Engagement and the
talent-centered
organization
September 23, 2011
Mark R. Atkinson
Talent Management & Organization Design
Agenda: 30 minutes to get to “so what?!”
Focus
• Pivotal roles
• Critical roles
Holistic approaches
• Engagement begins before first touch
• Talent-centered organizations
• Employer brand, EVP & Employer of Choice
And, finally, engagement—it’s not an initiative
• Traditional levers still work
• Pink, Ulrich et al
• Predictive analytics
Q & A … along the way
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Focus
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Pivotal & critical roles—where are they?
Pivotal roles
Roles where a small performance
variation can create a large change in
business performance and outcomes
are considered “pivotal”
Critical roles
Where is there a market or supply-based
risk to core skill sets required in your
value chain?
Two critical dimensions in defining &
identifying pivotal roles:
- Welders can be king for a day
In short:
- Performance doesn’t always transfer
- A direct tie to delivering distinctive,
- What are the critical roles in your
strategy-based value
value chain?
- Significant leverage
- What are the demographics of your
The often-missed point:
Begin from the outside then, work
your way back into your value chain to
discover pivotal roles
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critical talent?
- Does the market make many of those
these days? How long does it take to
build or access these talent pools?
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Acquisition priorities—targeting talent
Type of role
Proprietary/Strategic
Green Tech Private Equity
Analyst:
Project Manager:
Having the right project
manager with business-specific
insight can determine the
success of implementation. This
is the combination of a generic
skill set with strategic insight
and experience.
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Proprietary
Generic
Strategic/Generic
Type of knowledge
Technical knowledge required in
both finance and clean
technology applied to critical
deal flow roles focused on the
integration of new technologies
through acquisition.
Strategic
•
•
•
•
own
invest
retain
develop
• access
market
• cost
benefit
analysis
Business Necessary
• own
• retain
• develop
• access
• contract
• program
manager
Proprietary/Business
Necessary
NASA Engineer:
Unique NASA-developed
processes and tools needed for
routine program
continuance roles.
Generic/Business
Necessary
Call Center Operator:
Needed to respond to customer
inquiries, however the skill set
required and job function
performed are neither proprietary
nor strategic.
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So, where are your employees?
Level of engagement
Profile Characteristics
Tenants
Disengaged
Champions
Captives
Likelihood of staying
© 2010 PwC Saratoga
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Champions
• Strong identification with company objectives
• High level of loyalty to the company
• High level of willingness give discretionary effort
and self-initiative to also inspire and motivate
colleagues
Captives
• Rather critical, therefore difficult to lead
• Individualistic, interested only in their own
professional advancement
• Ready to change jobs when opportunities become
available (sometimes the employee feels these
opportunities are not, therefore they feel stuck)
Disengaged
• Dissatisfied
• Disconnected from the company
• More frustrated than dedicated
• Under-utilized resources of the company
Tenants
• Very satisfied
• Straightforward, however, need to be directed
• Lack connection to company
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Holistic approaches
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Holistic approaches—the talent cycle
Attract
Recruit
Screen
Select
Deploy
Develop
Retain
Separate
Too often, talent management & the levers that influence
engagement are carved into disparate activities owned by
different groups without the benefit of a unified vision,
objectives & metrics …
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Employer of Choice (and other misconceptions …)
Employee
point-of-view
Targeted
capabilities
Market
demographics
Employer of Choice shouldn’t be an
award, it should be your brand
• Bound your target — be the Employer of
Choice for that specific group or groups of
employees and prospective employees who
possess the capability to drive your value chain
• Design your brand to attract what you know
you need from the prospective employee
market
Intentional Employer
Brand
• Align your employee value proposition
to deliver on your brand and retain those you
want to retain to build and deliver on your
business strategies
Organizations inherently attract some people and repel others.
The question: is your brand attracting and repelling the right people?
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The talent-driven organization
Proprietary &
Strategic
•
•
•
•
Proprietary &
Business Necessary
high touch
high customization
high investment
own the relationships
•
•
high touch
may outsource the
relationships
Core
Core
talent
Generic & Strategic
•
•
•
•
•
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active brand
visible
own the relationships
lowest touch
customization practical
Talent
Generic & Business
Necessary
•
•
•
•
low- to no-touch
outsource
SLAs
efficiency driven
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Engagement is not an initiative
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Implications—engagement is not an initiative
‘Moving the engagement
needle’ involves using old
levers in new ways
High performing organizations align elements of
their organization with their talent strategy —
that is, the daily experience of the employee fuels
engagement and strategic improvisation
• Missions that matter
Lack of alignment leads to Captives, Tenants, the
Disengaged and retention issues
• Employee value proposition
• Culture
• Leadership
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Organizational
• Job design
Mission, Culture, Leadership,
Organizational Design,
Technology & Community
Individual
• Transparent technologies
Job design, Opportunity,
Development, Compensation
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What’s next?
Innovation in the engagement space
Using engagement to fuel strategic improvisation –
• We are on the brink of a major shift in organizational innovation
• In some sense, it’s being fueled by a connection with “old science”
- Daniel Pink, David & Wendy Ulrich, et al
- Autonomy, mastery, purpose and abundance
• New environments, like ROWEs
• New structures, like B-corporations
• Transparent technologies accelerating collaboration
• Renewed focus on connecting with values
Strategic improvisation – the difference between classical
music and improvisational jazz
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Thank you!
Mark R. Atkinson
mark.r.atkinson@us.pwc.com
469.939.0205
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