Rethinking the Value of Talent

comment contents 1 Rethinking the Rethinking the Value leading ideas leading Value of Talent Jeffrey Joerres and Dominique Turcq 3 My Customer, of Talent My Co-Innovator Michael Schrage by Jeffrey Joerres and marketplace. A company’s future 5 The Well-Designed Dominique Turcq growth and competitiveness depend Global R&D Network more than ever on attracting quali- Thomas Goldbrunner, Yves Doz, f companies managed financial fied workers — an increasingly and Keeley Wilson assets as carelessly as they do scarce resource — and helping them 6 The Coming Enterprise Ihuman assets, then sharehold- work efficiently together within the Software Shakeup ers, auditors, and regulators would organization. Business organizations Mitch Rosenbleeth, 1 Corrie DeCamp, and Stephen Chen come down hard on them for ineffi- are like theater troupes: Their suc- cient use of funds. Yet although it is cess depends on timing and on commonly accepted that individuals every person executing his or her are crucial to an organization’s suc- role, whatever it may be. cess, many companies cannot mea- Consequently, a strategic ap- sure or manage their employees’ proach to managing the value of contributions to corporate value. employees first requires a definition Two significant barriers stand of the roles that must be performed in the way of a more productive or on the corporate “stage.” This strategic approach to recruiting, means creating a taxonomy of jobs developing, and deploying employ- within the corporation that is con- ees. First, many managers are reluc- sistent across business units, coun- tant to categorize people, for fear of tries, and functions and is divorced appearing elitist. Second, human from the individuals working at resources departments typically clas- these jobs. As far as the organization sify individuals according to the is concerned, an employee is first functions or the business units — and foremost expected to fulfill a the vertical silos — in which they function, with a number of tasks work, not how essential their roles for which a number of skills are are, or what experience or other per- required. Some of these tasks are sonal qualities are required to per- technical and some are related to the form the role. No attempt is made employee’s relationships with co- to classify people horizontally across workers and outside agencies. functions or business units, accord- A bank teller, for example, must ing to how “business critical” they be able to handle simple transac- are. And even when a company does tions and be courteous; a chef consider an individual’s contribu- should be a good cook, act as a team tion to the success of the organiza- leader, and have a reliable reputation, it is all too often limited tion; an airline pilot is expected to to a discussion about performance fly a plane well and facilitate the air- rather than organizational measure- craft’s rapid turnaround; and a pro- ments of success. duction worker must perform a set issue 43 We believe that businesses need of technical tasks and meet ISO a far better understanding of the quality standards in doing so. strategic value of employees; it is Once the different roles have critical to success in the global been defined, management is in a strategy+business comment position to determine how impor- fashion house. These are scarce employees brings human resources tant each is to the company’s ability resources with skills that take a long approaches to a new level. to create value for customers and time to acquire and are costly to Basic management processes — ideas leading shareholders. In theater language, develop and maintain. sourcing, development and training, it’s the determination of which roles • Ambassadors represent the compensation, retention, and sepa- should have top billing and which organization’s public face and are ration — are conceptually the same can be played by character actors. responsible for customer experience. for all four employee segments. Certain jobs have a greater Among other positions, they are However, since each segment differs value impact on an organization; bank tellers, supermarket cashiers, in how critical it is to an organiza- there is a substantial risk to financial nurses, and field installation techni- tion’s success, the practical tools performance or reputation if these cians. In most cases, these workers used in applying these processes tasks are not performed well. In are easily replaceable and their skills will also differ. Take sourcing, for some cases, but not all, these jobs do not have to be particularly instance. Depending on a compa- merit higher compensation. Other sophisticated, but if they don’t do ny’s business model and operational 2 roles carry a significant cost impact, their job well, the business can suf- plans, employees in some segments, because they require a good bit of fer significantly. such as Creators and Ambassadors, training, development, and skill • Craft Masters ensure the are generally hired and trained as complexity to be performed