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How Operational Excellence Attracts and Retains Talents

Operational Excellence is a systematic approach to improving business processes and performance. It can also significantly impact a company’s ability to attract and retain talented employees.

The Significance of Talent in Modern Business

High performers are crucial to any organization’s success. A study encompassing over 600,000 individuals across various professions revealed that top performers are up to 800% more productive in complex jobs like software development and management. However, many companies struggle with attracting and retaining such talent. A McKinsey survey found that 82% of companies don’t believe they recruit highly talented people, and only 7% think they can retain top talent once hired.

Employee Engagement and Retention

Employee engagement is a critical factor in retention. Gallup reported that over 50% of employees surveyed in 2015 were not engaged, and 17.2% were actively disengaged. Additionally, 73% were contemplating other job opportunities. The scarcer top talent becomes, the more vulnerable companies are to losing their best people to competitors, especially as younger generations exhibit less loyalty to employers.

Operational Excellence in Retaining Current EmployeesStrategyDriven Talent Management Article: How Operational Excellence Attracts and Retains Talents

 

Operational Excellence contributes to retraining employees through four main drivers:

  1. Enhanced Job Satisfaction:
    • Streamlined Processes: Operational excellence often results in streamlined, efficient processes. This can significantly enhance job satisfaction by reducing frustrations associated with inefficient workflows, leading to a more engaged workforce.
    • Employee Empowerment: A core aspect of operational excellence is empowering employees to contribute to continuous improvement. This empowerment can lead to a greater sense of ownership and loyalty among employees.
  2. Professional Growth and Development:
    • Continuous Learning: Organizations that excel operationally often prioritize continuous learning and development. This commitment to employee growth can be a strong retention tool, as employees value the opportunity to enhance their skills and advance their careers within the organization.
    • Innovation Opportunities: Operational excellence involves embracing innovation. Employees often find motivation in working for companies that are at the forefront of their industry, offering opportunities to work on innovative projects and solutions.
  3. Workplace Culture: Operational excellence contributes to a positive work environment, where efficiency, respect, and collaboration are valued. A positive culture is a key factor in employee retention, as it fosters a sense of belonging and satisfaction.
  4. Employee Recognition and Reward Systems: Effective operational systems often include performance-based rewards and recognition programs, which can increase employee motivation and loyalty.

Operational Excellence as a Talent MagnetStrategyDriven Talent Management Article | How Operational Excellence Attracts and Retains Talents

 

As operational excellence is mainly internal to the company, the challenge is to make it visible to the talent the company wishes to attract. This is how it can do it.

External Perception and Attraction of Candidates

  • Brand Image: Companies known for operational excellence often have a strong brand image. This image, reflecting high standards in efficiency, quality, and innovation, is appealing to potential candidates who seek to work in well-structured and successful organizations.
  • Market Reputation: Operational excellence contributes to a positive market reputation. Prospective employees are attracted to companies that are leaders in their field, as it suggests stability, growth potential, and a commitment to best practices.
  • Visibility Through Success Stories: Success stories and case studies showcasing a company’s achievements due to operational excellence can attract talent. Such stories often highlight innovative practices, significant improvements in processes, or achievements in quality and efficiency, which can be very attractive to skilled candidates.


Recruitment Messaging

Companies can leverage their operational excellence in their recruitment messaging, emphasizing the organization’s commitment to continuous improvement, employee engagement in decision-making processes, and the use of cutting-edge tools and methodologies.

Conclusion

Operational excellence is more than a business strategy; it’s a talent strategy. Companies that embed continuous improvement and learning into their culture not only excel operationally but also become magnets for top talent. By focusing on creating an environment where employees can grow and develop, these organizations can attract, retain, and develop the high-quality talent necessary for long-term success. The key lies in understanding the dynamic relationship between operational systems, employee engagement, and talent development. This holistic approach can transform a company into a desirable destination for the world’s best talent, thereby driving both operational and human capital excellence.

Tactical Execution Best Practice 1 – Priority System Alignment with Mission Goals

StrategyDriven Tactical Execution Best Practice Article | priority system alignmentSeldom do leaders assign work to individuals based on the corporate goal of achieving something.


