CHANGING GEARS- FROM PLANNING TO EXECUTION
WHAT IS YOUR
PRESCRIPTION FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF HCM4.0 FROM THEORY AND PLANNING PHASE TO
EXECUTION PHASES
I will recommend
CHROs and their mentors the CEO To simplify and adapt the principles of project
management to the HCM4.0 startup or turnaround within the company.
While the
science would be to use project management principles judiciously the art of
execution is moving hearts and minds of people. An
inbuilt factor in every strategic
planning venture must be
implementation- it concerns ensuring that the internal structures, practices and procedures enable the
organization to achieve its objectives. This task can be achieve if the people
factor is nurtured and managed
effectively to work in collaboration with the strategic objectives pursued.
Anticipating the possible roadblock to the change
management process would be the real breakthrough.Unfortunately there is a
wrong notion : thinking is the privilege of
the higher echelons of the company; leaving action
plans to the operational level
employees with a fond hope that
they get done. This division
of planners versus doers
widens the divide. Planning and
execution have to be intertwined .Execution is a process, not an action or
step. Execution is not the result of a single decision. It is a result of a
series of integrated decisions emerging
over time. In practice strategy
execution may be termed as the systematic process of rigorously
analyzing the business situation ,
questioning every assumption in the planning process , tenaciously following through bottlenecks
and critical path , communicating responsibility and ensuring accountability . Strategy
Execution can often mean a list of things NOT to do. Execution not only ensures
efficient use of resources but also provides the feedback loop needed for the
business to adjust to changes in the operational process.
Strategy Execution, rather than Strategy Formulation;
Is
the ‘missing ingredient’ hindering good
strategy being translated into value
creation outcomes
HOW WOULD YOU
RECOMMEND TO YOUR CLIENTS A BLUEPRINT FOR THE “PROJECT MODE”
TO MANAGING THE PROCESS OF EXECUTION HOLISTICALLY OF HCM MASTER-PLAN.
The many trials and error have
taught business leaders to swear that strategy execution, is the ‘missing ingredient’ to
translating good strategy into value creation outcomes.
Grinding the point further authors
Bossidy, Charan and Burck – in their
best seller book “Execution” (2002)
states “Execution- is the discipline of getting things done …
this is what differentiated companies
that succeeded from those that just muddled through or failed. The heart of
execution lies in the three core processes: the people process, the strategy
process, and the operations process.”
Prof
Robert Kaplan and David Norton Harvard Business School , the developers of
Balanced Scorecard concept say that
‘ …strategy without tactics is the surest route without failure… Companies
where the execution is not factored at
the planning stage fail to realize the full benefits of a well crafted
strategy. They find the results aren’t anything close to what you’d hoped. Prof Robert Kaplan and David Norton Harvard
Business School , make the point that fewer than 10 per cent of all strategies are actually implemented.
The foremost
challenge for the HCM 4.0 strategist
is creating a
capability to dovetail the HCM master-plan with business strategy It is essential for
HCM leaders to ensure that there is a clear linkage between business strategy and HCM masterplan
. In implementing HCM
masterplan now needs to be fine-tune to this and ask: Are we allocating
enough time, energy and money to those things critical to the organization? How
best do we correlate the resources used to meta-goals like organization
capability building and business performance?
HCM is
privileged to be a pivotal position; its work affects and influences every part
of an organization, from the highest authorities in the boardroom to workers on the shop floor; a fact
conveniently ignore or discretely discounted by the critics of HCM . At every point it is the people who make
the difference. In
realtity HCM leaders should a bigger say because people execute strategy
and this has to be factored in to make any plan meaningful. This is the HCM-led differentiator for
success of strategy execution.
HCM
is in a unique position to communicate and explain to the rank and file how and why the
business strategy is developed is just as important as what does the
strategy imply for individual and their teams. Likewise HCM professionals can
glean inputs of how to tweak the HCM masterplan to the user needs; and even
enrich it through the suggestions if they solicit them. The HCM strategy in
turn is
re-conditioned by the process
of the implementing the firms business strategy
….more like a chicken-and-egg syndrome.
HCM interventions must concurrently fit with the company’s unique context and be enmeshed with day-to-day activities at different organizational levels. This is the pathway to execute the masterplan. When the approach is defined there must be clarity on key roles, responsibilities, performance metrics. HCM leaders need out-of-the-box thinking to have tactical implementation plans that take into account the changes that must occur to align the business strategy with HCM master-plan.
FINAL WORD
Most companies it is found have a strategy summit which is across a weekend but do not follow up and follow through on a monthly or quarterly basis the actions and progress achieved The fact is execution of strategy involves more time and complexity than strategy formulation which is a brief event at the beginning of the year.
The HCM
strategy is re-conditioned by the process
of the implementing the firms business strategy
….more like a chicken-and-egg syndrome
