Along for the Ride: Accenture Becomes a Trusted Guide on Harley-Davidson’s Journey to High Performance

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Harley-Davidson is using the Accenture Human Capital Development Framework to create a dynamic roadmap to deliver the most traction in its pursuit of high performance.

In 2004, human resources (HR) leaders at Harley-Davidson sought a clearer roadmap for their journey along the road to high performance. While the company was enjoying considerable success, including robust growth, loyal customers and a satisfied, committed workforce, these HR managers perceived a distinct need for guidance. The reason? They anticipated that stellar growth would not last forever, that their workforce was maturing and would be affected by the impending retirement of the baby-boom generation, and that employee loyalty and satisfaction were necessary but insufficient conditions for achieving sustained high performance. It also would be important for Harley-Davidson to cultivate new streams of talent, to maintain high degrees of employee engagement, and to find ways to leverage the workforce into increased global competitiveness.

In particular, Harold Scott, the company’s vice president of HR, knew that if Harley-Davidson was to continue its winning ways, it had to keep its workforce humming like one of its finely tuned motorcycles. This would require a comprehensive, objective assessment of the workforce’s performance, and insights into how that performance could be improved. Most important, Harley-Davidson wanted to be able to assess and improve its workforce as competitive, market and demographic factors changed over time. When Scott set out to gain insights into these challenges in 2004 and again in 2006, Accenture was his trusted guide.

When first approached by Harley-Davidson in 2004, Accenture set out to provide the company with a clear appraisal of its human capital development processes. To do so, Accenture implemented its then-new Accenture Human Capital Development Framework. Developed in conjunction with the Accenture Institute for High Performance Business, the framework is a key element of Accenture’s High Performance Business initiative. It enables organizations to gather information from a broad range of personnel, including human resource directors, senior executives and other employees. The results of a framework implementation help organizations understand which investments in human capital processes, capabilities and key performance drivers are most likely to produce the best business results. Harley-Davidson was among the first group of 19 companies to use the framework, reflecting its commitment to using the latest advances in HR management to boost workforce performance.

The initial implementation of the framework enabled Scott to focus on those areas needing the most improvement: human capital infrastructure and strategy. To address the shortcomings of his company’s HR infrastructure, Scott initiated a complete HR Information System (HRIS) audit and strategy, which enabled to improve overall performance through greater standardization and process integration. When it came time to shift his focus to human capital strategy, Scott and his team set out to improve the process by employing clear workforce metrics, soliciting employee feedback on the effectiveness of human capital programs, and prioritizing programs and processes according to the business benefit likely to be created.

Commenting on his initial reaction to Accenture’s framework, Scott said: “I was impressed by the framework’s ability to give us an empirical base on which to make decisions. It’s critical for HR to become more metrics- and analytics-focused in today’s environment, even though the intangibles underpin the entire function. Accenture’s framework enabled us to do just that.”

Two years later, Accenture set out to re-implement the Human Capital Development Framework at Harley-Davidson, measuring the company’s progress toward high performance. After two years of work on the priorities identified by the framework, the results were compelling. Harley had made substantial progress in its two areas of focus: human capital infrastructure and human capital strategy.

However, while Harley-Davidson’s performance in these areas had improved, the world had not stood still. For example, demographic changes were now directly impacting the company’s workforce—the hiring wave during the late 1990’s has resulted in nearly 50 percent of the workforce having fewer than five years of tenure. In light of this challenge, it would be critical to put measures in place to retain important institutional knowledge as more seasoned workers retired. In addition, the meteoric sales growth that had defined the past few years at Harley-Davidson had begun to stabilize, leading management to ponder strategies for long-term, sustained revenue and profitability.

What’s more, even though Harley-Davidson had improved key HR processes, so had the rest of the 80 companies that had implemented the Accenture Human Capital Development Framework. As a result, while the company had made substantial progress against its own internal benchmarks, against its peer group of companies the results were not as positive. In fact, on balance, Harley’s current state of workforce development was just equal to—and in some cases, just behind—these other companies.

Indeed, the second implementation of the Accenture Human Capital Development Framework made it plain that to compete for the best people and achieve its long-term growth and performance goals, Harley would need to once again refocus its investments in its workforce. Specifically, the framework revealed that maximum return on investment would be attained by emphasizing two areas: workforce planning, and rewards and recognition. In addition, the second implementation of the framework made it clear that the pace of change at Harley would need to be accelerated. However, Scott and other managers were mindful of the tenuous balance between culture and the pursuit of high performance.

In the words of Harold Scott: “It was sobering to view our results compared to other companies. It also made us aware of the fact that any transformational journey must be done within the company’s own cultural context. While other companies are transforming at a faster pace through HR outsourcing and other approaches, for Harley the need for a methodical journey that includes the entire company is critical for our success today.”

Informed by the second implementation of the framework, Harley-Davidson has undertaken several key human capital initiatives tailored to its culture and business goals. For example, the company has added workforce planning to its HR capability model, and has established a new director-level position with sole responsibility for this process.

In fact, Lisa Coury, Harley-Davidson’s first director of workforce planning, had this to say on the company’s new focus: “As we continue to grow human resources must be ready to supply the talent that is needed to support new initiatives. It’s critical for human resources to partner with the business in a new way, to ensure that we prepare our talent for whatever the future requires.”

With Accenture’s help, the company’s HR function will be able to assume this new role with aplomb. By employing the Accenture Human Capital Development Framework, Scott, Coury, and other HR leaders at Harley-Davidson gain specific, concrete, fact-based guidance on how HR can best support the business. Importantly, the framework provides insights into not just what needs to be fixed, but also on which initiatives have been particularly effective, helping HR leaders build strategies that work—as well as compelling business cases for implementing those strategies. Furthermore, the framework can be implemented time and again, providing a continual stream of feedback on what needs to be done to derive the best performance out of a company’s workforce.

Armed with this intelligence, Harley-Davidson has a dynamic, up-to-date roadmap that provides its executives with clear, insights on where the company can gain the most traction in its pursuit of high performance. In a world of dynamic competitive and demographic challenges, it’s nice to have that kind of intelligence along for the ride.