Leadership continuity is one of the most critical factors behind long-term organizational success. Yet, many organizations delay planning for leadership transitions until gaps begin to affect performance and morale. At People Business, we believe that a strong 

 strategy is not about reacting to change but preparing for it with intention and clarity. Through our work in leadership development and organizational effectiveness, we support businesses in building future-ready leadership pipelines that align with strategic goals and evolving workforce needs. Succession planning, when done well, strengthens internal talent, encourages leadership accountability, and ensures that the right people are ready at the right time. 

This blog breaks down the key steps to building an effective succession planning strategy using structured, practical approaches that help organizations create continuity, resilience, and sustainable leadership growth.

Succession planning ensures continuity in leadership and protects organizations from disruption caused by unexpected exits or planned transitions. Within the first few weeks of implementation, organizations gain clarity on leadership risks and future readiness.

At People Business, we view succession planning as a strategic lever that supports sustainable growth, leadership continuity, and long-term value creation.

A succession planning strategy is a structured approach to identifying, assessing, and developing talent to fill critical roles in the future. It becomes clear that this strategy focuses on readiness rather than replacement.

Our approach integrates succession planning with broader leadership and talent frameworks to ensure alignment with organizational priorities.

When Should Organizations Start Succession Planning?

Succession planning should begin early and function as an ongoing process rather than a one-time activity. Organizations benefit most when succession planning is embedded into annual talent and leadership cycles.

At People Business, we encourage organizations to treat succession planning as a continuous leadership practice rather than a response to risk.

How to Build an Effective Succession Planning Strategy

Within the first phase, organizations must identify roles that are essential to strategic success. These roles often influence decision-making, culture, and long-term performance.

We support organizations in prioritizing roles that require focused succession planning to reduce leadership vulnerability.

Step 2: Define Success Profiles for Key Roles

Success profiles clarify what excellence looks like in each critical role. Within the first few weeks, organizations gain a shared understanding of leadership expectations.

At People Business, we design role-specific success profiles that act as benchmarks for assessment and development.

Step 3: Assess Current Talent Objectively

Talent assessment provides data-driven insights into readiness and potential. Early in the process, organizations uncover strengths, gaps, and development priorities.

We use robust assessment frameworks to ensure fair, objective, and inclusive identification of future leaders, including those from underrepresented and leadership groups.

Step 4: Map Succession and Readiness Levels

Succession mapping helps visualize leadership pipelines and readiness timelines. Leaders can clearly see who is ready now, ready soon, or needs long-term development.

Our succession dashboards help organizations track leadership readiness across levels and functions.

Step 5: Design Targeted Development Journeys

Development is the heart of an effective succession planning strategy. Once successors are identified, tailored development plans accelerate readiness.

At People Business, we design integrated leadership journeys that build capability, confidence, and strategic perspective aligned with future roles.

Step 6: Integrate Succession Planning with Talent Strategy

Succession planning delivers maximum value when aligned with performance management, 

Our work ensures succession planning is embedded into broader people systems rather than operating in isolation.

Step 7: Review, Measure, and Refine Continuously

Succession planning must evolve with business priorities. Regular reviews help organizations stay agile and responsive.

We support organizations with governance structures that keep succession planning relevant, measurable, and impactful.

Why Choose People Business for Succession Planning

We bring deep expertise in leadership development, talent assessment, and organizational strategy. Our succession planning approach is practical, data-driven, and deeply aligned with business outcomes.

By partnering with us, organizations benefit from:

Our work helps organizations move beyond replacement planning toward sustainable leadership ecosystems. Leadership development journeys and talent assessment frameworks are naturally integrated into our succession planning solutions. Strengthen your leadership pipeline and prepare your organization for the future. Partner with People Business to design a succession planning strategy that builds capable leaders, supports diversity, and ensures long-term organizational resilience. Let us help you turn leadership potential into sustained impact.

1. What is the main goal of succession planning?

The primary goal is to ensure leadership continuity by preparing internal talent for future critical roles.

2. How is succession planning different from replacement planning?

Succession planning focuses on long-term development, while replacement planning focuses only on immediate role filling.

