In the lead up to the upcoming elections “Collective Leadership” is receiving some pretty bad press. Professor Dave Ulrich the world thought leader on HR practises believes Collective Leadership is the key to sustainable future intangible value, be that, in a corporate organisation or political community. So I asked Dave Ulrich to clarify his thinking around Collective Leadership. Are our political and corporate leaders practising good leadership?

GOOD LEADERS TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE FINAL DECISION
Leaders often fall between two extremes of being autocratic or abdicate. Autocratic leaders command and control and tell people what to do. Abdicating leaders let people do whatever they want. Good leadership generally falls in between. Based on the competence and commitment of employees and on the situation, good leaders generally engage others, then take responsibility for making the final decision. They make sure that where they decide they are going is where they end up; leaders who do not ensure this, destroy trust.

GOOD LEADERS LISTEN & OBSERVE
Collective leadership does NOT mean leadership abdication. Collective leadership means that a leader listens, observes, and involves others before acting. The leader, by nature of the role, has responsibility and accountability. The value of engaging others is that they may have ideas the leader did not think of and that by engaging them earlier in the decision process, they are more likely to be committed to the decision once it is made.
Nicola Tyler, CEO of Business Results Group says, “The closer someone is to the origination of an idea the more likely they are to act on it.” She advocates this in her strategic interventions with many of South Africa’s C Suite leaders. This is what she believes is a key driver of strategy execution.

GOOD LEADERS ACT DECISIVELY TO GET THINGS DONE
Under the rubric of participative management, some employees think they always get their way. Not so. Leaders who practice participation, listen and make sure others are heard, but then they act decisively to get things done.
A leader told me once that participative management meant, “If you and I agree on everything, one of us is not necessary …. And it won’t be me! But, when we go public, we go with one voice.”
In 2014, BRG & GIBs will present Dave Ulrich – Live and in Person: The 13 Milestones for HR to transcend the way they deliver measurable value to their organisations. Become architects of talent, culture and leadership for 21st Century Organisations.
Professor Dave Ulrich has consulted and done research with over half of the Fortune 200. His honours exude a consistent track record of global influence and authority in human resources and business management. His research is based on collective feedback from over 60 000 line managers and HR professionals on the competencies required to improved business performance.
An accomplished and celebrated educator Dave is sought after the world over to present his findings and educate businesses. He has published over 200 articles and book chapters and over 25 books which he has co-authored with numerous fellow thought leaders.
Follow Dave Ulrich on twitter: @dave_ulrich

If an investment analyst sat in on your HR meeting or learning intervention – what would they decide? Buy, Sell or Hold?

In Professor Dave Ulrich’s, most current, soon to be published work, he proposes that leadership is the key underlying value factor in organisations and is about being able to keep promises, set clear and compelling strategies, align core competencies and build organisational capabilities. He suggests, that, when leaders at all levels of a firm guide these four domains, they create sustainable intangible value which is becoming a major influence for investors and investment analysts.

INVESTORS ASSESS LEADERSHIP ABILITY TO VALUE THE FUTURE INTANGIBLE VALUE OF THE FIRM

His latest research centres primarily on the impact of leadership on both equity and debt investors who want to accurately value the intangible assets of a company and in particular how they assess the leaders and leadership who make the intangibles happen. He further emphasises that leadership is not about the one charismatic CEO in the organisation, but rather about the collective leadership capability and succession planning throughout the organisation.

He asks this, “Does your organisations’ intangible value trade at a premium or discount to your industry?”

Two firms in the same industry with the same financial results may have dramatically different market valuation. This differentiated market valuation is often attributed to intangibles. Intangibles show up in business by boosting – or undercutting investor’s confidence. Baruch Lev has shown that the importance of intangibles as indicated through the market-to-book value [the ratio of capital market value of companies compared to their net asset value] of the S & P 500, has risen from 1 to over 6 in the last 25 years – suggesting that for every $6 of market value, only $1 occurs on the balance sheet. This shows that the value of many firms comes as much from perceived value as from hard assets.

HR professionals who design and deliver leadership improvement efforts could well be served by facilitating conversations from “Outside-In” with their shareholders and investment analysts. At a recent conference, with senior HR professionals in attendance, Dave Ulrich asked the group to consider what their investors would like to know about their quality of leadership? Almost none of the people present had considered this question. At the same conference one of the world’s leading investors shared their desired list of leadership attributes.

Almost no-one was taking notes. This is why Dave believes that HR have the number 1 opportunity to create value in their organisations. Becoming the architects of culture, capability and competence can vastly improve investor and shareholder confidence, beyond the tangibles. “Spend time with your investors and establishing what leadership traits they look for and you will ensure your leadership investment, architecture and efforts are aligned and stimulate confidence beyond the traditional tangibles.”

Still not convinced. In a recent Deloitte survey with 445 analysts from investment banks, private equity firms and hedge funds in 6 countries, 52% factored corporate leadership into their assessment, second only to financial results and ahead of 7 other criteria. This is what they call “The Leadership Premium”. Leadership is more important to them than competitor analysis, historical performance or event debt/equity ratios.

