Align the workforce to strategic objectives

Citation

Mayo, A. (2014), "Align the workforce to strategic objectives", Strategic HR Review, Vol. 13 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/SHR-10-2013-0101

Align the workforce to strategic objectives

Article Type: How to … From: Strategic HR Review, Volume 13, Issue 2

Practical advice for HR professionals

I well remember when I worked in the computer industry in the eighties we made a deliberate strategic shift to move from selling pure hardware ("boxes" as they were referred to) to selling total "systems," including several elements of integrated hardware and software. The first year of this strategy had very limited success. The reason was not that the sales people had not been told; it was that their main driver in life – the incentive scheme – had not changed significantly enough to change their behavior. In addition, many struggled with the complexity of proposing systems rather than persuading customers to buy individual products, something they had been good at for many years.

I learnt from this an obvious lesson – "strategy" only has meaning in the workplace where its interaction with the work and behavior of affected employees is understood and specifically addressed. Many business strategies only affect a small proportion of the total workforce, and we cannot expect much interest from the rest. One has often seen opinion surveys that lament that "too many" employees "do not understand the company’s strategy." Most opinion surveys do not ask how important each question is to the person completing it, and yet this is vital information. We may find that few are over concerned by anything as remote or distant as a "strategy" that does not affect them.

Nevertheless we certainly need to align the appropriate part of our workforce to each strategic objective. The failure to do so in my earlier example led to competitive disadvantage as others succeeded faster in this industry-wide shift. Some strategies, such as a decision to outsource manufacturing overseas, cannot expect enthusiastic alignment and support from those affected. They need support through the change. Strategies that do require full commitment would include, for example, new organizational values, customer offerings, customer service, reorganization, amalgamation of facilities, alliances and partnerships, approaches to marketing, and so on.

So in order to achieve alignment and commitment, here are five things to get right:

1. Identify all the people involved in achieving the strategy. There are those who are directly affected, but also those that support them. Looking at our organization from a process point of view helps here, rather than vertically. As in all change, we need to anticipate reactions, use techniques such as stakeholder and force field analysis, and prepare a comprehensive program of alignment. Someone needs to be in charge of the change, planning and working with all the following steps as facilitator.

2. Achieve understanding of the new direction. This is more than just telling people or rolling out presentations to large groups in a conference center or the canteen. The goal should be that everyone involved has had the opportunity to question and discuss the change, and can describe the reasons for the new direction to others. We have a range of techniques today for large group interaction which gives everyone an opportunity to participate.

3. All those involved must identify how their work and behaviors need to change. This is a critical step. It needs meetings and workshops where people work out for themselves what must be different in the way they work. This is best done in workplace groups, following on from step two. It is important they also can bring up any barriers and difficulties they see, and these are worked through. Here we often find that there are barriers outside of their own control – how other departments work, for example. The facilitator may need to bring such groups together.

4. Analyze the training needed. This is not just about acquiring new knowledge, qualifications, or professional skills, but also personal skills, and often new behaviors also need to be learned. People do not just change their behaviors because they are told to do so. Managers and supervisors are critical here – they need to be coaches of their people towards the new direction, and may themselves be entrenched in established ways of doing things. They also may have new skills to learn, and this is often not fully recognized.

5. Align systems and processes to support the new direction. At the end of the day culture is dictated by "the way we do things around here." We cannot have a new customer service strategy that involves more empowerment of front line employees and then find that authority levels have not changed. Approaches to reward, as we saw earlier, must support and encourage the strategy and not work against it. Most importantly, the performance management system needs to align both departmental and individual objectives both horizontally and vertically. Indeed all the systems and processes in the organization need examining against the new strategy to see whether there are any inherent conflicts, and adjusted accordingly.

Andrew Mayo
Mayo Learning, Welwyn, UK

About the author

Andrew Mayo spent nearly 30 years in large corporations in both line and HR positions. Since 1995 he has run a consultancy company specializing in developing individual and organizational capability, and has been Professor of Human Capital Management at Middlesex University. He has authored a number of books, specializing in strategy and metrics and was President of the HR Society for six years. He is a member of the editorial board of Strategic HR Review. Andrew Mayo can be contacted at: http://andrew.mayo@mayolearning.com