It’s all about your people
Your people are influencing your strategy; through their competence and their behaviour. If these are out of line with business then you are at risk of failing to deliver what you intend and plan.
The strategic capability of an organisation very much depends on its people and their daily involvement in the business. Thus, developing their capabilities and making sure that they understand how their involvement contributes towards the strategy of the business is crucial. Managers need to be fostering behaviour and an environment which promotes the organisation as a learning one. A learning organisation is one which has a culture which encourages sharing and learning amongst its people, even in informal settings. Sometimes, establishing formal systems for learning can inhibit people.
Each organisation should find its own way in developing the capabilities of its people. HR audits, including skills audits, may assess the HR requirements to support strategies and identify the core competences of people.
HR policies and procedures may also help in developing such competences. For example, a recruitment and selection policy of an organisation may specify that the assessment of new people should focus on strategic awareness capabilities and similar aptitudes.
Reward also plays an important part here – reward strategies and policies may need to be designed in such a way that they recognise that more team working contributes to a greater force towards delivering strategy. What I mean here is that team incentives (short or long-term incentives) may complement individual incentives.
It is very important that the top leaders of the business develop their people’s awareness of what and how they contribute at a strategic level. People need to see how they contribute to the bigger picture – how their daily activities are impacting the direction of the organisation. This, in turn, can give employees a purpose, instil pride and motivation to achieve strategic goals and competitiveness.
About the author
Maria Bartolo Zahra is Managing Director of SurgeAdvisory. She has over fifteen years of human resources and business advisory experience.