Strategic Human Capital Insights

We are delighted to announce that Joanne Flynn, Founder and Managing Director of Phoenix Strategic Performance, is now also a Principal with CEO Solutions Alliance, providing real solutions to CEO’s. 

Have you asked yourself the basic question, "Does your organization value IT as a good investment?" To help answer this question and others, we have developed an eBook with one of our strategic partners, Quality Service Solutions, Future Proof your It Organization.

THE HOLISTIC IT ALIGNMENT OF STRUCTURE, PROCESS AND PEOPLE

For decades, boards, corporate executives and IT directors have sought evidence that IT investments generate business value. Unfortunately, business executives continue to find the link between investments in IT and specific business benefits something of a mystery. Yet, IT executives often assume the link is obvious.

This eBook sets out a new approach that enables enterprises to:

• Construct a trail of evidence leading from measures of business value to indicators of the contribution made by both the IT function and each professional within IT
• Gauge the readiness of their organizations’ human capital to add value in the future

Nowhere in any organization is there more potential disruption going on than in IT. This organizational stress can be overwhelming. In the search to create order in this chaotic environment, there are three key considerations you must keep at the forefront as you navigate these stormy waters:

1. Disruption is BAU 
2. We Are Now All Technology Companies 
3. Rethink Everything You Know About Human Capital

1. Disruption and Disruptive Technologies - The New Normal: 

   Our world, at every level, WILL BE disrupted. The McKinsey Global Institute defines disruptive technologies as new emerging technologies that unexpectedly displace an established one and shakes up the industry. Some disruptors will be easy to spot. Others will come from the most unexpected places. IT organizations are at the heart of this disruption. IT organizations must consciously and continually focus on the outside horizon to anticipate disruption and deal with it as quickly as possible.

• Living with Disruption as the Norm. BAU and the Steady State are a Thing of the Past: Change has become the norm and business as usual (BAU), which was formally the goal, will become a subset of Change, Transformation and Transition Management. IT must be prepared to accept that as soon as the steady state (BAU) is achieved, disruption will shake things up again. 

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?

Phoenix Strategic Performance (PSP) is pleased to announce the launch of the Phoenix Strategic Performance Institute. 

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 is targeted, results are both 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.

It’s never too early to start managing people, your most important asset.  Increase the ROI of your people investment.  Focus on improving financial results by unlocking human capital potential. 

We recently held a Lunch & Learn in partnership with the Arizona Technology Council on September 25, 2014.

Start-up and high-growth companies, 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 and no place to hide. During the Lunch & Learn with the Arizona Technology Council, attendees learned how to take a disciplined approach to strategic human capital planning focusing on business agility and unlocking the strength of your people.

We are thrilled to announce that Joanne Flynn, Founder of Phoenix Strategic Performance, will be speaking at this year's National Association of Women MBAs conference in Washington, DC.  The topic of the conference is, "Aspire. Ascend. Break Through."  What a powerful statement, not only for women, but anyone looking to make a strategic transformation in their
business.

The conference will be held from October 9-11, 2014 in Washington, DC.  The National Association of Women MBAs will welcome hundreds of female MBA students, professionals and entrepreneurs to the Hyatt Crystal City Hotel for three days of networking and personal development through keynotes, speaker presentations, panel discussions and an on-site career fair with valued corporate sponsors.

Joanne's session will be focused on the critical importance of planning in your business, whether you are a start up, or a Fortune 500 company.