People Power: A Catalyst for Transformation
Global Workforce Transformation Trends Study 2019
Posted on 02-24-2020, Read Time: - Min
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Exclusive HR.com research in partnership with Lee Hecht Harrison
The struggle to transform is real. The digital revolution has been a major driver of business transformation, revolutionizing the world of work, transforming what we do and how we do it, while changing what consumers want and how they want it. As a result, the companies that create, design, produce and deliver these products and services need to constantly redesign their business models, strategic plans and workforce characteristics to keep pace with the ever-changing demands of the marketplace.
Business transformation involves many moving parts, and it requires an integrated approach that includes people, processes, systems and technology. HR.com partnered with Lee Hecht Harrison—a leading provider of talent development and career transition services—to survey 1,228 human resources (HR) professionals from over 20 countries to better understand the “people” part of the equation.
Business transformation involves many moving parts, and it requires an integrated approach that includes people, processes, systems and technology. HR.com partnered with Lee Hecht Harrison—a leading provider of talent development and career transition services—to survey 1,228 human resources (HR) professionals from over 20 countries to better understand the “people” part of the equation.
What Is Workforce Transformation?
We define it as the strategic process of planning, developing and redeploying employees to ensure companies have the critical skills and capabilities to help drive the future business imperatives of an organization. Do it right, and you have the right people with the right skills and right mindsets to enable the company to transform. Do it wrong, and your transformation efforts will fail.
No global business, regardless of size or sector, is exempt from having to master workforce transformation. But many businesses are not getting this key catalysts right. Change has the power to disrupt both positively and negatively any organization; HR plays a major role in deciding which course a company will take.
Our data shows that organizations involved in workforce transformation efforts face several critical barriers:
No global business, regardless of size or sector, is exempt from having to master workforce transformation. But many businesses are not getting this key catalysts right. Change has the power to disrupt both positively and negatively any organization; HR plays a major role in deciding which course a company will take.
Our data shows that organizations involved in workforce transformation efforts face several critical barriers:
- Organizations acknowledge workforce transformation is a crucial strategic initiative, but they are neither fully engaged with it nor have efforts been successful.
- Technology is a primary driver, but culture and resistance to change are top barriers.
- Strong leadership is recognized as a key driver, but most organizations report their leaders are not prepared to lead a transformation.
- Employee and leadership development are critical, yet organizations neglect it.
- Low-performing organizations need more HR involvement but get less.
We combined these research insights with our expert knowledge to home in on five key areas of focus to ensure workforce transformation success.
1. Put HR in the driver’s seat
HR needs to be involved more if organizations are to be successful in workforce transformation:
- Overall, only 25% said HR plays a major role in workforce transformation.
- In high-performing* organizations, however, HR is 55% more likely to play a major role in workforce transformation compared with low performing** organizations.
- A majority (62%) believes the senior management team is most responsible for workforce transformation. No other role or group of people was selected by even 40% of the entire survey panel. Only 20% think “everyone” is responsible for workforce transformation.
Workforce transformation initiatives appear to fall squarely within many of HR’s core competencies and strengths. Development, building cultural anchors in organizations, talent management and workforce planning all typically lie within the functional domain of HR professionals. When participants were asked how large a role HR plays in workforce transformation, only 25% said a major role, though 50% identified HR’s role as significant.
2. Honest evaluation ensures ongoing success
Knowing workforce transformation is crucial is not enough to achieve success. Many organizations are overly optimistic when evaluating their own workforce transformation efforts and need to take a hard, objective look at their people, processes and results.
- Ninety-two percent said workforce transformation is crucial to the future of their organizations.
- Forty-four percent said their organizations are well engaged in a workforce transformation process or program.
- Forty-one percent agree that their workforce transformation efforts have been successful.
Although organizations see workforce transformation as crucial, most are neither engaged in nor successful at it. Our findings highlight paradoxes that organizations face as they strive to determine how to drive successful workforce transformation.
3. Let leaders lead
With the majority (85%) of HR professionals reporting they don’t have the leadership skills they need to drive transformation, organizations are lacking competent leaders. Furthermore, even knowing this, they are still not addressing these development needs head-on:
- Leadership development is a crucial component of any workforce transformation program, according to 56% of HR professionals.
- Most organizations (62%) said senior managers are the employees most responsible for workforce transformation efforts.
- However, most organizations are facing substantial shortages of skilled leaders, with fewer than 15% saying leaders in their organization are “very skilled” at leading change, creating cultures of commitment, influencing others, challenging the status quo and driving employee engagement.
Leadership capability is a major theme differentiating the high-performing organizations from low-performing ones. The first piece of evidence here is that low performers are considerably more likely to cite “mediocre managers who are not accountable” as barriers to achieving workforce transformation.
4. Don’t leave career development in the dark
Career development is necessary, but it’s currently an area of weakness, with 91% of organizations not meeting employees’ development needs.
- Succession management looms as an important future skills development initiative in 76% of organizations.
- However, few organizations very successfully meet employees’ career development needs (10%), train managers to hold effective career conversations with direct reports (13%), or give employees the tools and resources needed to reskill (9%).
Talent planning, redeployment and acquisition all play critical roles in workforce transformation. Most participants indicate that these are all somewhat challenging responsibilities, and about a third say that they are very challenged by the need to fill talent pipelines for future needs and by sourcing a targeted pool of specific talent.
5. Culture is crucial
Although the primary drivers of workforce transformation are technological, the most important challenges are not—culture will largely determine the degree of success achieved.
- Advances in digital technologies are by far the most substantial external driver for workforce transformation, with 70% of HR professionals citing it as a major driver.
- The top internal drivers for workforce transformation are in increased usage of digital technologies (59%).
- However, culture represents the single biggest barrier to workforce transformation, cited by 54% of HR professionals.
Culture may be the single most important factor in organizational success, but it is complex and difficult to change. In fact, resistance to change is a nearly universal challenge to most transformation initiatives.
To facilitate a culture shift, internal competency models need to be updated on an ongoing basis in preparation for the inevitable next workforce transformation cycle.
There is no one easy answer or solution to creating and implementing a systemic approach to transformation. People, practices, processes and technology must work in sync to drive successful transformation. We have chosen to focus our insights around five catalysts that leverage “people power” to drive success, with the guidance given to implementation. Getting workforce transformation right is worth the effort as it does impact the bottom line. Although this study cannot prove a causal relationship, the data supports the idea that there is a positive relationship between key practices and financial outcomes.
To learn much more about the survey on Global Workforce Transformation and to get strategic insights and key takeaways, we invite you to read the complete report here:
* High Performers: The organizations whose respondents strongly agree or agree that they have been successful at workforce transformation.
**Low Performers: The organizations whose respondents strongly disagree or disagree that their organizations have been successful at workforce transformation.
To facilitate a culture shift, internal competency models need to be updated on an ongoing basis in preparation for the inevitable next workforce transformation cycle.
There is no one easy answer or solution to creating and implementing a systemic approach to transformation. People, practices, processes and technology must work in sync to drive successful transformation. We have chosen to focus our insights around five catalysts that leverage “people power” to drive success, with the guidance given to implementation. Getting workforce transformation right is worth the effort as it does impact the bottom line. Although this study cannot prove a causal relationship, the data supports the idea that there is a positive relationship between key practices and financial outcomes.
To learn much more about the survey on Global Workforce Transformation and to get strategic insights and key takeaways, we invite you to read the complete report here:
* High Performers: The organizations whose respondents strongly agree or agree that they have been successful at workforce transformation.
**Low Performers: The organizations whose respondents strongly disagree or disagree that their organizations have been successful at workforce transformation.
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