How Well Do You Manage Your “Portfolio” of Organization Effectiveness (HR) Initiatives?

Few doubt that HR work delivers value to key stakeholders both inside (employees, business strategy) and outside (customers, investors, communities) the organization.

To deliver value and results to these five stakeholders, HR professionals provide insights and initiatives (programs, processes, practices) around organization effectiveness comprised of [1] individual competence (workforce, talent, people), [2] organization capabilities (workplace, culture, and process) and [3] leadership at all levels. In addition, [4] the HR department’s ultimate effectiveness is the extent to which HR initiatives deliver value to these five key stakeholders.

Combining stakeholder results and organization effectiveness initiatives creates a simple but informative portfolio grid for how to prioritize and invest in organization effectiveness initiatives (see Figure 1). The columns in this figure suggest the five stakeholder results that a company may prioritize [1] employee (well being, competence), [2] business strategy (differentiated position, ability to execute), [3] customer (net promoter score), [4] investor/financial (profitability), and [5] social citizenship (environmental, social, governance). Organizational effectiveness from HR initiatives may occur along four pathways represented by the four rows: [A] talent,[B] leadership, [C] organization capability, and [d] HR department.

HR Portfolio Grid of Key Results × Pathways to Organization Effectiveness
(5 results × 4 pathways = 20 cells)

		Key Stakeholder Results
		1 Employee	2 Business Strategy	3 Customer	4 Investors / Financial	5 Social Citizenship
Pathways to Organization Effectiveness	A Talent	1	5	9	13	17
	B Leadership	2	6	10	14	18
	C Organization Capabilities	3	7	11	15	19
	D Human Resources Department	4	8	12	16	20

Each of the 20 cells in Figure 1 represents where business or HR leaders could focus initiatives to deliver the five results. Allocating 100 points across these 20 cells describes the portfolio of organization effectiveness investments that deliver stakeholder results.

Moving towards more precision, based on decades of theory, research, and experience, we have identified specific organization effectiveness activities in talent, leadership, organization, and HR department that might deliver the desired results.

Talent Initiatives

In our work on improving talent, we have identified nine possible initiatives that increase competence (e.g., acquiring talent, managing employee performance, development employees, communicating with employees, retaining and removing employees), commitment (tracking employee engagement), and contribution (creating a positive employee experience).

Leadership Initiatives

In our work on Leadership Brand, we have identified six possible initiatives for improving leadership: building a business case, agreeing on what leaders know and do, assessing leaders, investing in leaders, measuring leaders, and ensuring reputation.

Organization Initiatives

In our work on creating the right organization, we have identified 12 key organization capabilities that can be created.

Twelve Organization Capabilities

1. Talent

   We attract, motivate, develop, and retain talented and committed people at all levels of the organization. (workforce, competence, people)

2. Agility

   We make change happen fast. (change, adaptability, flexibility, cycle time)

3. Strategic Clarity

   We create a shared agenda, and broad commitment and engagement around our strategy. (strategic unity, purpose, new rules of the game, mission, vision)

4. Customer Centricity

   We foster strong and enduring relationships of trust with target customers. (NPS, market share, customer share, customer intimacy)

5. Right Culture

   We create and embed the right culture throughout the organization. (sahred mindset, firm identity, values)

6. Collaboration

   We work together to make the sum more than the parts. (teamwork, cross functional, alliances, coordination)

7. Social Responsibility

   We establish a strong reputation for managing planet, philanthropy, people, and politcal agendas. (CSR, ESG, social citizenship, triple bottom line)

8. Innovation

   We create and deliver new products, services, business models, and ways of working that are commercially successful. (product creation, curiosity, knowledge management)

9. Efficiency

   We reduce the costs of our business activities (standardization, re-engineering processes, streamlining)

10. Accountability

    We set and meet commitments on time and within budget. (execution, discipline, high performance orientation)

11. Information/Analytics

    We acquire, analyze, and apply information to improve decision-making. (predictive analytics, dashboards, scorecards)

12. Leverage Technology

    We exploit and apply the latest technological trends. (digital age, AI machine learning, Internet of things)