People Strategy & Performance

• Get clear on the one or two areas that will open up value and get you to your strategic goals
• Create a people strategy linked to your business strategy
• Build a talent strategy to find, attract, develop, and engage the people you need for it
• Mine our people and talent analytics to build your business case
• Roll out your new people strategy—with clear communication and the right tools and support to bring it to life

• Make sure everyone in your organization knows how they contribute to success
• Harness the discretionary effort of your people and help them evolve and improve
• Build a culture of every-day feedback based on powerful conversations
• Reward your people in a way that motivates and gives a good return on investment
• Hold leaders accountable for how they reward performance and build talent

• Analyze the gaps between your employee experience now, and where you’d like it to be
• Balance organizational needs with employee wants
• Build an employer brand and value proposition that reflects you at your best
• Design a wellbeing strategy that puts your people first
• Get your employer brand out there to attract the best in your industry

• Understand your HR function today, and how else you could structure it
• Define your key roles and make sure you have the best people–today and tomorrow–to fill them
• Help your HR team build their technical and behavioral skills
• Put overarching HR strategies, policies, and processes in place to make growth a constant.

A people strategy is a comprehensive plan that outlines how an organization should manage and develop its workforce to achieve its strategic goals. It ensures alignment between an organization’s talent needs and its culture, mission, vision, values, business goals and overall labor market.

A comprehensive people strategy spans a range of activities, from talent acquisition to talent development, employee retention, performance management, leadership development and succession planning. The goal of a people strategy is to ensure that the organization has the right people, with the right skills and experience, in the right roles, at the right time.

Constructing an effective people strategy requires the input of a range of stakeholders, including senior leaders, HR professionals, employees and people strategy consultants. An organization should regularly review its people strategy to ensure it remains relevant and is effectively meeting the organization’s talent and business needs.

A people strategy matters to organizations for several reasons.

First, it confirms that an organization’s talent strategy aligns with overall business goals. It ensures that employees have the skills, knowledge and competencies required to support the organization’s business goals — both now and in the future.

Furthermore, a people strategy can attract and retain top talent. It makes sure that employees are given meaningful opportunities for development and growth. It also improves employee productivity and performance because it ensures that everyone has the necessary resources, support and training to excel in their roles. As a result, a people strategy creates a positive work environment that fosters employee engagement and motivation.

A people strategy also makes it easier for organizations to build an effective succession planning strategy. A comprehensive people strategy makes it easier for leaders to identify and develop employees with the potential to take on leadership roles in the future. It also reduces the risks of bias, both conscious and unconscious, in hiring, promotion and other work-related decisions.

Finally, a people strategy mitigates risks because it builds morale and reduces turnover. In turn, organizations are less likely to experience skills shortages, so they can continue responding to shifts in the market and changing business needs. They are also more likely to have an employer brand that’s competitive in the marketplace because they can demonstrate a clear commitment to developing their people and creating a positive workplace culture.

People strategy consulting firms strengthen organizational performance in several ways. Here are several examples of ways that people strategy consulting firms can lead transformation in an organization:

• Developing and implementing a comprehensive people strategy that aligns with business goals and objectives
• Offering guidance on talent acquisition, employee retention, performance management, leadership development and succession planning
• Conducting workforce assessments that identify gaps in employee skills, knowledge and experience so organizations can create more targeted training and development programs
• Ensuring that employees have the skills and knowledge needed to support the organization’s strategy and vision
• Delivering insights and best practices based on industry trends, emerging technologies and best practices in talent management and development
• Managing change relating to workforce issues, such as mergers and acquisitions, restructuring and downsizing
• Implementing effective communication and employee engagement strategies to boost employee morale
• Building employee training and coaching programs that develop workforce skills and knowledge