3. How often should succession plans be reviewed?

Succession plans should be reviewed at least annually or whenever business priorities change.

4. Can succession planning improve employee engagement?

Yes, clear growth pathways and development opportunities significantly enhance engagement and retention.

Key Steps to Build an Effective Succession Planning Strategy

Guide to Creating a Successful Succession Planning Process

, nearly 70% of team engagement is directly influenced by the quality of leadership, highlighting how deeply leadership behavior shapes workplace outcomes. Yet even experienced leaders can unknowingly fall into patterns that limit trust, performance, and growth. Leadership today is no longer just about direction; it’s about connection, clarity, and conscious decision-making. 

Small missteps, when repeated, can quietly undermine team morale and business results. Understanding these blind spots is one of the most valuable leadership tips for anyone in a people-management role. By identifying common leadership mistakes and learning how to address them effectively, leaders can move from reactive habits to intentional actions. 

1. Avoiding Difficult Conversations Instead of Addressing Reality 

Many leaders shy away from difficult conversations. Whether it is giving feedback, discussing a problem with a poor performer, or working through a dispute, the difficulty causes a lack of action, or even further, a lack of clear communication. This lack of communication leads to reduced trust, creates confusion, and small problems might grow into serious issues. Teams sense when leaders are holding back. When feedback is missing or unclear, people are left guessing, which slows growth and weakens accountability.

Good leaders know that honest conversations are an act of respect, not conflict. One of the most practical leadership tips is to approach tough discussions with empathy and clarity, focusing on behaviors, outcomes, and solutions rather than blame. This approach builds psychological safety and strengthens trust, laying the foundation for long-term performance.

Many leaders fall into the trap of believing that control equals competence. This can result in micromanaging, particularly if a leader is a perfectionist or a first-time leader. Even though they could have the best of intentions, excessive oversight sends a message of mistrust and stifles innovation. Team members begin to disengage when their decisions are constantly questioned or overridden. Creativity drops, confidence erodes, and leadership bandwidth disappears.

Effective leadership isn’t about doing more; it’s about enabling others to do their best work. Delegation supports confidence, accountability, and growth. Leaders who shift from control to empowerment often experience a noticeable 

, as teams step up with ownership and initiative.

3. Ignoring Culture While Chasing Results

Performance metrics and financial outcomes often dominate leadership focus. While results matter, neglecting workplace culture comes at a high cost. Low morale, disengagement, burnout, and high turnover are often symptoms of leaders overlooking the human side of the organization. Culture doesn’t collapse overnight; it fades when people feel unseen, unvalued, or disconnected from purpose.

Culture should be shaped intentionally, not addressed only when problems arise. Leaders play a critical role in modeling values, recognizing effort, and reinforcing behaviors that align with the organization’s mission. Celebrating wins, whether they are big and small, encouraging collaboration, and reinforcing shared values create an environment where people want to contribute. A strong culture doesn’t just support performance; it amplifies it. 

Assumptions are one of the most common leadership pitfalls. Leaders often believe their message is clear, while teams struggle with misaligned priorities and unclear expectations. When communication is inconsistent or one-directional, confusion becomes inevitable. Without regular dialogue, teams may duplicate work, miss deadlines, or head in entirely different directions.

Listening is not passive; it’s an active leadership skill. Among the most overlooked leadership tips is the discipline of two-way communication. Establishing consistent communication rhythms, encouraging questions, and confirming understanding ensures everyone is moving together. When people feel heard, engagement increases, collaboration improves, and innovation thrives. Listening turns leadership into a shared experience rather than a top-down directive. 

5. Reacting Emotionally Instead of Responding Thoughtfully

Stressful situations can trigger impulsive reactions. Raised voices, defensive responses, or emotional decisions can damage trust in seconds. Even a single uncontrolled moment can alter how a leader is perceived. Teams look to leaders for stability, especially during uncertainty.

Emotional intelligence is a defining trait of strong leadership. Pausing before responding allows leaders to assess situations objectively and act with intention. Calm, composed responses demonstrate confidence and self-awareness. By modeling emotional control, leaders create a safe environment where trust, respect, and loyalty can grow, even in challenging moments. 

