June 20th, 2011
By Jennifer Moss
Posted in:
managing talent
Measuring Human Capital – Pivotal Talent and Its Impact on Organizational Performance
John Boudreau talks about understanding talent and its use in organizations. What factors inhibit us from understanding pivotal talent? What factors contribute to aligning pivotal talent with overall performance?
As organizations look to compete on a global scale, the size of their commitment to human capital will determine the improvement in the quantity and quality of talent in an organization. Organizations must tie business strategy and practices to talent development. This process must start with the idea of where do we need to add value to our associates in order to gain a competitive advantage.
Boudreau calls this point of maximum utilization of talent a pivot point. A pivot point is the point of contact that an organization makes with it customers that gives them the most long term value proposition.
Questions leaders need to ask:
What is the pivotal point in your process?
What kind of impact can improved talent development make on these pivot points?
Does talent development of pivotal points align with business strategies?
What do your employees say are the pivotal points?
What do your employees say is the best way to improve pivotal point processes?
Are you as a leader focused on the development of pivotal leaders?
Is your organization clear about what is pivotal?
The answer to these questions will not only determine our success on impacting the most critical human capital needs of our organization but will drive sustained competitive advantage.
Hi Jim -I thought what was so interesting in Boudreau’s talk was that pivot points different than the “brand”. In the Disney example, the brand is something to the effect of “a good time had by all’ and the pivot point was the amoutn of time spent in lines. Our pivot points lead us to our brand, but we often look at just the brand and forget the talent and pivot points along the way that impact the brand. The questions you list above iillustrate the level of forethought and analysis required to correctly identify your “pivots’ Additionally, I assume that most organizations, being political, have internal competitive entities that ALL feel they are the “pivot” point. When determining which areas have impact toward the competitive advantage, I am sure marketing, operations, R &D, HR, etc.. all feel they are the “pivot”. So, answering your questions, there needs to be some sort of filtering/equalizing strategy in place that allows all organizational members and voices to chime in on who the true pivot’s are.