Unlocking people capabilities - critical strategy - Business Works
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Unlocking people capabilities - critical strategy

by Liz Howatt, scprime leader, Crimson & Co Failure to make the most of staff capabilities is a key reason why organisations struggle to achieve their strategic objectives, says Liz Howatt, scprime leader at Crimson & Co.

Recently, a report from the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) warned that UK businesses were facing a crisis in management. Organisations are increasingly being put under pressure to deliver short-term profits at the expense of sustained growth. The wider issue of this centres on staff investment, particularly how managers are not being given the opportunity to take risks or be innovative, resulting in a failure to breed long-term managers.

Staff investment is critical for any organisational success, but in order for it to be effective, new and existing staff must possess skills and capabilities, which can align with the overall objectives of a business and what it is striving to achieve.

The report from the CMI raises some interesting notions about how British businesses ultimately manage and invest in staff. Clearly, concerns exist surrounding the long-term capabilities of future managers if the emphasis is solely on short-term gains, leading to wider questions as to how effectively employees are used within an organisation.

People are often described as the greatest assets to a business and in order to turn organisational goals into results, a business needs effective people in place. Despite this, how much do businesses really know about the capabilities of its staff and whether they are being utilised to their maximum in order to achieve business objectives?

Most organisations will carry job descriptions for new and existing staff, outlining where their responsibilities lie within the business. While these can be incredibly detailed, they often fail to address the most basic business functions - tapping into the business objectives and how they can be achieved.

To maximise staff capabilities, organisations need to move away from standardised job descriptors, which define what a person needs to do in their day-to-day role. Instead, the focus must be on identifying the skills and people capabilities required to complete a task that ultimately feeds into the overall business strategy.

the role performed is directly linked to achieving the business strategy

Tailoring this to an individual business clearly identifies the skill set needed by a particular individual to complete a particular task. The focal point of this being that the role performed is directly linked to achieving the business strategy of that organisation.

Key to ensuring this is instilling development plans, which enhance skill sets and staff capabilities. By building development plans you can then ensure effective people are in place to turn business strategy into reality - an essential quality for driving the managers of tomorrow.



To address the needs of people capabilities scprime, developed by Crimson & Co, is designed to define the capabilities required to deliver best practice within each functional area, across an organisation's supply chain.

For more information, please visit: crimsonandco.com/our-services/scprime




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