Chief Learning Officer - August 2007 - (Page 50)

business intelligence they are more likely than managers in other companies to agree that reviews are conducted on a regular and timely basis, as well as that their organizations use rewards other than money to encourage good performance. Consistent with the results for learning, these practices are not new ideas, but the research points to the successful application of these performance management systems as a hallmark of financially successful companies. nies also report that recruiting and retaining talent, along with promoting the best people, are advantages of their organizations. Results from surveys across all well as among senior leaders, developing and maintaining a ture truly is a differentiator of forming organizations. managers, as confirm that learning culthe best-per- Companies that successfully provide learning opportunities to enrich employee skill sets also outperform their peers financially. It should come as no surprise that when organizations are able to create and apply effective learning and performance management systems, many positive results surely follow. Figure 1 reveals high-performance companies are rated by their managers as superior in efforts to both promote and retain the most talented people. A culture focused on enriching learning opportunities and ongoing performance feedback and recognition is well-positioned to identify top talent for promotion, ensuring the best people are retained as a source of competitive advantage. To explore whether the trends across all managers are consistent among senior leaders, the opinions of 19,879 senior leaders in 26 highperformance companies are compared with the opinions of a comparison group of 51,614 senior leaders across 142 organizations. Figure 2 displays results remarkably consistent with the findings from the study of all managers. Specifically, the same three general areas of learning, performance management and talent promotion/retention are present. In particular, senior leaders in high-performance companies report that their organizations are significantly more effective than other companies in: • Providing learning to adequately prepare employees for their work. • Giving opportunities for employees to improve current, job-specific skills. • Providing opportunities for learning that will increase employees’ eligibility for a morechallenging position. In addition, senior leaders in high-performance companies also report the proper management of poor performers as a differentiator — knowing how to address employees who are not giving their best is a significant challenge for managers at any level. The best companies are recognized by their senior leaders as providing the kind of focused performance feedback that assists poor performers, as well as top talent. Finally, paralleling the results for all managers, senior leaders from high-performance compa- Although these findings suggest that promoting a learning culture is a universal for highperformance environments, further research suggests organizations focused on specific types of strategic priorities especially benefit from promoting learning, performance management and talent promotion/retention practices. Drawing on the same set of financially successful companies, employee survey results can be analyzed by dividing companies based on their major strategic business priority. For example, most retail environments (including store chains and retail banking networks) primarily focus on providing superior customer service, and most manufacturers compete on the efficiency of delivering goods to market and/or on the quality of their products. For research purposes, five strategic business priorities can be distinguished: 1. Customer service: Most organizations have some conceptualization of the customer, regardless of the extent of contact between customers and employees. The types of organizations with a dedicated strategic focus on providing unique solutions to customers typically include financial services and retail companies, environments that often operate a large network of units (e.g., stores and bank branches) that are specifically designed to deliver service excellence. 2. Efficiency: Service alone often is not enough to drive higher sales and profitability. Many business models also must address the on-time delivery of goods and services to market. Organizations with a dedicated focus on efficiency include many manufacturers, especially consumer goods companies that must meet delivery dates for goods to store shelves. Hard and soft manufacturing companies alike face similar efficiency challenges, whether the goods to be delivered are construction steel or food. A focus on efficiency often includes an emphasis on lean production and cost containment as part of the process of meeting delivery dates for production. 3. Innovation: Pharmaceuticals face the welldocumented challenge of patent expiration for current products in the marketplace, cre- August 2007 I www.clomedia.com I Chief Learning Officer 50 http://www.clomedia.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Chief Learning Officer - August 2007

Chief Learning Officer - August 2007

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.