TM - October 2007 - (Page 34) recruitment & retention assessment & evaluation compensation & benefits performance management learning & development succession planning The Cul of t Productivity There’s something even more insidious going on. The challenge of finding a balance between making a living and making a life is getting harder for everyone to manage. The skewed logic of the global economy requires people pay more attention to work than their personal lives. Thanks to rapid and dramatic advances in technology, there have never been so many opportunities to create value in a marketplace with an insatiable hunger for great ideas. But advanced technology is leveling the playing field, thereby increasing competitive pressures. The result: unprecedented demand for accelerated productivity. In a nutshell, the global economy has created a cult of productivity. Despite dramatic technological advances designed to increase efficiency in every arena, people have less leisure time than ever. Massive and continuous corporate downsizings impose more work on everyone who’s left standing, and given the alternative of no job or a different job with the same or similar pressures, who’s going to complain? The result is that there is an overriding and obsessive concern with work, work outcomes and the promise of future work. Is it any wonder people are overworked, dissatisfied and locked into patterns of toxic success? In a cult of productivity, putting in face time or engaging in imagemaking work rather than real work might become the norm. By engaging in this symbolic act, people think they are signaling their strong work ethic, personal ambition and loyalty to the organization. The trouble is that it’s not necessarily about real commitment leading to real accomplishment. On the contrary, chronic fatigue as a result of overwork, coupled with an undercurrent of resentment, serve to eclipse real productivity. October 2007 Huron Consulting Group: Talent on the Grow Brian Summerfield Very few people would think it a bad thing if their companies grew rapidly because business was going like gangbusters. If talent isn’t managed correctly in the face of swift growth, however, it’s very easy for organizations to become victims of their own success. But it can be done. A case in point is Huron Consulting Group, a professional services firm established just over five years ago with a core group of former Arthur Andersen partners. The company, which is divided into financial, legal, corporate, health care and highereducation consulting segments, started out with 220 employees. As of June 2007, it had 1,256, an increase of more than 470 percent. “Huron’s growth has been rapid and somewhat variable,” said Mary Sawall, vice president of human resources. “In terms of people, 2003 to 2004 was the only year-period in which head count growth was moderate. Between December 2002 and 2003, the number of employees increased by 82 percent through aggressive hiring of experienced professionals. In 2004, we consciously spent time integrating our new people and concentrated hiring on very strategic skills. Since then, in 2005 and 2006, our head count increased by more than 25 percent each year.” In addition to new hires, Huron has expanded from a series of acquisitions, which presents challenges around workforce assimilation. “For a successful integration of acquisitions, we recently hired an HR director with primary responsibility for HR due diligence and integration post-acquisition,” Sawall said. “This dedicated resource focuses solely on supporting the integration and being very responsive to the needs of the people who are acquired. However, we have found that the fastest way to integrate an acquisition is to get people working together and achieving successfully in the market as quickly as possible.” A key to managing performance through rapid growth is institutional flexibility, which means having core processes and values while not devolving into a rigid bureaucracy. For instance, each of Huron’s practice groups has people or culture committees that identify and address particular issues within those consulting divisions. Although the solutions they come up with are specific to their respective practices, some of the initiatives they’ve implemented have been expanded to the entire company. “For example, we are now conducting a 90-day post-hire assimilation survey online with experienced hires,” Sawall said. “This was a direct result of one of the people task forces in one of our largest practices. This type of feedback and information helps us better respond to the needs of our people who come into the organization knowing consulting but not knowing ‘the Huron way.’” Also, Sawall assigns small internal teams, made up of operations, HR and marketing professionals to each practice to work with those segments’ leaders to manage the business. “These line-support teams are part of designing corporate solutions,” she said. “We ensure that HR has a strong presence in the business but also reports into higher HR management. As HR, we determine core values, systems and processes for the overall Huron team, yet we provide flexibility to accommodate the particular needs of a line of business.” Real people with good intentions 34 talent management magazine www.TalentMgt.com http://www.TalentMgt.com
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