Ultimate Performance: Measuring Human Resources at Work

Identify Human Capital Deliverables that Impact the Business

Once the business strategy and subsequent objectives are well understood, the organization can establish how its human capital will help implement the strategy and impact its objectives. The importance of such a linkage was greatly popularized by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan’s landmark book Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done, which based an organization’s success on its ability to execute its business objectives. Bossidy and Charan argue that three core processes—people, strategy, and operations—and the degree to which they are linked are at the heart of providing an organization the competitive discipline needed to execute and succeed in today’s marketplace. (See Figure 1.1.)

Figure 1.1.

Bossidy and Charan emphasize that the people process is more important than either the strategy or operation processes, arguing that if the people process is not done right the organization will never fulfill its potential. Based on their vast experience and research with successful companies, Bossidy and Charan emphasize that getting the people process right involves integrating and linking it with business strategy and operations. They base this on a set of building blocks that leaders must use to effectively design, install, and operate the people process, as follows:

• Linkage to the strategic plan and its near (0–2 ...