People Business: Strengthening Leadership Capability for Real Business Impact 

Sustainable leadership growth doesn’t happen through theory alone; it requires practical insight, contextual learning, and continuous reflection. Since 2003, People Business has worked alongside organizations to help leaders unlock potential, strengthen managerial capability, and drive measurable business outcomes. 

, the focus is on supporting leaders at critical moments in their journey. Every engagement is designed around real workplace challenges, ensuring learning translates into action. 

How People Business Enables Leadership Growth:

By building strong leadership foundations and empowering managers to lead with clarity and confidence, People Business helps organizations create lasting impact, where people performance and business results grow together.

Leading Change Starts with Intentional Development

Leadership isn’t defined by title; everyday choices, conversations, and behaviors shape it. Avoiding feedback, holding too tightly to control, overlooking culture, failing to listen, or reacting under pressure are challenges most leaders face at some point. What separates effective leaders is their willingness to recognize these patterns and commit to growth.

True leadership transformation happens when leaders are equipped with the right mindset, practical tools, and continuous support. It’s about developing managers who can lead people with empathy, make decisions with confidence, and create environments where teams thrive.

If your organization is ready to strengthen leadership capability and build a strong pipeline of confident, effective managers, partnering with People Business can accelerate that journey. 

Invest in leadership that delivers real impact. Start building stronger leaders and stronger organizations with People Business today!

1. What are the most common leadership mistakes?

The common mistakes include avoiding difficult conversations, micromanaging teams, neglecting workplace culture, poor listening, and reacting emotionally under pressure. 

2. Why do difficult conversations matter in leadership?

Open and honest conversations build trust, clarify expectations, and prevent small issues from escalating into larger performance or relationship problems.

3. How does micromanagement affect team performance?

Micromanagement reduces autonomy, lowers morale, and limits creativity, often leading to disengagement and reduced accountability among team members. 

4. What role does culture play in effective leadership?

Organizational culture directly impacts motivation, collaboration, and retention. Leaders shape culture through consistent behavior, recognition, and value-driven decisions.

5. How can leaders improve their listening skills?

Leaders can improve their listening skills by encouraging feedback, asking clarifying questions, validating perspectives, and acting on insights shared by their teams.

Common Leadership Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Guide to common leadership mistakes and effective solutions

Effective decision-making is a cornerstone of successful leadership. Whether you are managing a team, running a business, or preparing to step into a larger leadership role, our 

 journeys are designed to support your growth and help you lead with clarity, confidence, and impact.

The ability to make informed, confident, and timely decisions is essential. The leadership program has emerged as one of the most powerful tools for enhancing this skill, offering leaders the support and insight they need to refine their decision-making process. By exploring the role of leadership programs in improving decision-making, we can uncover how it can help leaders become more strategic, clear-headed, and confident in their choices.

The Role of Leadership program in Decision-Making

Leadership programs help refine decision-making by improving thought processes, stress management, and perspective-taking. Coaches guide leaders to reflect on past decisions, identify biases, and foster clarity, enhancing their ability to make informed, effective choices. This promotes greater confidence and awareness in decision-making.

Building Self-Awareness for Better Decision-Making

Leadership programs boosts self-awareness by helping leaders recognize their strengths, weaknesses, and emotional triggers. Leaders who understand themselves make more consistent, authentic decisions aligned with their values. This self-awareness leads to better leadership and decision-making that positively impacts both the individual and the organization.

Leaders often face cognitive biases that hinder objective decision-making. Leadership program helps identify and overcome biases like confirmation bias and overconfidence. By encouraging critical thinking and data-driven insights, program promotes more objective decisions based on facts, enhancing overall decision quality and organizational outcomes.

Strengthening Emotional Intelligence (EQ)

High emotional intelligence (EQ) helps leaders manage emotions and empathize with others, key skills for decision-making. Leadership program strengthens EQ through self-regulation, empathy, and social awareness. This enables leaders to make decisions that balance logical and emotional factors, fostering workplace harmony and supporting team morale.

