Here is an excerpt from an article written by Jac Fitz-enz for Talent Management magazine in which he explains how and why every successful organization is based on a blend of vision, brand and culture. These are essential ingredients when telling its story. To read the complete article, check out all the resources, and sign up for a free subscription to the TM and/or Chief Learning Officer magazines published by MediaTec, please click here.
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A series of recent surveys pointed out two significant problems for human resources departments. Some studies had to do with the use or non-use of measurement and analytics. The others looked at HR’s ability or inability to communicate with the C-suite. The surveys were conducted by reputable firms such as KPMG, Taleo, Human Capital Institute, ACT Bridge and A.T. Kearney.
ACT Bridge pointed out that 56 percent of employers still fail to measure their return on talent investments. KPMG showed the value of data analysis, yet exposed the fact that most organizations are not profiting from it. A.T. Kearney compared employers to baseball managers before Moneyball who still used outdated data to assess talent. Finally, Web editor Michael O’Brian said HR professionals have to better tell their story with the analytics they are collecting.
What is more important for a manager than to have the right data and to be able to use it to stimulate effective decision-making? If you don’t have it, and you can’t sell it, you have no chance of ever playing a significant role or being taken seriously. You’ll likely spend the rest of your career on program administration and asking what human resources’ role is.
The most painful aspect of this is that data collection and storytelling are not arcane, mysterious, painful skills. All you need are three easily acquired capabilities. One is knowledge of how your company makes money. How are your products or services made, delivered and serviced? Two is a short course on business financials. Business is run and decisions are made on financial data. Without this language you cannot make yourself understood.
The first two are understandable and easily acquired. The third is a system that naturally produces obviously effective program designs. I’ll tell you how to develop it.
Every successful organization is based on a blend of three factors: vision, brand and culture. Your CEO has presented a vision of where he or she wants to take the enterprise. The vision statement is followed by directional signs on how the CEO expects to achieve that position. In short, these are your marching orders. The brand is your company’s promise to customers on what they can expect from you. For example:
Disneyland: ”The happiest place on earth.”
Wal-Mart: “Save money, live better.”
Ritz-Carlton: “Ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen.”
It is clear in each case what you and I can expect to encounter in those establishments.
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To read the complete article, please click here.
“Dr. Jac,” as he is known worldwide, is acknowledged as the father of human capital strategic analysis and measurement. During the 1970s he carried out the original research which led to the first human resources metrics in 1978. As founder of the Saratoga Institute in 1980, he developed the first international HR benchmarking service, eventually covering 2,000 companies in a dozen countries.
In 2007 he formed the Predictive Initiative, a group of 12 organizations and several thought leaders to develop a new model for human capital management. In October 2008 the Predictive Management system (HCM: 21) was launched. This is the first HR and human capital management system based on predictive analytics now in use in over a dozen countries around the world.
Among his many honors SHRM cited Dr. Jac as one of the fifty persons in the past fifty years who have significantly changed what HR does and how it does it. IHRIM gave him its Chairman’s Award for innovation in HR technology. HR World picked him as one of the Top 5 HR management gurus. Peru’s business school, Ricardo Palma University, awarded Dr. Jac an Honorary Doctorate degree for his leading edge work in human capital management.
He is on the Advisory Board of Capital Analytics, KnowledgeAdvisors, People Report, OrcaEyes and Human Capital Management Institute.
Fitz-enz has published 12 books and over 300 articles, reports and book chapters on measurement and strategic management. Dr. Jac’s books have been translated into Chinese, German, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Turkish. He is a two-time winner of the SHRM Book of the Year Award for Human Value Management (1991) and The ROI of Human Capital (2001). His monthly column, “Leading Edge,” appears in Talent Management Journal.
He has trained more than 90,000 managers in 46 countries. Although his work is widely imitated, he remains “The Source” for human capital strategy, measurement and analytics.