Canadian HR Reporter

Today's business leaders are well aware that culture is integral to an organization's success. e diffi culty is that the quantitative metrics to support growth and transformation are often missing, said Brett Richards, president of Connective Intelligence in Newmarket, Ont. "Great cultures drive great fi nan- cial performance," he said, speak- ing at a recent SCNetwork event in Toronto. "We all intuitively know this to be true." But it's the measurement of business intangibles to improve the bottom line that leaves lead- ers befuddled, said Richards. "How do we actually measure tangible data (by) turning soft people and culture issues into these hard dynamics, hard met- rics?" he said. "How do we actually quantify these things? How do we evalu- ate and measure our training and organizational development (OD) eff orts?" For human resources profes- sionals engaged in transforma- tive eff orts related to training, the links to business perfor- mance and key performance in- dicators (KPIs) are critical, said Richards. "Some of the biggest needs that we're fi nding in training and HR and OD are measurement, evalu- ation and business impact," he said. "It's not just about quantify- ing the cultural transformation en masse within your organiza- tion, but it's also measuring the activities that you're doing year in, year out, that are designed and you're investing in to support your organization's success and evolution." Culture is an elusive intangible that companies struggle to quan- tify, said Richards. "It's really the motivational force that enables the ability of the organization to actually activate and achieve its business impera- tive, its vision, its mission and its strategic imperatives — these un- spoken behaviours," he said. "How do you quantify the invisible?" Growth through disruption Many organizations are working to create disruption to accelerate inner growth and respond to ex- ternal environments, according to Richards. Creating alignment between strategy and culture is an im- perative for employers looking to thrive in today's disruptive world, he said. Accordingly, evaluation of an organization's cultural environ- ment is beneficial, but under- standing how far that culture can shift may be more important, said Richards. Similarly, measuring employee engagement doesn't provide the whole story, he said. "Employee engagement is good, but system activation and under- standing how engagement syner- gizes with other factors essential for growth is important." "We have to understand that organizations are systems — not just a bunch of complicated pro- cesses," said Richards. "When you're talking about supporting growth and transfor- mation within an organization, understanding organizational mindset is also mission-critical." An organizational growth in- dicator (OGI) tool, for example, can help employers identify their readiness for change with an em- ployer, he said. e tool can identify eight dif- ferent orientations — creative, strategic, innovative, learning, collaborative, connective, cul- tural and leadership — which in- fl uence an organization's ability to grow. "Having an understanding of the true readiness for change and transformation can be a very help- ful piece of data. If our readiness is not high — if we push change too hard and too furiously on the organization — it could have the unintended consequence of driv- ing less-eff ective results." Inconvenient truths Employers are often held back from true innovation measures by a series of inconvenient truths, said Richards. • Leaders need better ways to mea- sure, quantify and demystify in- novation so it can be tangibly ad- dressed in a systematic way. • Innovation is a leading indica- tor of an organization's ability to sustain future success. • Most organizations still view in- novation as a nice-to-have, not a need-to-have, and they eventu- ally pay the price. • e goals of organizations and innovation are most often the same, and yet the two are expe- rienced as enemies, not allies. • Creativity is absolutely essential, but it's not the whole story. • e inability to break the bonds of short-term thinking by lead- ers will kill innovation. • Organizations are most often adept at short-term incremen- tal innovation, and are often less adept at radical or transforma- tive forms. • Failing to understand the full ramifi cations of the fact that or- ganizations are complex systems, rather than a collection of com- plicated processes, will severely constrain an organization's transformational capabilities. • ere is no innovation without leadership support. • ere's a dramatic need to better understand the relationship be- tween organizational thinking and innovation. • Eff ective organizations are more likely to be successful with inno- vation, and yet it's those ineff ec- tive organizations that typically need it most but suff er through failed eff orts. • Engagement surveys are useful, but not the whole story. • Innovation and transformation are every bit as emotional as they are intellective. Employers don't pay enough attention to emotional dynamics that exist within organizations, he said. "We pay far too little attention to the notion of innovation, and how emotion and aff ect plays a critical role to driving a success- ful innovation practice within or- ganizations, and also how critical emotion is and aff ect is to driving culture and sustaining and shift- ing it in adaptive ways." Organizational environments can be broken down into three elements — climate, culture and mindset, said Richards. "The internal environment infl uences the way we think, the way that we feel and, ultimately, the way we act." Mindsets matter Mindset embodies the values, beliefs and thinking preferences that infl uence attention and or- ganizational action, he said. "It's very, very important to driving success, particu- larly focusing on growth and transformation." Mindsets can also be broken down into three components: intellective, thinking/feeling and volitional — or the ability to choose, said Richards. 'How do you quantify the invisible?' Metrics needed to support organizational growth, transformation BY MARCEL VANDER WIER CANADIAN HR REPORTER & STRATEGIC CAPABILITY NETWORK INTENTIONALITY > pg. 13 Credit: Rawpixel.com (Shutterstock)

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