Talent to Value? Newsletter - October 2023 Issue

Welcome to our newsletter. Consider this a collection of insights and ideas from the team at CEOworks

Welcome to the October issue of the Talent to Value? Newsletter – your source for actionable insights and strategies to optimize business transformation by leveraging talent. This month, our experts tackle critical challenges that top-level executives face daily. We begin with Joydeep Mutsuddi and Megan Blouin 's incisive article, demonstrating how to navigate the pitfalls of value creation and achieve a successful business transformation through evidence-based talent decisions, drawing on real-world examples. Next, Bill Allen addresses the current leadership landscape, offering three critical strategies for effectively managing shifting work dynamics and balancing employee satisfaction and stakeholder interests. Finally, don't miss our engaging webinar, as seasoned CHRO Hein J.M. Knaapen talks with Barentz's CEO, Peter F. Boone , sharing invaluable insights into his leadership journey and his experiences leading a highly skilled, specialized team. Let's dive in by distilling this wealth of knowledge into meaningful growth and progress.

How Top CEOs Drive Successful Business Transformation

Tackling the hurdle of value creation is no walk in the park - the stark truth is business transformation success rates haven't budged past 30% for several years. This is the case even under the stalwart guidance of adept CEOs and top-level teams. Frustratingly, the 'think big, start big' mantra that often seems so enticing can lead to delayed results, complicated management of transformations, and eventual team burnout. So, how can these outcomes be avoided? How can we leverage evidence-based decisions to assess risk better and bolster execution speed? This article by senior partner Joydeep Mutsuddi and associate partner Megan Blouin distills our learnings from successful business transformations into a step-by-step guide. We also bring you real-world examples from three distinct leaders who adeptly leveraged 'Talent to Value' to drive effective business transformation despite variances in their leadership style, industry, and goals. Discover how you can enhance value realization in your organization. Here is an excerpt:

Value creation is tough business.

The success rate of business transformation has not exceeded 30 percent for years. Even under the leadership of a strong CEO and Top Team, companies often fall into the trap of ‘think big; start big’, which can easily lead to slow-arriving results, complicated transformation management, and employee burnout.

Leaders often ask us the same few questions. How do we improve transformation rates? How can we use evidence-based decisions to assess risk and execute at pace?

We’ve learned that successful business transformations follow a common process:

1. Focus first on the most critical initiatives to accelerate value creation
2. Allocate the right (not just the best) talent in the right roles at the right time to those points of value creation
3. Understand the risk to value driven by role design and the readiness of the talent in the most critical roles
4. Mobilize risk mitigations in sequence and bite-size chunks.

THREE LEADERS, ONE SOLUTION

We recently worked with three distinct leaders who wanted to drive faster, better, sharper value realization in their companies. Despite their differences in leadership style, tenure, industry, and goals, they were all able to effectively leverage Talent to Value? to drive business transformation. Read on to find out how they did it.

Download and read the detailed case study here.

MEET THE LEADERS

Two of our business leaders had only 1.5 years in their roles, and one was a tenured CEO. Their industries spanned energy, global industrials, and consumer products. Although their specific goals for growth varied widely, they shared four common needs:?

1. All had a burning desire to exceed their own ambition in a short period of time with the lightest possible intervention.
2. They wanted a clear and objective assessment of team readiness to deliver the ambition.
3. All were keen to ensure alignment across the most critical roles that would execute the ambition.
4. The ability to identify the most impactful solutions, de-risk, and measure impact was paramount.

You can read the full article here.

3 Things New Leaders Need to Thrive During a Leadership Recession

As new leaders emerge from Gen X and Millennial cohorts, and we bid farewell to the business as it was pre-pandemic, the leadership landscape is undeniably evolving. Amidst an accelerating world, the potential of another economic downtrend, and AI's rise, leaders face an uptick in challenges, particularly in managing disengaged employees and addressing changes in work dynamics. Leaders must balance the focus on employee satisfaction with the interests of the broader stakeholders to navigate this perpetually shifting terrain effectively. This piece by senior partner Bill Allen outlines three key strategies to assist leaders in overcoming these significant challenges.

Here's an excerpt:

As Boomers retire and Gen Xers and Millennials take center stage, I see many people "new" to leadership struggling to meet the demands of their roles.

Honestly, it's harder than ever to be an effective leader at any level of an organization. The world continues changing exponentially fast. And as we come out of our pandemic hibernation, we find ourselves facing the threat of another economic recession and the rise of artificial intelligence.

There is no going back to "business as before."

TROUBLING CHALLENGES

Leadership has always been a crucial component of any successful organization. Strong leadership drives growth, inspires innovation, and motivates people to achieve their goals. But today, employees are disengaging, quiet-quitting, or resigning in droves. Gallup finds that "Quiet quitters make up at least?50%?of the U.S. workforce—probably more". An additional?18%?are "loud" quitters (that is, actively disengaged). That leaves a mere 32% of employees actively engaged.1

With the rise of the gig economy and remote work, leaders have had to adapt their management style to a combination of synchronous and asynchronous in-person and remote communications. Not all have succeeded in connecting with—and staying connected to—their people in a way that leaves employees clear about what is expected of them, feeling recognized and valued, and, most importantly, supported in their work and professional development.

The unintended consequences of this disconnect? Employees become apathetic. Morale, engagement, and productivity suffer. Add to this the pandemic, which has led to a reevaluation of work-life balance. In 2022, about 50.5 million people in the United States quit their jobs2, ostensibly in search of more flexibility, better pay, and opportunities for growth.

Attracting, motivating, and retaining top talent is particularly tough in this context.

Partly in response to these issues, some leaders have dangerously over-indexed on employee happiness. Leaders must always pay attention to all their stakeholders, including customers, communities, and shareholders; otherwise, they won't have a business. No business means no jobs. In this way, leadership that becomes too employee-centric eventually becomes a detriment to employees.

I believe organizations need to provide three things to help their leadership address these troubling challenges.

You can read the full article here.

Elevated Leadership Playbook: A CEO.works | Europe Conversation with Barentz CEO, Peter Boone

In our recent webinar, seasoned HR veteran Hein Knaapen chats with Peter Boone, Barentz's new CEO, who was previously at the helm of Barry Callebaut. The conversation provides valuable insights into Boone's career progression and transition from leading an FMCG company to steering a life science distribution firm. Boone offers straight-talking views on the difficulties and rewards of managing a highly skilled, specialized team in a rapidly scaling business. This discussion offers practical, no-nonsense learnings for any executive navigating their leadership journey.

You can watch the full conversation on demand here.

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