A growth mindset encourages leaders to embrace feedback, learn from setbacks, and take risks. Leadership program nurtures this mindset, helping leaders view challenges as opportunities to grow. This mindset shift boosts confidence and allows leaders to make informed, evolving decisions that contribute to long-term success.

Leadership program strengthens strategic thinking, helping leaders make decisions aligned with long-term goals. Coaches provide tools to evaluate outcomes, prioritize objectives, and assess risks. Strategic thinking ensures decisions support the organization's broader mission and vision, ultimately leading to sustainable success.

Leadership program promotes accountability by encouraging leaders to take ownership of their decisions. By modeling accountability, leaders set a positive example, fostering transparency and responsibility within teams. program helps leaders involve others in decision-making, ensuring choices align with organizational values and enhancing overall team performance.

How Leadership program Can Transform Your Decision-Making Skills

Leadership program is a powerful tool for improving decision-making abilities. It enhances a leader’s capacity to make well-rounded choices by focusing on key areas like self-awareness, emotional intelligence, bias management, strategic thinking, and growth mindset. Through program, leaders can refine their decision-making process and approach challenges with greater clarity, making choices that positively impact their teams and organizations.

Key Benefits of Leadership program for Decision-Making:

Why Leadership program is Essential for Better Decisions:

Leadership program equips leaders with essential tools to make better, more effective decisions. With consistent reflection, practice, and strategic guidance, leaders can transform their approach to decision-making and enhance their overall leadership effectiveness.

Ready to Elevate Your Leadership and Decision-Making with the best Leadership Academy

If you are ready to enhance your decision-making abilities and take your leadership skills to the next level, People Business is here to support you. Through tailored leadership program programs, we empower leaders to build the self-awareness, strategic thinking, and emotional intelligence needed for success.

 and Transform Your Leadership journey today!

1. How does leadership program help improve decision-making?

Leadership program enhances decision-making by helping leaders build self-awareness, recognize biases, and develop strategic thinking skills.

2. Can leadership program address emotional decision-making?

Yes, program strengthens emotional intelligence, allowing leaders to make more balanced decisions by considering both logical and emotional factors.

3. Is leadership program only for top executives?

No, leadership program is valuable for leaders at all levels, helping individuals improve their decision-making and leadership skills regardless of their position.

4. What role does self-awareness play in decision-making?

Self-awareness allows leaders to understand their strengths, weaknesses, and emotional triggers, leading to more thoughtful and effective decisions.

5. How does a growth mindset impact leadership decisions?

A growth mindset encourages leaders to embrace challenges and view setbacks as learning opportunities, which helps them make more resilient and adaptive decisions.

How Leadership program Improves Decision-Making

A brand symbolises a few messages. Just like a popular brand of customer product expresses certain qualities and images, an employer brand represents the corporate identity to its current and prospective employees, headhunters, and other stakeholders who get associated with the people's side of the corporate.

A brand of a product expresses two aspects — first would be the real benefits like skin care, dressing, safety. The second aspect would be the image which it carries — for example youthfulness, futuristic, newness, stardom, respect which gets transferred to its users. An example would be driving an up-market car.

While the real benefit is transportation, a user having an up-market car represents a certain image in the society. An employer brand has a similar effect on its current and future employees. Research speaks about a corporate brand in terms of its awareness, culture, personality, and image. Awareness is signified by responsiveness among stakeholders about the employer. Examples would be companies like IBM or Ford which are known for their corporate brand. What is critical is how the brand is identified.

This is through the culture, personality, and image. Culture broadly represents how it is to work in a company. Personality and image represent the mental image that people have about any organisation. For example, Google might represent a youthful, technology driven individual. It may also symbolize freedom, enterprise, and innovation for current or prospective employees.

Employer branding has external and internal aspects. The internal factors are the culture, HR practices, and the overall employment experience that a current employee has. The external factors are what a prospective employee feels about the organisation.

It is important to have consistency between your internal employer brand and external employer brand. If what the organisation promises to the external world is inconsistent with what is happening in the organisation, it can create conflict with the new joinees who expect what was promised through branding. While the current employees on the other hand might feel cheated by the practices followed. Instead of supporting the

organisation in retaining and attracting talent, it will leave both the current and future employees unhappy.

