Canadian HR Reporter

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FEATURES By Brett Richards C hange is mandatory, growth is op- tional" might be a fi tting phrase for today's CHROs as they manage the complexities of supporting organization- al growth and transformation. As a wave of company boards and CEOs set their sights on bold growth or business transformation, they're asking CHROs to deliver critical support for these make-or- break strategies. To provide organizations with the right people capabilities to "pivot," "transform" or "scale up," the HR team must fi rst diagnose the deep, underlying needs of the employee population to successfully support the ambitious transformation goals decided around the boardroom table. Training design by gut instinct It sounds like an enviable mission — help- ing CEOs evaluate and strengthen their leadership circles to drive fast-growth companies forward or launching compre- hensive change management programs and complementary skills training, to help an established company respond to a shifting marketplace. e problem lies in determining precise- ly what capabilities are needed to empower the workforce and support the company's vision, especially under the pressure of ur- gent predictions suggesting organizational success depends on optimizing people resources. In most cases, HR is forced to roll out programs without adequate time to assess needs and determine the best solution. ey frequently lack an accurate appraisal of the company's current capabilities or clear direction on where training eff orts should be concentrated. So, they must rely on outdated or subjective assessments, or gut feelings held by senior leadership re- garding the appropriate specifi cs, scope or scale of behavioural change required. is challenge can be traced in part to the recent, reactive nature of corporate planning and strategy development, as companies scramble to adapt to industry disruption. However, an engrained mind- set within HR functions is also a factor, since historically the profession has often viewed the organization as "a collection of individuals," with training eff orts focused on developing individual employees and the skills they contribute in isolation. Viewing the organization as a system An alternative is to view the organization as "a system" by which the inter-relationships between people, leadership, processes and cultural nuances are crucial to the entire team's eff ectiveness and ability to drive high-performance results. As such, it's es- sential to observe the larger organization's strengths, limitations and combined skill- sets to understand how it could adapt to change. Without doing so, aided by a data- driven examination of the company, any individual-focused or ad hoc, department- specifi c training is unlikely to have the de- sired outcomes — locally or collectively. Whatever the root cause, the result is the same: CHROs must justify their rec- ommended course of action before bottom line-minded executive committees ques- tion the expenditures and demand assur- ances that the proposed training programs will produce a measurable business impact. Meaningful metrics With HR leaders often operating under the "fog of battle" in which an organization's transformational strategy remains unclear or evolving, they are increasingly recogniz- ing the need to take a more scientifi c ap- proach to ensure programs can satisfy criti- cal, core needs and to prove the impact of the training dollars invested. To do so, they must fi rst pinpoint the often subtle, interdependent or hidden fac- tors that will enhance — or constrain — an organization's ability to grow and change. HR leaders can start by thoroughly defi ning and clarifying the company's strategy and operational mandate. en, they must obtain a clear view of the organization's current readiness for its desired growth or transformation, based on a review of its workforce in terms of rel- evant, enabling criteria, such as leadership, collaboration, strategy and innovation. e most effi cient method to conduct this au- dit is through validated online surveying platforms that can target the desired talent segments, and unearth rich data that can be broken down by level, business line, work group or geography. In analyzing these targeted data sets, HR leaders can lead informed discussions with senior management about actual skill gaps and specifi c strategies to remedy them. ey can confi rm expectations before designing programs to upgrade particular skillsets among well-defi ned employee groups. In some cases, the survey may reveal certain areas of the organization already excel in key capabilities, and those best practices could be shared across the fi rm. Finally, by repeating the survey process after the training programs have been de- livered, and comparing the results to the benchmark survey data, HR can assess the impact of their eff orts, both in terms of improvements in the immediate employee skillsets and in support of bigger picture organizational growth and transformation objectives. Organizational diagnostics in action ere are many recent examples of organi- zations that have charted this course, with the aid of easy-to-implement quantitative solutions, off ered by a specialist third-party provider or advisor. For example, a major pharmaceutical company decided to perform in-depth self- analysis as it grappled to restore business growth in the midst of soft market condi- tions. e fi rm's revised growth strategy hinged on instilling a heightened entrepre- neurial mindset and a spirit of innovative discovery among its workforce. e vice- president of a recently merged business unit decided to examine his own group's strengths and weaknesses against those success factors, before selecting a new training and coaching program to nurture the requisite skills. e HR team applied an online survey tool developed by Connective Intelligence, and administered the survey to key managers and contributors within the business line. e results validated the essential link between an innovative mindset and rev- enue growth performance, providing the executive with added confi dence that in- vesting in innovation-oriented training was the right strategy. However, the survey also revealed cur- rent leadership dynamics relating to role clarity and the span of decision-making authority were eroding internal trust and engagement and constraining collaboration between leadership tiers. With these data points, the HR team developed a targeted training strategy, including one-on-one coaching for each key leader, with tailored actions drawn from the analysis. A sophisticated, quantitative diagnostic tool can help an organization objectively gauge its ability to grow, adapt to change and create value. is approach can em- power CHROs to assess their organization's vitality and readiness for transformation, and ensure those mandatory change initia- tives generate the growth and results the organization requires. Brett Richards is founder and president of Con- nective Intelligence in Newmarket, Ont., off ering expertise in leadership and organizational trans- formation. For more information, visit www. connectiveintelligence.com. Converting change into Credit: kentoh (Shutterstock) Diagnosing deep organizational needs before diving into people transformation

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