Best Practices for Employee Investment

Today organizations are constantly struggling to find new strategies to remain relevant and continue to be successful in business. Reinventing themselves through change management seems to have become the mantra. But when all else is moving at a frenetic pace, it’s as good a time as any to revisit some of the foundation pieces, which forms the edifice of strong institutions. Key aspects of HR focused on developing the real asset of the organization-its employees. In this feature, we will visit some of the strong good employee building best practices adopted by some organizations that have benefited the employees enormously, and thereby made organizations successful.

While there is a growing recognition of ‘we need to reinvent business’ given the dynamic business environment, the organization also looks at it from the lens of the changing demographic profile of the employee base. Do things need to be done differently? Here I will explore some core areas of employee engagement which has led to an inclusive culture, and has additionally developed key skills and abilities in them, the creation of leaders, and addressing change management together with the employees.

Best Practice I – Employee Engagement through Building the Culture:

With the recognition that the new generation at workplace requires to be engaged somewhat differently and more, several innovative learning and engagement platforms have been deployed. The core essence of these engagements stem from engaging the mind as also providing them with learning opportunities.

A case-study challenge, a platform that providesan opportunity to sharpen their cognitive abilities required in the organizational context and also showcase their individual capabilities in a competitive environment.

Story-telling – A platform to display their leadership capability through story-telling, proven to be a very important aspect of Leadership. Not only does story-telling inspire and motivate, it also helps to build the culture.

A case-writing competition-An aspiration to document their extraordinary achievements and capture the organization’s tacit knowledge to create a repository led to the designof the case-writing competition, a unique opportunity for employees to capture critical stories and best practices that have helped them in its journey.

Idea Factory– A platform to provide creative mindsto present innovative ideas in business, practices, policy, process and make a meaningful contribution to the overall’s growth. Since the inception of the idea factory, they have been flooded with ideas some of which have been implemented.

Best Practice II – Engaging Employees and Building their Skills:

Gen Y engagement and commitment happens when employees engage intellectually and have opportunities to enrich their learning. This comes from a recognition that every generation has different needs and works differently, basis the generation they belong.

To manage generation diversity and to ensure that Gen Y connects with the organization’s Vision, Strategy and Goals, multiple platforms have been created where business leaders meet and address the organization expectations.

A novel practice is to have the high performers from different SBUs/entities meet and work together on projects, facilitating experiential learning through inter-SBU collaboration, leading to the organization reaping the benefits plus building Collaboration and Teamwork skills in them.

GEN Y Annual Business Event provides a platform for them to showcase their talents and skills in the areas of Strategic thinking, Marketing, Managerial skill & Creativity and Innovation. Creating a voluntary adventure club seeks to satiate the GEN Y interest in activities beyond their professional life, with them participating in sports such as trekking, para-gliding, etc. also building in them risk taking abilities.

As the numbers grow steadily with 50% of its population from the Gen Y brigade, these initiatives will hold them in good stead.

Best Practice III –Identifying and Developing Leaders as a Process

To achieve the ambitious targets set, there needs to a focus on identifying the leadership pipeline and developing them towards successful delivery. An Integrated Talent Management framework measures potential, what is it that individuals are capable of on three parameters –Ability– a combination of Mental/Cognitive agility and Emotional Intelligence together with Technical/Functional skills to deliver work. Aspiration of individuals- What do they desire, and Engagement & Performance – which happens from their emotional and rational commitment to the organization seen in their willingness to go ‘above and beyond’ the call of duty, and to grow with the organization. Herein a 360-degree feedback approach measures each person on defined leadership competencies, which clearly maps out their strengths and developmental areas.

Talent Reviews, a high-intensity process examines the talent pool and discusses individual’s attributes, their achievements, and their ability to take on larger responsibilities. Given the seriousness of the exercise, the panel comprises of the senior leadership of the organization, facilitated by talent management team.

As the philosophy of ‘development’ using a 70:20:10 formula gets communicated to aspiring new Gens, 70% through experience, role-exposure, geographic-exposure, 20% through learning programs and platforms, and 10% through books, manuals, the concept of integrating key growth and development aspects of an individual and providing them with larger opportunities, could very well be the strongest pull for them.

Best Practice IV – Addressing Change Management with Employees:

A core philosophy of involvement of people intrinsically to the change management process, with an endeavor to build commitment to change, and achieve the desired results, is bound to deliver maximum results. In an endeavor to engage every employee meaningfully to the change management, one needs multiple touchpoints.

Starting out with programs to create awareness of the context and consequences of impending change. It helps people connect the business goals with their personal aspirations, surface their mental models and take responsibility for their own growth. Helping people discover the need to change instead of telling them to change is more powerful. People begin to realize that the main barriers are their own mind-sets.

As one moves ahead in change management process, programs now seek to establish strategyand planning aspect which too is a collaborative process of shared visioning where teams identify their long-term vision, to craft their paths for the next 3-5 years with an eye on opportunities and risks available in the environment. The culmination of the exercise results in identifying the high leverage results areas for action, forming an intrinsic part of the business strategy, coupled with clear-cut accountability and team operating principles that guide the behavior of the teams.

True to the concept of being a Learning Organization, everyone participates in the Vision, Purpose and Mission exercise – what we want to create, what we want to be in 3-5 as an organization and as a team, where we are today – an honest, open appraisal highlighting the gaps, to move to action, and identification of strategies, areas in which actions and new initiatives will return the largest payoff. Clarity on next steps, and what needs to happen to ensure effective follow through, values and operating principles, a set of operating principles describing the behaviors associated with the values.

All of the above is punctuated by candid conversations with senior leadership across levels and disciplines. Project themes evolved from these conversations pave the way forward for them. This approach is conceived with the objective of seizing the aspirations of the employees for the future, and involving them in crafting the overall organization’s strategy. As they say that an ‘engaged employee’ is one who is fully absorbed by and enthusiastic about their work and so takes positive action to further the organization’s reputation and interests. And they are the ultimate differentiators in any organization, which provide the organization the fuel to charge its future.