In developing and managing an employer brand, the critical aspect would be the development of “Employer Value Proposition”. Employer Value Proposition speaks about the direct and indirect benefits of working with the brand. It also speaks about the core aspects of the association.

RPG Group which is a conglomerate with interest in more than seven sectors defined its employer value proposition in the year 2006. Having companies like CEAT, SaReGaMa, Spencers Retail, KEC International, Zensar Technologies, CESC, PCBL, and Harrisons Malayalam which has varied interest from tyres to music, the key was to understand what the brand really symbolised for current and future employees. Extensive research was conducted with media, current and ex-employees, new and highly experienced employees, headhunters, and campuses to understand what RPG Group as a whole represented. Research found that the key value propositions are “Respect for people,” “Diverse opportunities for growth”, “Empowering performance”, and “Forward looking”. This meant respect, growth, freedom, and futuristic development for both current and future employees. The second stage of branding was to reflect this in all the messages to the external world and have 

 aligned to the value proposition. The various employee touch points should be analysed in this regard.

For example in an interview process it is expected that the candidate is treated fairly and with respect. Similarly, in a performance 

, the key is to show employees their potential and provide them with more avenues to showcase their potential which reflects the proposition of empowering performance. These propositions need to be reflected at all levels in the organisation.

Managers should embody these values in the way they treat their employees. Employer branding is a holistic process once the core value propositions are clear. Myriad possibilities exist for spreading the employer brand. Current employees are clearly the first brand ambassadors. Your website and the career section should convey the brand. Advertisements related to jobs or careers should reflect the brand. Web 2.0 media including social networking tools like Facebook or Linkedin are an important face of employer branding.

The physical infrastructure should also reflect the employer brand. Imagine an organisation which talks about treating people equally and about its free communication culture, having their executives sitting in closed cabins!

The first step to creating a positive difference in the employer brand is leadership mindset change. For example if an organisation is planning to project a youthful outlook to its employer brand, the very first step might be leaders accepting that young people are required for progress and their inputs are valued. The second step would be tweaking processes to have more young people and creating a work environment for them.

For example instead of age as a factor for hiring for senior management positions, competency should be given precedence.

The average age of people working might have to be reduced and also instead of years of experience based promotions, performance based promotions can take over. Any change like this would be a constant process and required focused long term efforts and hence strategic in nature.

The benefits of having a right employer brand and conveying them effectively are many fold. First we will get the right talent to join the organisation and the right talent to stay.

The clear measure of a better employer brand would be the ratio of the number of offers given to people to the number of people who finally joined. The recruitment costs and time will come down as the organisation becomes more lucrative to join and lesser effort is needed to recruit people. In the long term the right brand will definitely help people stay and the reasons will be more than monetary considerations.

The employee engagement measures will also have higher scores as the organisation itself embodies the image they want to convey resulting in a better psychological contact with the employer. The other outcome could even be that your organisation is featured as one of the best places to work!

The key aspect of employer branding is to understand that it is not just about advertisements or communication collaterals — it is the reflection of what is the reality — present or future — that the employees experience in the organisation.

Importance of employer branding

Many of us aspire to be executive coaches, and some of us have got ourselves certified under different agencies. Based on my journey as a coach, I have found that organizational experience gives you a good sense of understanding others, while a 

 you with a framework to work with coaches.

The following pointers may help you in becoming a more effective coach:

 It is important for coaches to understand the larger perspective of the organization from the business and the coach's point of view. There is a tendency to jump into a coaching assignment purely on available reports and finalizing the goal of the coaching assignment. While this is essential, a good sense of the business and organizational challenges would help in establishing the comfort level of the coach to open up and seek ‘coaching’ from the coach.

The coach needs to be able to go beyond the obvious & help the coach draw insights for development. In doing this, the coach is able to see things in perspectives that have not occurred to them earlier. It also helps the coach to see ‘true value’ being provided by the coach. Focus completely on what the coachee is saying and is not saying, to understand the meaning of what is said in the context of the coachee’s desires – hear their concerns, goals, values and beliefs about what is and is not possible.

