高管对人员和组织绩效的见解

INTRODUCTIONThe past few years have seen seismic shifts in the talent market. Therate of turnover, as well as the cost of attracting new hires, has steadilyincreased.Many older workers have left the workforce, replaced by a newgeneration with very different expectations of their employer. Organizationsneed to be agile and adaptive to cater to these workers, taking measuresto deliver a new and differentiated employee valueproposition.In a series of conversations with numerous C-suite executives over morethan a year, we heard a range of enlightening insights on their biggestconcerns, priorities, and goals related to people and organizationalperformance issues. Below is a summary of the common themesthatemerged. EVOLUTION OF THE WORKFORCECHANGES IN CULTUREUnderpinning every organization’s fortunes is its ability to attract talent. It’s little surprisethat the executives we interviewed listed changing recruiting tactics and incentives toaddress a tight labor market among their highest priorities. In general, they expressedconfidence in how well their companies attract new hires, select the right ones, and engageand retainthem.As these leaders are well aware, the outcome of these efforts hinges in large part oncreating a culture that will appeal to people before and after they’re hired. Further, asthe makeup of an organization’s workforce changes, so too must many elements of itsculture. InOliver Wyman’s 2024Performance Transformation report, 70% of executivesreported that culture allowed them to unlock their workforce’s full potential or enhancetheir transformation strategies. That result was echoed in our interviews, where 69% ofexecutives cited “shaping and nurturing culture in a hybrid environment” as a toporganizational priority required to ensure futuresuccess.The challenge, they said, is to create a culture focused on belonging to enable employeesto reach their potential and deliver better performance. There are several characteristicsthat indicate a successfully evolved culture. First, there must be true inclusion and diversity.As one executive succinctly put it, “Our population and talent pools are diverse, so theworkforce must reflect that.” Relatedly, the culture needs to provide a sense of psychologicalsafety for everyone in the workforce. In “The New Growth Agenda,” a recent report by theOliver WymanForum and the New York Stock Exchange, 43% of CEOs surveyed mentionedthat one of their top workforce strategies to drive high performance was “nurturing a cultureto support future success including purpose, sense of belonging, diversity and inclusion,trust in the organization, andadaptability.”69%of executives cited “shaping and nurturing culturein a hybrid environment” as a top organizationalpriority In the same vein, the C-suite executives we spoke with overwhelmingly said they are makingdiversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives a priority over the next three to five years.They acknowledge that legal and social headwinds have made the environment for DEI morecomplicated and challenging, but also perceive a significant business need for DEI given themakeup of their customer and talent pools. Still, fewer than half said they were fairly or veryconfident their companies have a diverse group that provides a sufficiently wide breadthof perspectives. Those that are unable to implement DEI measures effectively will almostcertainly limit their hiring options, so they must treat the challenge of accomplishing culturegoals the same way as they do financial performancegoals.CHANGES IN PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENTInterview responses indicated that many organizations are struggling to measure theiremployees’ productivity: 77% of the executives rated their ability to do so either as “weak”or “neutral.” Similarly, none of the executives interviewed rated their company’s ability tomanage performance as “very strong,” with 61% assessing it as weak or neutral. Across theboard, they made clear that they either had changed their performance management systemsalready, have plans to implement new systems, or have identified a need for new systems.The changes mentioned included “getting rid of ratings,” “revamping the performancecoaching process,” and better integrating goal cascading into annual reviewprocesses.Looking ahead, these leaders want to refresh performance systems to ensure they areeffective for the new workforce and working models, for example by shifting to merit-basedtalent practices to remove potential bias against hybrid and remote workers. They alsoexpressed a need to think about how to apply artificial intelligence and other technologiesto performance management, and to ensure that processes and practices have a tangible,clearly articulated impact on the organization’s bottom line overtime.77%of executives rated theirabilityto measure their employees’productivityeither as “weak” or“neutral” LEADERSHIP EXPECTATIONS AND DEVELOPMENTThe executives we interviewed believe very different leadership skills a