Collaborating for a Successful 2010
As we say goodbye to 2009 and enthusiastically head into 2010, many of us are collaborating within our organizations on how to perform (whatever it is we do) better than last year. Whether your organization manufactures goods or delivers a professional service, there is no doubt some sort of strategic plan in place for 2010. This plan will only come to fruition if you can successfully get all of your employees headed in that same direction. I truly believe this is a major factor in distinguishing a WOW company or service from the mediocre.
Regardless if your organization has 100 or 100,000 employees, aligning talent with the goals of the organization is no easy task. First, you need to know what skill sets you have (and what skills need to be sharpened), second you need to know what the target is, then you need to have a well laid out plan to get there, and last but not least, a way to measure success. We all know this, but why is it that some organizations do this better than others? It boils down to time, resources, and technology.
In most organizations, HR notoriously allocates the majority of their time (about 60%) on administrative functions. This leaves about 10% for strategy and 30% of time dedicated to talent management related functions. Research has shown that top performing organizations are spending only 20% of their time on administrative functions allowing them to spend 20% on strategy and 60% on talent management. This time allocation shift allows these top performing organizations to develop, to implement, and to support a strong performance management culture and process.
In addition, top performing organizations recognize that developing a process and more importantly getting their organizations to collaborate and to adopt a performance management culture and process is as much of an art as it is a science. These organizations invest in resources to do this – either internal or external to their organization.
Lastly, I don’t think any of us would disagree in this day and age that technology can lessen the administrative burdon of managing and tracking performance and objectives. This makes us all more efficient. It also helps to instill a culture and a standardized process within an organization.
In sum, if you are struggling to find the time, internal resources, and technology to develop or streamline your performance management process, rest assured it’s not too late. There are solutions out there that can be developed and implemented in a rather short time frame. You may simply need to look external and be ready to invest in the short term for a long term solution.