Strategic Human Capital Insights

Where have all the powerful presentations gone?  

I have just spent two months watching presentations that are sorely lacking impact. As an audience observer of the presentation process, I decided to dissect the presentations from a professional presentation discipline – a professional skill set that I have taught and coached for many years. Here are two key observations.

1. The Power of PowerPoint

We have equated presentations with a PowerPoint deck. 

1. The PowerPoint presentation is NOT the presentation – it is merely a visual tool used as part of the presentation. 
   
   
2. The PowerPoint presentation MUST follow presentation standards. As an audience member – that’s not negotiable.
   
   
   • There ARE best practices associated with great PowerPoint presentations. They are focused on how and why the audience perceives and retains information. (The most egregious mistake is the poor bullet that has now become a multi-line sentence – or worse, a blob-like paragraph, which is impossible to read and highly improbable that it will create the intended impact.)
     
     
   • Where did the format and presentation roadmap go? The format and roadmap allow the audience to proactively accompany the presenter on the presentation journey. For the audience’s sake, let’s give them a reason and a rationale to listen. A member of your audience should never think, “Where is this going, or why am I here listening to this?”

The question of if everyone can lead has been considered in organizational development theory and practice for decades. There are as many opinions as there are people. Some say yes. Others say no. To begin to answer this question, three key concepts must be uniquely defined by every organization. 

Since every organization is different, the definition of the concepts can vary. However, the following three concepts must be clearly defined:

1. Definition of Leadership: The Benchmark 

How does the organization define the role of the leader? What benchmark competencies are required for the position, as it ideally relates to and aligns with the business strategy? How are those competency requirements prioritized? How are people evaluated against the organizational benchmark? 

It's never too early to start managing people, your most important asset.

Startups, by their very nature, are fast-paced and change continually. Every person in every role will make a critical, strategic difference. There is no room for error, nowhere to hide, and no place for people who are stagnating. Given the recent research stating that the shelf life of knowledge and skills is 2.5 years, think about the impact that scenario can have on lean startup operations. How quickly can robust human capital become obsolete? Through a rigorous, business-focused assessment system, startup companies can quickly and accurately assess their human capital in terms of productivity percentages, value creation, stagnation and erosion, and positive, neutral, and negative trends. How would an investor evaluate a startup for investment potential when seen through those lenses?

Is There a Difference Between Delegation and Dumping?

Helping employees become more productive is often associated with del­egation. So, let’s take a journey into ‘delegation land.’ We often outline what the person needs to do, tell them to do it, and naively call it dele­gation. The art of delegation is one of the most challenging and complex tasks a manager can perform. It is the most critical managerial task for the organization, and yet it eludes most managers. Why? Because it is a multi-step process that requires assessment, execution on the part of two people, accountability, and the genuine investment of time. The most common manager response to delegating is, ‘I can do it faster myself.’ Haven’t we all said that? In reality, under the delegation banner, we have proper delegation, over delegation, under delegation, micro delegation, and dumping. Let’s focus on the last category – dumping!

There is an essential distinction between proper delegation and the others. The problem arises when the manager assumes that the dele­gation has occurred by just telling the employee to do something, and the employee is fully accountable. This could not be further from the truth. In reality, dumping has taken place. 

Here are four critical challenges the manager must initiate to avoid dumping and develop the management skill of delegation.

The central operating principle for PSP is the strategic organizational alignment of human capital to business outcomes. Therefore, all PSP Institute learning and development is business-driven.  The PSP Institute provides human capital development that is aligned with and responsive to organizational business needs.  Since our learning and development are targeted, results are time-efficient and performance-effective.  Our approach is:

• Targeted, highly focused, and individually relevant
• Delivered in a short, highly efficient format
• Designed with immediately actionable information to implement

This is a guest blog post from May Busch.  May Busch, former COO of Morgan Stanley Europe, brings a fresh perspective to helping people and organizations lead positive change.  Learn more at www.maybusch.com. 

Welcome to Part 2 of the 10-Point Guide I’ve developed to help you make 2015 your best year yet.  The Guide is structured in two parts: 

• Part 1: A “Look Back” at 2014
• Part 2: A “Look Forward” to the rest of 2015, which we cover this week 
  
  

Part 2 - Look Forward: Now it’s time to focus on the year ahead, and build on the takeaways from your “Look Back”.   This is a combination of “dream big” time and getting down to the “nitty gritty” of what you want to make happen for yourself.  Both are valuable and necessary to getting you where you want to be.

Welcome to the 10-Point Guide to help you have your best year yet. The Guide is structured in two parts: 

• Part 1:  A “Look Back” 
• Part 2:  A “Look Forward” (covered in the next blog)

All you need is some quiet time, a few sheets of paper (or a journal), something to write with, and your calendar from last year if you keep one. Then, go through the questions in the 10 Points with as much honesty and compassion for yourself as possible.

It’s up to you, but I find that keeping it brief by using lists and bullet points allows me to capture my thoughts at the moment while also making it easier to review/make sense of them later.

Recently, organizations have had to adapt to a new operating environment in response to the pandemic. As you think about how you have had to adapt by instituting remote work, extended sick leave, and complying with new regulations, think about how these changes may have impacted your organization's health. 

It would not be unusual for your organization to have reverted to Maslow’s survival mode. And even though you may think that everything is OK, take a candid look at how you would rate the current organizational health of your group, division, or company. And as you look to the future, how do you plan for an organizationally healthy group that starts healthy and stays healthy throughout the year? And, if you need to repair some organizational health issues, what will you do?

What do we mean by organizational health? Health is a relatively simple concept. On a personal level, we use many terms to describe health. The positive terms are robust, energetic, improving, strong, and vibrant. On the less than positive side, the terms are lethargic, sick, failing, deteriorating, and declining. These same terms apply to organizational groups. That's why the term organizational health resonates with managers. It reflects the total dynamic impact of all the individuals' interactions and contributions within each group.  

What should you do to assess the organizational health of your group?
(Keep in mind that your managerial mindset needs to be totally objective & completely honest.)

Here is a 3-part checklist that may help you evaluate, build, and sustain organizational health.