Are People At The Heart Of Your Corporate Purpose?

On Friday September 20, the class was deep in excited conversation as we discussed our initial impression of the book. At the stroke of nine, Lynda Gratton, Professor of Organisational Behaviour and Dean of the full time MBA Programme at the London Business School walked into the auditorium. What do you all think of my book? She asked. Some delegates went on to give glowing feedback. She then asked if we have put people at the heart of our corporate purpose. Words do not mean anything if your actions do not bring them to life. She mentioned that high fliers are tired of hearing organisations talk about the usual cliches they put in their recruitment brochures such as:

a. "People are our most important asset."

b. "We are a knowledge-based company."

c. "All we have is our people."

She paused and said “How many organisations live those words?” Too many employees in organisations with such claims are not happy. They do not feel they are treated as the most important assets and they do not feel their knowledge is understood or used. That got my full attention. I have always leaned towards Charles Handy’s view that assets are things you use until they break down. Which is why I agree with Lynda Gratton that the only route to improved performance is for us to place the people in our organisation at the centre of our strategic decision-making. She calls it putting people at the heart of corporate purpose. To do this, you need to be capable of wide involvement. You need to have a shared sense of meaning of the future. You should be ready to embark on an exciting, inspiring journey with your team using the six steps.

The six-step Living Strategy journey she presented can guide you through the implementation of a strategy that will not only grow your organization but also create a business of which you can be proud.

Step 1. Building a guiding coalition

a. Involve multiple stakeholders

b. Create a diversity of views

c. Build cross-functional viewpoints

Step 2. Imagining the future using your organizational guiding principles

a. Backward from the future

b. Keep it simple

c. Measure success through the richness of dialogue

d. Focus on a few themes and visualize the future through five key factors:

i. Cultures and values

ii. Structure

iii. People processes

iv. Leaders and Top Team

v. People

Step 3. Understanding current capabilities and identifying the gaps through a deep understanding of the current state and extent of risks. You will need to conduct:

a. Bench-marking with competitors

b. Employee surveys

c. Focus groups

d. Employee interviews

e. 360 feedback

f. Self perception

g. Informal upward communication

How vulnerable are you to lose good talent? Your risk matrix will show whether you have low, manageable or high risk.

Step 4. Creating a map of the system

a. Themes

b. Levers

c. Desired end states

d. Develop a model

Step 5. Modelling the dynamics of the vision. What are your driving and restraining forces? (globalisation, customer orientation, innovation and entrepreneurship)

Step 6. Bridging into action

a. What are your guiding principles?

b. Continue to build guiding coalitions

c. Build a capacity to change

d. Keep focusing on the themes

e. Build performance measures

Lynda Gratton professed that for corporate strategy to live and work, people have to understand strategy, and strategy makers have to understand people. The most important aspect of your strategy is your talent strategy. If companies want to increase their business performance, they need to recognize and develop the soul of the organization: the people. People are the Living Strategy of your organisation. 

At the end of day two, I retired to my room and buried myself in chapter two of Living Strategy. Putting People At The Heart Of Corporate Purpose.