 It is critical for the coach to take ownership and keep the momentum in the coaching assignment. Apart from the value that the coach adds, the coach needs to be able to consistently empathize with situations of the coach. A stronger commitment to change happens, when the coachee is able to see changes

happening in their approach or behaviors through 

and get feedback of positive change from stakeholders – which motivates the coach to put in that extra effort for transformation.

The coach needs to clearly understand the coach's passion, purpose and personality. The coach also needs to understand the coach's coping strategies and life aspirations, while looking at the impact of this on their current role. This helps take the coaching relationship to the next level.

Overall, you can be a more effective coach if you are able to help the coachee connect the dots and ignite the spark for the coachee to transform themselves.

4 Tips To Coach Effectively

Every year, bar-headed geese migrate thousands of kilometers from their breeding grounds in Mongolia to their wintering grounds in India, and back again. The bar-headed geese are one of the world’s highest flying birds, and have been known to cruise at altitudes of over 6000m (Mount Kilimanjaro is at an elevation of 5895m). They navigate through the mountain passes of the Himalayas, and there have also been unverified reports of them flying over Mount Everest.

They have incredible endurance – the amount of oxygen available even at lower elevations can fall to half of that at sea level. Humans are able to perform only mild exercise at that elevation, even after acclimatisation.

Because we are so bogged down by titles and definitions at the workplace of who is a leader and who isn’t, we miss out on opportunities where team synergy could be channeled towards accomplishing great feats that would be impossible for one person to do.

Individually, the geese are extremely well-built to achieve this aerodynamic feat year after year. However, that is only part of the story. Bar-headed geese are sociable birds that live in groups and large colonies. When they fly, they take to the sky in a V-formation of about 25 members. The birds help each other as they climb high altitudes.

As each bird flaps its wings, it creates uplift for the bird that immediately follows. Because of the V-formation, the flock achieves a flying range of 71 percent more than what would be possible if the birds were to fly solo. When a goose falls out of formation, it feels the drag and the resistance of trying to fly alone. It quickly gets back into the group to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird in front and also passes this on to the bird behind it.

When a bird gets sick or is wounded by gunshot, and falls out of formation, two other geese fly down with the wounded goose to lend help and protection. They stay with the goose until it is able to fly again or till it dies. The birds then fly back by themselves, or join another formation, or try to catch up with their group.

The pressure of the drag is felt the most by the geese at the front of the formation. The birds at the back occasionally honk to encourage those up front to keep up their speed. When the head goose gets tired, it flies to the back of the formation and another bird takes its place.

There is a lot to be learnt from the intuitively collaborative bar-headed geese. Years of evolution have taught the geese to fly in V-formation, get the right uplift, gain advantage of group synergy, and support one another as they fly thousands of kilometers navigating the mighty Himalayas. Like the geese, we collaborate and work with others in our respective teams, but the degree of collaboration may differ.

The V-formation forms a nice analogy to showcase the intuitively collaborative team. Some rebellious team members may on occasion try to drop out of formation, but the drag of working solo eventually gets to them and they fall back in formation to take advantage of group synergy. Other team members are naturally helpful and when things go wrong for one person, they immediately make themselves available and help out until the issue gets fixed.

The most interesting behaviour is probably that of the head goose. As leader of the flock, it is required to lead from the front and does so with great energy. It lets its action speak louder than any honk (message) that it might want to pass on to the flock, showing 

.. The head goose and others in front are egged on by team members from the back as they all fly higher and faster as a team.

However, the head of the flock is also replaced every so often by others. The burden of facing the drag is shared among team members, and others step up when called to action. The success of the team is placed above individual success.

Collaboration is as important for the solitary leader as it is for individual team members. The leader must constantly make space for other team members to showcase their genius when the opportunity arises.

At the workplace, the leader is required to keep the team motivated at all times. However, like the head goose and the frontline geese, our leaders also need an occasional, reassuring honk from other group members to let them know that they are doing great. In the V-formation, every goose is a leader. This ‘shared focus’ helps build group dynamics. The whole is much, much greater than the sum of its individual parts.

