Chief Learning Officer - August 2007 - (Page 15)

taking the lead Aligning Human Resource Development for Greater Relevance Richard Y. Chang During the past year, many business journals related to human resource development that cater to CEOs, CFOs and other C-level executives have published articles that focus on the emerging trends and challenges that are top of the mind for these leaders. Although there are too many to address in one column, I’d like to focus on two key areas where there are significant opportunities for the CLO to add greater business relevance: business transformation scenario planning and key talent retention and development. Taking an innovative, forward-looking approach to these issues as a CLO can demonstrate greater relevance and add value for the business. Key Talent Retention and Development After many years of consulting senior executives, I’m still surprised by how many focus more on talent retention than talent requirements for the future. Doing what it takes to ensure you have the talent you’ll need to operate more effectively in the future — even if that means selectively not retaining a variety of long-time associates — is critical. I certainly don’t intend to suggest I lack appreciation for loyal associates. But placing retention ahead of ensuring that you have the employees at all levels who possess the skills, competencies and knowledge needed to successfully run the business can turn out to be a limiting proposition. When transforming from a U.S.-only operation to a global one, it’s very likely that you might not be able to afford to retain your entire workforce and still accommodate all the new hires required as part of the future business strategy. This might sound obvious and simplistic, but I’m continually surprised by how many organizations do not selectively and appropriately change talent in key roles and at various levels, including executive. Instead, choosing to reward longevity, they put existing senior leaders in new roles and expect them to learn quickly and perform successfully as they go — even though these people are now accountable for an aspect of the business for which they might have very limited (if any) relevant expertise. Doing what it takes to ensure you have the talent you’ll need to operate more effectively in the future — even if that means selectively letting go of long-time associates — is critical. Business Transformation Scenario Planning Chances are if you haven’t been closely involved with strategic business-planning processes, you might have limited experience with scenario planning. The approach is a method by which you define various characteristics and conditions that might exist in the foreseeable future, and then, through a facilitated process, create a scenario (or scenarios) of what your organization would look like in the defined future state(s). The scenario(s) can include but are not limited to site-development strategy, outsourcing requirements, workforce planning and process migration. Assuming you are able to develop your scenario-planning capabilities, you can then position yourself to help take the lead in this arena. While you provide value-added support to help generate the road map to transform one area, continue to find other strategic priorities and initiatives. Based on the relevance you’ll acquire by applying your scenario-planning skills, you can build your business understanding, credibility and relationships with other executives, gaining influence as you do. 15 August 2007 Clearly, taking the lead to ensure you are building relevance for the CLO role and its accountabilities should be a personal priority. If it’s not, you might find yourself being left out of key strategic business-planning processes and, possibly, even the future state of your organization. Richard Y. Chang, Ph.D., is founder and CEO of Richard Chang Associates and is author of “The Passion Plan.” He can be reached at editor@clomedia.com. I www.clomedia.com I Chief Learning Officer As a CLO, being skilled at providing this sort of capability assessment and advising the CEO and other executive team members on appropriate key talent retention and development makes a critical contribution to the business and increases your relevance. http://www.clomedia.com

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