As digitalisation continues to expand through an organization it is highly likely that there will be changes to working relationships. In larger organizations this is likely to result in a ‘blended’ workforce (a mixture of full-time, part-time, agency, GiG, temporary etc). The structure of work will also change – the office of the future is likely to be ‘anywhere you can use a digital device’. Culture will be key to the way in which all this is managed.
The Culture within an organization should reflect the Brand (the perception by which business leaders wish their organization to be judged by customers, other stakeholders and society). It needs to be aligned to values, drivers and needs. For HR Professionals to leverage culture, they need to ensure that people feel, think and act consistent with the promises made to customers and other stakeholders. For this to work, there is a need to focus sharply on the interface and alignment between the workforce, business strategies and the expectations of the customer. It is the customer that will have the biggest effect on the Return on Investment and the Bottom Line but it is people within the Organization that will deliver value.
With the changing face of the workplace there will need to be a heightened focus on communication and inter-departmental collaboration. This means that everyone working for the Organization will need to have an understanding of the Value Chain (working back from the Customer), and of the inter-departmental interactions that support it, if collaboration is to be encouraged and achieved. In my recent visits to organizations I am finding that this is rarely the case and the lack of collaboration often leads to costly errors and/or failure to meet customer expectations; with a subsequent loss of marketshare. Furthermore, there are even bigger risks where work has been outsourced if the employees of the company providing outsourced services are not also aware of how the Value Chain operates.
Nearly all of the detrimental outcomes that I have experienced when visiting organizations could have been averted by good induction training and/or succession planning. HR professionals need to ensure that induction training programmes and succession planning does not limit employee engagement to the department in which they work and the job in which they are employed as this stifles the ability of people to collaborate and fails to add value. Business leaders might also consider the introduction of organizational development days whereby people from different departments are placed in an environment away from their normal place of work with the intention of encouraging collaborative learning. However, it is not just those directly employed by the organization that should receive induction training and an opportunity of collaborative learning. People in outsourced organizations should also receive the same training. It is the lack of good induction training by the Organization that is outsourcing a service that can often lead to the failure of outsourced services to provide value to the customer.
As a last thought: The Culture within an organization is likely to be unique to its’ brand. However, there is a common need: People need to be developed to their full potential in a supportive environment. Good people management is key. More often than not we see people who have been promoted into management positions based on their technical ability with little, if any, thought given to their ability to manage people. HR professionals need to ensure that people that are moving into management positions are provided with the training, mentoring and/or coaching necessary for the enhancement of people management and leadership across the Organization.