Leadership Lessons from Bar-Headed Geese: The Power of Teamwork and Collaboration

Leadership Lessons from Bar-Headed Geese

The role of the HR function has evolved over the last decade and a half to keep pace with business realities. A number of definitions of the HR function and its roles has been put forth by business leaders and researchers alike. For example, a simple typology of four groupings of 

 that follow the processes central to organizational success are:

The role of HR has also been defined through the lens of strategy, wherein the HR function is actively involved in both the creation and implementation of the overall strategic direction of the organization. HR no longer has to worry about working doubly hard to convince leaders that it is central to the business and about achieving the proverbial “seat at the table”. In this context, HR is a Strategy Architect, looking at organizational challenges through the lens of both business and people. This leads to the HR function facilitating strategy creation, clarifying and articulating the strategy, ensuring timely execution, aligning leadership behavior to strategy and bringing the view of the outside customer into the organization.

However, there is also a third, and extremely crucial function with respect to strategy implementation. This ‘missing link’ is only now beginning to be understood by HR practitioners and business leaders. The link assists in seamlessly integrating the four crucial groupings laid out above, and is sometimes seen as the ‘soft side’ of management. However, experienced leaders will tell us that it is actually the hardest, because it deals with attitudes and behaviors which seem vague, but are critical to the firm. This missing link is Culture.

What then is organizational culture? The concept of organizational culture has been defined from many perspectives in the literature. There is no one single definition. The topic of organizational culture has been studied from many perspectives and disciplines, such as anthropology, sociology, organizational behavior, and organizational leadership to name a few. Deal (1999) defines organizational culture as values, beliefs, and behaviors that differentiate one organization from another. Simply put, culture defines the proper way to think, act and behave within an organization.

This simple, yet accurate definition of culture gives us scope to ask several questions about the nature of firm culture. What is our current culture? Who creates culture? Who sustains it? Is it always aligned to firm strategy? Is it well aligned with the firm’s vision, mission and values?  What leads to changes in firm culture? Is it always managed top-down? And most importantly, it leads us to the question: What role does HR play in shaping firm culture?

Leveraging Firm Culture for Competitive Advantage

Human, not financial, capital must be the starting point and ongoing foundation of a successful strategy. Significant advantage accrues to companies that encourage open communication and that know where and how to break down barriers to honest feedback. Risk management programs at large companies tend to be finely tuned to financial and compliance risks but rarely focus on cultural sources of risk7.

If the collective attitudes, perceptions and behaviors of all employees in an organization shape its culture, then alignment of culture with the firm strategy is imperative to firm success. It is common to talk of an organization’s culture as if it is simply “the way things are”. But no culture is static8. It is continually reinforced and balanced by internal and external events that drive the organization.

How then can HR play a pivotal role in shaping firm culture? Would some of the traditional tools of pay systems, performance management, recruiting, selection and training &amp; development suffice in this endeavor? Or is something more required?

The Role of HR in Shaping Organizational Culture and Strategy

One of the crucial components of the learning function, which proves its importance to the business, justifies learning spends and helps managers measure progress is Learning ROI. This tool may either be viewed as an enabler or a constraint by stakeholders. At times, measuring ROI may be a creative process (behavioural programs may produce fuzzy outcomes); other times, the metrics may be clearly defined and the measurement is straightforward (tracking usage of a specific tool after training participants on its features). Whatever be the desired outcome, it is essential for everyone involved to agree on the relevant metrics early on, during the planning phase, to leverage on ROI as an enabler, rather than as a constraint. Without exception, the starting point for any learning intervention must be business metrics.

Asking a series of ‘whys’ proves to be useful here: let’s assume that the Training Need Analysis (TNA) process has thrown up the following requirement – a particular set of employees need to be trained on ‘Taking Initiative’. The learning expert, along with the business manager, could now go backwards through the TNA process with a series of whys.