In 2014, BRG & GIBs will present Dave Ulrich – Live and in Person: The 13 Milestones for HR to transcend the way they deliver measurable value to their organisations. Become architects of talent, culture and leadership for 21st Century Organisations.

Professor Dave Ulrich has consulted and done research with over half of the Fortune 200. His honours exude a consistent track record of global influence and authority in human resources and business management.  His research is based on collective feedback from over 60 000 line managers and HR professionals on the competencies required to improved business performance.

An accomplished and celebrated educator Dave is sought after the world over to present his findings and educate businesses. He has published over 200 articles and book chapters and over 25 books which he has co-authored with numerous fellow thought leaders.

Follow Dave Ulrich on twitter: @dave_ulrich

“Shopper Insights” techniques for HR professionals | 50 Customer Centric questions for HR to do good HR work Outside – In.

If you agree with what Dave Ulrich advocates in his latest book Outside In, then building relationships with your customers is key to achieving previously untapped HR Value.

Although he has been advocating this for a few years now, when he asks HR professionals “How many of you have spent time with your customers?” Typically the response is none.

March 2014 |Posted: www.theprogressconference.com 

So what we know is that typically HR do not spend time with customers. We also know the HR profession have their very own set of vocabulary which can get lost in translation with non HR people. So unless your customers are HR people, you need to translate your key HR priorities into their language which is relevant to their experience. This is how you will find out how your good HR work will create value for customers.

This is what he had to say recently, “Rather than becoming an employer of choice, that employees choose– become an employer of employees, your customers choose.”

So what do your customers look for in your HR work?

“HR SPEAK

Do you think our employee wellbeing programme is effective?

CUSTOMER SPEAK

Do our people display energy and alertness?

HR SPEAK

Are our employees functionally competent? This is where you can unpack specific learning and development interventions. By example if you have recently invested in business writing skills training. You could ask,

CUSTOMER SPEAK

How do you rate the quality of written communication from people in our organisation?

Do our people demonstrate good technical knowledge of the products or services they are offering you?

HR SPEAK

Do you think our customer excellence training programme was effective?

CUSTOMER SPEAK

Do our people deliver excellence in all of their dealings with you?

HR SPEAK

Is our leadership programme effective?

CUSTOMER SPEAK

Do our employees demonstrate our companies Vision, Mission & Values? You may want to unpack these for them and rate them accordingly.

HR SPEAK

Is our cultural sensitivity programme effective?

CUSTOMER SPEAK

Do our people exhibit respect towards you and their colleagues despite race, gender or age?”

So here we go: 37 Customer Centric Questions for HR Professionals who hang out with their customers.

You can create a rating system.                         1 being least like this and 5 being most like this

1. Our people demonstrate punctuality at all times.
2. Our people always show up looking presentable.
3. What image do our employees convey about the company by the way they are dressed?
4. Our company exhibits a good balance in terms of gender diversity.
5. Our company exhibits a good balance in terms of racial diversity.
6. Your experience with our people reflects our brand value proposition.
7. Our people demonstrate kindness.
8. Our people demonstrate technical knowledge about our products and services
9. Our people can communicate effectively about our products or services.
10. Our people demonstrate knowledge about many different offerings in the market
11. Our people are responsive.
12. Our people are willing to take on challenges.
13. Our people are able to cope well in difficult situations without becoming emotional. Our people love their job.
14. Our line managers support the people who report to them.
15. Our collective leadership serves you well.
16. Our people’s decisions create value for you.
17. Our people always look healthy and well.
18. We hire the very best people in our industry.
19. We retain our best people well.
20. Our people demonstrate a high level of integrity and ethics in all of their dealings with you.
21. Our people/company show a strong sense of corporate social responsibility in what we do.
22. Our products/services meet your required quality standards.
23. Our people do not complain about their pay.
24. Our people seem appropriately rewarded for the value they create.
25. Our people are not stressed.
26. Our people do not show signs of burn out.
27. Our people are effective within their teams.
28. Our people are committed brand ambassadors for our organisation.
29. Our people take a pride in their work.
30. We respond well to change in trading conditions.
31. We show you that we value / respect and appreciate you as a customer.
32. We demonstrate good governance and compliance in our dealings with you.
33. Our people are passionate about their work.
34. Our people demonstrate innovative thinking in all of their dealings.
35. Our people are willing to go the extra mile.

And then….

What made you decide to become one of our customers? Or, as in the case of an ex customer, what made you decide to leave us?

If you could re-hire, train or develop anyone in our organisation what would you do differently?

Some more tips and ideas:

Why not spend time with customers who you have recently lost? Better still, if this is of significant importance to you, hire the services of a Shopper Insights Company to conduct a survey on your behalf. But as Martin Lindstrom and Dave Ulrich strongly advise you should still spend time and hang out with your customers.

Professor Dave Ulrich has consulted and done research with over half of the Fortune 200. His honours exude a consistent track record of global influence and authority in human resources and business management.  His research is based on collective feedback from over 60 000 line managers and HR professionals on the competencies required to improved business performance.

An accomplished and celebrated educator Dave is sought after the world over to present his findings and educate businesses. He has published over 200 articles and book chapters and over 25 books which he has co-authored with numerous fellow thought leaders.

Follow Dave Ulrich on twitter: @dave_ulrich