ade- quality, timeliness, and cost-effec- part of the permanent corporate quately. These roles almost always tiveness of an organization — the head count. In other instances, command the highest salaries in the essential ingredients for the faultless however, Craft Masters, Drivers, organization. (See Exhibit 1.) execution of a business strategy. and sometimes even Creators are On this basis, we can classify an These are the design engineers in a structurally (though not organiza- organization’s roles into four broad high-tech business, the “nose” of a tionally) less closely integrated into segments, each of which requires perfume brand, the whiskey blender the organization. Instead, they are a significantly different talent- in a distillery, and the auditor in an brought on as temporary or contract management approach. accounting firm. staff or engaged as independent • Creators devise and imple- • Drivers keep the business consultants. ment an organization’s distinguish- running. They are assembly-line After the right people are cast in ing value proposition or business operators, back-office agents, and the right roles, they must be man- model. They include senior execu- administrative assistants. Although aged in different ways, according to tives and the chief designer in a they are neither crucial to the suc- those roles. For example, consider cess of a venture nor hard to hire, in two training officers, Jill and Jack. Exhibit 1: Organizational Roles most companies they represent the Jill is highly professional, and her A business is like a theater company: Each largest category of human capital, training efforts are almost always employee has a role that contributes to the and bad management of this group successful; she is a Craft Master. But organization’s value. can lead to operational disruption Jack is more creative and is expected Ambassadors Creators or quality problems. not only to train staffers well but also • Box-office • Principal In our system, the differences to improve the quality of the teach- salesperson ballerina among these four segments are ing materials. He was hired through • Flight attendant • Visionary CEO • Call-center agent • Renowned chef expressed in terms of talent valua- a headhunter, is paid more than Jill, tion — such attributes as knowl- and knows that he is depended upon Drivers Craft Masters edge, experience, skills, and personal to expand the limits of the training Value Impact Value • Supporting cast • Lighting director interaction capabilities — and not organization. Jack is a Creator. Jill member • Whiskey blender in terms of organizational structures and Jack have the same job title and, • Production worker • Clinic physician • B2B call-center (such as business units) or in human in general, do the same work. But agent resources management terms (such Jill and Jack are in separate business- as age, education, seniority, or com- critical categories, thus their salaries, Cost Impact pensation). This concept for strate- evaluations, and promotions must Source: Manpower Inc. gically managing the value of be handled differently. comment Dealing with employees in this ment of individuals’ roles. This ten- How did Cisco come to share way can be a complex balancing act dency is a dangerous handicap that this inside information? In the past, leading ideas leading for management. But it is exactly makes it impossible to measure the Cisco’s engineers and architects felt, what every manager already does — value of employees and, ultimately, often correctly, that most customers or should do — every day. For to compete successfully in the global and prospects simply wouldn’t un- example, the manager of an opera marketplace. + derstand their internal, informally house must continually handle a assembled aids. However, Cisco had number of distinct segments of Jeffrey Joerres several highly sophisticated cus- people: the singers, the conductor, ([email protected]) is chairman tomers who weren’t satisfied with the casting director, the cast, the and chief executive officer of “solutions”; they wanted to see and musicians, the bartender, the box- Manpower Inc., an employment serv- understand the thought process be- office cashier. To do this, he uses ices company. hind the company’s proposals. Were varied sourcing techniques, com- these architectures really the best or 3 pensation principles, and motiva- Dominique Turcq most cost-effective that Cisco had to tional approaches in a relatively ([email protected]), former offer? So Cisco began showing these instinctive way. senior vice president of strategy at customers its in-house simulations. Yet in many cases, the very rules Manpower Inc., is a scientific advisor And the customers, in turn, ex- and procedures of an organization on labor issues to the French govern- pressed a desire to adapt these can be obstacles to segmentation ment planning authority. design, configuration, and opti- and a force for “averaging” the treat- mization models for their own use. Cisco’s marketers and innova- tors had not expected this.

Load more