Accenture Change Management Feed

Planting Green Seeds Today to Grow Tomorrow’s Talent

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 09:12:00 GMT

Accenture’s James Arnott and Peter Lacy argue that, with environmental issues continuing to grow in importance, developing a green workforce must become a priority for those companies intent on achieving high performance.

Talent & Organization Performance:TextLeading and Managing Change in a Multi-polar world

Mon, 08 Dec 2008 19:36:58 GMT

Today's global business environment requires bold new programs to drive high performance along three dimensions: change management, leadership and culture.

Managing Talent in Uncertain Times

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 08:27:00 GMT

Cutting headcount unthinkingly during tough times can have long-term negative consequences. Accenture’s High Performance Business research and its rich client experience show that leading companies outperform their peers across business cycles, in large measure because they innovate continually—and innovation is driven by people. In other words talent management is critical in achieving high performance—and will play a key role in a company’s ability to survive the downturn without being crippled when the upturn comes.

Chapter 7: The Talent Powered Organization: Next Steps and the New Imperatives

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 18:10:47 GMT

The seventh and final chapter of The Talent Powered Organization maps out a talent agenda that is based on the five imperatives set out in the preceding chapters, and which will advance progress toward achieving high performance. The agenda is strategic and long-term, presenting a "call to action" to an organization's leadership as a primary audience, but also to other stakeholders, reiterating that talent management is a collective responsibility. While there is no simple formula to becoming a talent-powered organization, five key principles stand out:

Chapter 6: The Talent Powered Organization: Embedding and Sustaining Talent Power

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 18:10:00 GMT

In this sixth chapter of The Talent Powered Organization, the authors explain the importance of understanding and measuring how talent contributes to an organization's performance. Once that is understood, it is clear that everyone in an organization must be involved in multiplying talent—from top leaders to HR, to line managers, to employees. Therefore, the second part of this chapter focuses on the need to: Talent management needs to become everyone's responsibility in every organization. While top leadership and HR involvement are essential, a talent mindset and capabilities must be embedded and sustained throughout the organization. In talent-powered organizations, everyone in the organization identifies and nurtures talent in ways that enhance performance.

Chapter 5: The Talent Powered Organization: Engagement

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 17:36:00 GMT

In this fifth chapter of The Talent Powered Organization, the authors address the question of engagement which, they argue, is the engine of the modern organization and a prerequisite for high performance. Engagement—that is, the extent to which employees take responsibility for the organization's goals—is the "magic" ingredient that lifts performance above that of a peer organization. This quality is highly measurable and quantifiable, and responds to specific factors we can influence. The link between engagement and performance is well established. A Towers Perrin study in 2005 concluded after several years of surveys showing the link between engagement and performance, that a 5 percent increase in total employee engagement correlated to a 0.7 percent increase in operating margin. The drivers of engagement are the six Cs: content, coping, compensation, community, congruence and career. These are not mutually exclusive and should all work together to help an organization become a high-performance business. Line managers, who themselves must be engaged, play a key role in driving engagement through the business.

Chapter 4: The Talent Powered Organization: From Talent Development to Deployment

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 17:34:00 GMT

Chapter 4 of The Talent Powered Organization turns the reader's attention to talent development and talent deployment as key organizational capabilities of talent-powered organizations that support talent multiplication and competitiveness. Accenture High Performance Business research shows that few companies are achieving high performance in learning and skills development of their workforces. Indeed, the nature of skills required by modern business is changing, and with it the approaches to training and learning. The authors explain how companies focused on high-performance learning develop their talent, and examine seven key principles for promoting faster and better learning within the organization. These principles are based on several studies, in particular a major survey of learning executives called The Rise of the High-Performance Learning Organization. Deployment is about more than simply getting the job done. It is a strategic capability for developing talent to increase organizational capabilities and expanding strategic opportunities. Talent-powered organizations have honed their abilities in effectively deploying talent in a way that benefits both the organization and employees. Several techniques for deploying talent are covered, with reference to real-life examples and best practices.

Chapter 3: The Talent Powered Organization: The Discovery of Talent

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 17:26:00 GMT

Chapter 3 of The Talent Powered Organization deals with the crucial question of how to discover the right kind of talent and attract it to your organization—at a time when talent pools are increasingly diverse and unfamiliar. As the business environment competes for scarce resources, talent-powered organizations are those that recognize new sources of talent and new ways of working with top talent. In this chapter, the authors map out a comprehensive approach to talent discovery, from identifying talent needs to recruiting the right people by aligning actual recruitment efforts to a talent strategy. The suggested approach advises organizations how to identify specific competencies and gear up recruitment channels and processes to seek out the necessary talent, frequently using Accenture's own experience and research to illustrate points. The authors advise establishing an employer brand that will appeal to different segments of the market, and explain how this is supported by word-of-mouth reputation-building. The chapter highlights how each part of the recruitment process should be attractive to applicants and that promises made must become a reality from the new hire's first day of work.

Chapter 2: The Talent Powered Organization: A Strategic Approach to Talent

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 17:23:00 GMT

In this, the second chapter of The Talent Powered Organization, the authors outline a framework that pulls together the various human capital elements of the business or government agency. These elements are used to achieve the goals and objectives of the business strategy. Alignment and integration are key considerations when dealing with talent-related processes and capabilities and are the essence of talent multiplication, which has become a characteristic of high-performance businesses. To evolve from talent management to talent multiplication requires alignment and integration of talent-related processes and capabilities. The authors recommend a talent multiplication model that defines four key talent management capabilities: defining talent needs, discovering talent sources, developing talent potential and deploying talent strategically. The role of the human resource function in this process is clearly highlighted in the chapter. The authors also refer to Accenture High Performance Business research in answering the question: Why is a strategic approach to talent necessary? Studies have identified three drivers of high performance—market focus and position; distinctive capabilities; and performance anatomy—the last two of which relate directly to thinking strategically about talent.

Chapter 1–The Talent Powered Organization: Strategies for Globalization, Talent Management and High Performance

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 17:20:00 GMT

Authors Peter Cheese, Robert J. Thomas and Elizabeth Craig—all from Accenture—explore talent as a strategic issue in this, the first of five chapters of a book that aims to help readers navigate the new economic environment and its impact on the modern workforce. Each chapter corresponds to a different talent imperative. Chapter 1 calls for a human capital strategy to become an intrinsic part of any business strategy in order to achieve high performance. The authors recommend that organizations develop an understanding of the value of talent and in developing business strategy, give proper attention to the organizational implications and options surrounding talent. The chapter investigates why talent is of strategic importance, and both the country-specific and global changes and trends that have led to its significance. The authors explain why organizations should adopt a proactive and diverse approach to populating their talent pool, and highlight the importance of learning and skills development. They raise the issue of employee engagement and why it is both more important and more difficult than ever before. The chapter concludes with a reminder that talent management is an organization-wide responsibility and reflects how leading organizations have adapted their structures accordingly as they pursue high performance.

What Employers Need to Know about Recent University Graduates: Shaping Recruitment and Retention Strategies to Achieve High Performance

Tue, 09 Dec 2008 08:33:00 GMT

While graduates share common characteristics, there are distinct differences between those from developed and developing economies. Accenture conducted research to identify the important issues for these different graduate communities, and also offers recommendations to help organizations attract and retain the talent they need to achieve high performance.