as the
highest level of Abraham Maslows
Hierarchy of Needs, where a person is
said to realise their full potential.
This is where training, learning and
development come in.
Business strategy should drive
the talent development strategy
While culture is key, strategy too,
needs to grow some wings. In the
paradigm shift to the new organisation,
a companys business strategy needs
to adopt a robust talent development
strategy. And the two need to align. The
talent development strategy will ensure
the goals of the business are achieved.
Its integral for HR and Talent
Acquisition Managers to work with
senior leaders and CEOs to execute
this shift.
The key to embracing and supporting
talent development in embracing the
WWW.AITD.COM.AU
shift towards the new organisation is in
ensuring a sound process that stems
from a sound business strategy and that
includes the following criteria:
Have a business strategy: Analyse
where the business currently sits and
where it wants to be.
Analyse your skills gap: Analyse what
skills are required to get the business
from here to there.
Close the gaps: And do this quickly.
This is where training comes in to
fill those skills gaps. Ensure that
there is training not simply to meet
now needs, but also future needs. 2016: The new organisation: Different by design,
Remember, training and talent
development is cheaper than
backfilling and re-hiring.
Plant and grow the right seeds: Who
you hire and choose to promote is
crucial to the culture. And if we have
learned anything from this article, this
includes the talent development sub-
culture within the business.
Execute goal alignment: Have
conversations to ensure individual
and team goals continuously align
with company goals. Quality check
that training initiatives align with
company goals, too.
Evaluate: Just as important is
evaluating the success and wins as
well as the effectiveness of the training
initiative.
The human element
Developing talent is more than simply
training. It is embracing an initiative
where leaders coach and mentor their
successors. There is much value in
this. Sharing wisdom and knowledge
being one. And learning from legacy
experience being another. There is
much value in what you can learn from
conversations with people within the
organisation. So have those candid
and mature conversations that you
need to determine the strengths and
development needs of your staff. Find
what makes them tick, what helps them
function, and what helps them excel.
And then you will find, you are back to
where you were at the start where you
need to feed the culture to ensure you
also feed the strategy. Which starts the
cycle again.
References
Deloitte Australia 2016, Human Capital Trends
Melbourne, viewed 22 June 2016 http://www2.
deloitte.com/au/en/pages/human-capital/
articles/introduction-human-capital-trends.html
Coffman C and Sorensen K, 2013, Culture
Eats Strategy for Lunch, Liang Addison Press,
Highlands Ranch, CO
Herzberg F, Mausner B, and Snyderman B,
1959,(2nd ed.) The Motivation to Work, John Wiley,
New York, NY
Nina Mostafa is a Senior Instructional
Designer with corporate experience
creating innovative learning
solutions for digital and face-to-face
methodologies. With a learning and
development career spanning fifteen
years, she brings business acumen and
marketing credibility into each designed
solution. Contact via LinkedIn.
TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT | AUGUST 2016 | 13
Copyright of Training & Development (1839-8561) is the property of Copyright Agency
Limited and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv
without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print,
download, or email articles for individual use.