Clearly, the business manager is in a Catch-22 situation: she cannot let go of the external vendor until her team takes more initiative, and develops internal capabilities. Thus, this function has an identified business metric – eliminate delay in project timelines. The business manager believes that by taking more initiative (a behavioural metric), her team would be able to overcome the ‘It’s not my job’ syndrome (another behavioral metric), develop internal capabilities (a project-specific metric), and ensure timely completion of the project every time (business metric). Another outcome would be to gradually reduce dependency on the external consultant (a project-specific metric). Every so often, the link between the behavioural and business metric gets lost in translation – which needs to be kept in focus by the learning manager. Through the course of the intervention, if the participants end up taking more initiative, and this leads to gradual improvement in project submission timelines, this is evidence of Learning ROI that can be documented and presented to relevant stakeholders. The intent of taking initiative is a positive one, and if implemented well it may also result in outcomes beyond what was initially forecasted by the Training Need Analysis (TNA). However, all of this needs to be documented clearly as evidence of Learning ROI by the business and learning managers.

The Strategic Learning Process has a total of six simple, iterative steps. From defining outcomes in terms of business requirements to documenting results, one can plan out the complete process in an iterative loop. Because learning is a journey and not a destination in itself, it is important to build on all that was learnt in Step 6 (Documenting Results), which feeds back into Step 1 (Defining Business Outcomes) of the next learning cycle. 

A critical business function which may require learning interventions is Sales. This vertical has a clearly defined variable to measure progress – revenues. It is tempting to create an all-encompassing sales learning program which tries to improve many things all at once: cold-calls, Key Account Management, negotiation skills etc. However, one needs to thoroughly analyze all aspects of the sales cycle to understand pain-points and opportunities. The sales cycle may be broken down into stages like: Suspecting, Prospecting, Pipeline, Decision Pending and Closing the Deal. At each stage, there are clearly defined business and behavioural metrics. For example, at the ‘Decision Pending Stage’, a business metric may be defined as ‘Likelihood of Deal Conversion’, which can be expressed as a certain percentage by the sales rep. A relevant behavioural metric may be ‘Negotiation Skills’. If a particular sales team generates a strong pipeline, but is unable to close out on deals (low deal-conversion ratio), an intervention which focuses on their negotiating and relationship abilities may be useful.

Application of the Strategic Learning Process

If applied to this particular example, the six-stage Strategic Learning Process may look something like this:

The last stage is critical for measurement of Learning ROI. If the deal conversion ratio improves by a certain (at times pre-defined) percentage after the intervention, leading to more deals won in the process, this clearly shows the success of the learning program.

Measuring Learning ROI: Linking Training Outcomes to Business Results

It’s not often that we write a book review here. But this one is a must read. New York-based 

 shows us how to turn a boring workplace into an exciting, productive, fun-filled environment in a fascinating book called. The XYZ Factor: The Dosomething.Org Guide to Creating a Culture of Impact.

The book is written by employees of the organization and edited by the CEO. That counts for something. Collaboration is a given, and this is reflected in the way the book itself is crafted.

The book opens with a gripping introduction that lists the seven secrets that drives the Millennial mindset:

1. Valuing Choice – giving your employees the freedom to choose.

2. Moving fast – Decisions are made at lightning-fast speed

3. Being Nomadic – “Job Hopping is the new normal”

4. Measurable feedback – Receiving instant feedback is ingrained in the millennial mindset. Does your org provide this?

5. Starting over – Millennials are a bit insecure when it comes to failure, and expect a push-restart button in all that they do. Do you give them the space to experiment and fail safely?

6. Always wired – Millennials can juggle over nine devices at any given time and are always plugged in.

7. Life is public – with Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, technology has ensured that privacy is a thing of the past. Social media is the present and the future.

The book gives fascinating insights on how to successfully run an organization that values its young workforce. Anyone over 26 years of age at Dosomething.org is considered ‘old’. What’s more, HR is passe. The Head of Employee Relations is rechristened the Head of Fun Approximately 90 employees (which includes about 30 interns) handle a variety of social campaigns and work alongside young members from across the world.

Here’s what they do, in their own words: 

DoSomething.org makes the world suck less. One of the largest global orgs for young people and social change, our 3.6 million members tackle campaigns that impact every cause, from poverty to violence to the environment to literally everything else. Any cause, anytime, anywhere. 

How they do it is the secret sauce. And you know what? It ain’t no secret no more. Because they just published a book on how to do it. Pick it up 