May 2007
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One of the most important issues on the minds of CEOs today is what I would broadly characterize as their "people agenda." Whether it's attracting and retaining the right people, investing in skill building to be more competitive or undertaking a major workforce transformation initiative, every CEO recognizes that having a skilled, experienced and engaged workforce is critical for success.
It's a simple concept: People drive high performance. But achieving the full potential of a workforce is a huge challenge for executives. To compete and win, leaders need to have their employees aligned to strategic goals. Employees must be laser focused on their internal and external customers, and motivated to bring both intelligence and intuition to those relationships. Employees must also be flexible and able to adjust, as needed, to continually improve the customer experience. All of this requires leadership from the top, including a keen sense for what is needed to support the employees on the ground.
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At Accenture, we differentiate ourselves through the talent and expertise of our people, who deliver exceptional service to our clients. Therefore, our leadership imperative is to continue providing meaningful careers for the best people in our industry and to recognize and reward them in a fair and competitive way. For us, this means educating, energizing and inspiring our people. It also means being relevant to our employees' needs and making sure that the value proposition of working for Accenture works for them.
Not every industry or organization is as people-intensive as ours, but that doesn't make the people agenda any less important. This issue of Outlook offers two perspectives on the human component of high performance.
One article highlights new Accenture research that reveals that organizations get better returns on their workforce investments when they focus on mission-critical employees—the people who are most important to delivering the superior results that are the hallmark of a high-performance business. Another article identifies a critical connection between employee mindsets—their key attitudes and behaviors—and high performance and introduces an analytical framework for leveraging those mindsets to a company's advantage.
The authors of these pieces suggest some practical steps for unleashing value within a workforce. For leaders who, when asked, describe their people agenda as their biggest challenge, I hope this reading is relevant, and that it sparks some ideas to help your employees drive even higher performance.
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