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Additional Information

The following StrategyDriven recommended best practices can be used achieve the priority alignment discussed above:

Keeping Abreast: Aligning Managers With Your Orders

One of the greatest difficulties in business has been and may always be, maintaining a good level of communication. This is especially true for the people you rely on to make your business function from day to day. It goes without saying that the most numerous employees will be junior and or regular staff that are the individuals making things happen at ground level. Here is where the most action takes place, but the most difficult decisions take place higher. As the business owner and leader, it’s your job to keep your workers functioning at a consistent level, getting everyone to pitch in and do their best. However, you’re only one person, and cannot reach out to every single person every day. Your managers are essentially your long arm strength. These people are the ones you trust to make sure your decisions are implemented and carried out as and when ordered. If your managers aren’t in the know and aligned with the company’s direction, this can lead to fallout and massive disruption. Keeping them abreast and knowledgeable should be a part of your modus operandi.

Meetings of superiors

Every week businesses around the world, conduct meetings with employees and superiors. Whether it be in the boardroom, or at the managerial level everyone in the business must be updated and give updates too. Generally, managerial meetings take place after the boardroom meetings whereby executives, partners and stakeholders discuss how various parts of the business are progressing. One way to be ready for the meeting with the managers is to be clued up on all aspects of the business that are divulged to each section and or department. Another way to be planted in this meeting is to know what you require of each manager even before the week has started. This could be things that aren’t even related to the general proceedings of the day and or week. It may be just to get employee holiday paperwork in on time, or discussing sick pay for those who are off work will an illness. The key to keeping your managers abreast is to inform them when you’re ready. All too often leaders just want to get the show rolling and show managers that they are competent enough to lead them and not be hesitant. Unless you have a clear picture of how things are going at ground level, don’t give out orders as this will result in a wastage of time.

A cohesive backroom

Every business has an advanced software interface that employees utilize to remain in the business mainframe. Using their company accounts, managers can sign in to access memos and statistics in their department. Anything from orders, sales, work history, task allocation, reports, and updates are all accessed via the managerial interface. However, the process of signing up and re-signing in are the most fraught moments in this procedure. For security purposes use two-factor authentication with plivo’s sms api. When a manager is first signing in to his or her account, proper verification of who they are must be made not just for security purposes, but to officially have them on record on the servers. If a manager somehow forgets or loses their account information, when resetting a password or changing a username, must also be met with the same level of integrity testing. This can lead to a cohesive backroom of your business, whereby only those permitted are allowed access to sensitive information, which protects your business from wannabe saboteurs.

Encouraging managers to communicate in real-time

When work is being allocated, and in the process of completion, things can often change. It may be because an order has to be altered or cancelled, an error that has been carried over from another department, or simply because the client changed their mind. Managers must communicate with other not just in the interface, but face to face also. When something needs to be changed, it’s all well and good to do so digitally through software because it’s the fastest and easiest form of relaying alterations. However, there is always a culture of rivalry and sometimes egos to play a part. If used properly these are actually great traits to have because it allows your employees to feed off of each other’s energy. However, there should be no such room for invisible territorial lines. Every manager no matter what department must feel welcome in other sections of the business, and if something needs to be discussed in person, this should be encouraged.

Keeping managers abreast of developing situations is the key to aligning your orders with employees. Not only must they be working in tandem in the business online interface, but communicating in person too.

Organizational Accountability – Evaluating Organizational Culture, part 3

StrategyDriven Organizational Accountability ArticleWhen evaluating an organization’s culture, it is important to understand that variations likely exist vertically among personnel levels and horizontally across divisions, departments, and workgroups. Consequently, it’s important to establish the degree of alignment between the various organizational levels and business units to the cultural characteristics being evaluated in order to fully understand the cultural adaptation and adherence within the organization.


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Additional Information

For additional information regarding organizational alignment and aligning mechanisms see:


About the Author

Nathan Ives, StrategyDriven Principal is a StrategyDriven Principal and Host of the StrategyDriven Podcast. For over twenty years, he has served as trusted advisor to executives and managers at dozens of Fortune 500 and smaller companies in the areas of management effectiveness, organizational development, and process improvement. To read Nathan’s complete biography, click here.

Organizational Accountability Warning Flag 4 – Taking Care of Employees

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