1. Use workforce surveys to implement corporate strategy.
Surveys can tell you how much of the workforce has these capabilities and provide a detailed picture of whether the workforce will support a given strategy. And then survey results can, in turn, be used to understand which bits of the company are most in need of change if you want to implement a new strategy.
2. Teach leaders to act in the interests of the company, not just their individual team, function, or business unit.
In response to growing complexity in the workplace, many leaders retreat and focus narrowly on their individual span of control, but this kind of leadership is not enough to provide the kind of business results that the company needs.
To improve corporate performance, HR teams need to redefine the concept of “leadership” to develop employees who are both strong individual performers, and who understand how to make the most of a collective approach.
3. Help HIPOs apply what they learn.
High-potential employers (HIPOs) are 91 percent more valuable to the organization than non-HIPOs, but 73 percent of HIPO programs can’t show a solid return on investment, despite the large sums involved. Failing HIPO programs are often the result of ineffective development strategies.
By overemphasizing traditional training approaches to HIPO development, firms focus too heavily on building competencies in isolation and not enough on helping HIPOs apply what they learn to improve performance on the job. In fact, focused and targeted on-the-job development plans can improve employee knowledge and skills by up to 16 percent.
4. Cut out low quality and duplicative learning and development.
The L&D function should boost the quality of all learning and development, regardless of who creates or provides it. The function should work with all learning suppliers as collaborative “learning franchises” to ensure it has an impact on overall corporate performance.
The payoff is huge. Firms will cut total wasted L&D spending by an average of $6.9 million, and can improve employee performance by as much as 20 percent.
