Talent Management and the Bottom Line

For years enlightened business leaders have recognized the obvious: Hire great people, treat them well, and your business will flourish. For those leaders who haven’t recognized this yet, there may be a new motivation to get on the bandwagon.

Moody’s Corporation, the bond rating service, has started recognizing “a direct connection between financial performance and success in recruiting and retention.” Knowing this, they are now starting to use talent management as a factor in the process of rating companies. In addition, Watson Wyatt has developed a “human capital index” and has found that good people practices can increase a company’s value by as much as 30%.

What does this mean to you? Picture the CEO of a publicly traded company explaining what he plans to do to improve the retention of employees at a shareholder meeting, right after he explains his plans to grow revenue. Suddenly those employee relations activities that are often delegated to the lowest levels of the organization are now in the limelight.

This doesn’t mean that my humorous attempt to improve employee morale by including a wet bar, hot tub, and masseuse in my department budget proposal years ago is any more likely to get approved now than it was then. However, there should be more scrutiny of those items that truly do impact the selection and retention of a company’s most valuable asset.

HRM Innovations, LLC is available to help with any questions you may have on HR or Management related topics and can be contacted at: Kevin@HRMInnovationsllc.com or 269-615-4821.

Going Gaga for Human Resources

Many of my clients like to tell me about their “rock stars” - those employees who have fresh ideas and the high energy levels required to implement them. Yet, when I visit HR departments and look at their antiquated processes, I’m always amazed by the number of times I’m told “but this is the way it’s always been done.” It’s sort of like classical music; it has been performed in much the same way for centuries. That’s not a bad thing for music, but it doesn’t work in business.

The most successful musicians aren’t performing the same music the same way as in years past, they’re really rocking the boat, pushing the limits and trying new things. Have you seen Lady Gaga? Successful professionals are constantly looking for ways to reinvent themselves and the work that they do.

Years ago, I worked with a management consultant who told me that no matter how well organized our company was, we would never sound like a symphony. But, he did say that if we hired great talent, provided them with a common vision, and allowed them to improvise that we could have some really cool jazz. Give your “rock stars” the latitude to experiment with their work. Whether you like jazz or rock ’n roll, it’s time to innovate and experiment.

When was the last time you tried something new, inventive, or off the wall? I’m not suggesting that HR folks start wearing clothes made out of meat to work, but I do think that it may be time to rock the boat a bit.