Many of the senior HR people we know are still struggling to get traction with senior managers on HR initiatives, despite clear evidence that HR now firmly has a seat at the table.
For example, we are currently carrying out research into talent strategy with a number of organisations. You can read more about how to join the research here . It is striking how many HR leaders are still struggling to get talent on the boardroom or executive committee agenda. Many of the people we have been interviewing have joked they need some of the super powers we are currently polling about on our website.
Why is it so hard to get senior managers to see the importance of, and take responsibility for, the talent agenda? It seems so obvious – if you don’t have the right people in the right place at the time you need them, how are you ever going to execute the strategy? And then how will the company meet its promises to shareholders, employees and other stakeholders? And if all that does not happen how will senior managers get the bonus, personal growth and career promotion one assumes they are motivated by?
A third of companies we approached for our talent research said they were unable to get the talent agenda agreed in their organisation. They were keen to hear the results of the research and whether it had any tips for making progress in their struggle with senior management. This in itself is an interesting finding and one we will be exploring as we write up the data in May.
I had been pondering this issue without much insight when I watched a talk bySimon Sinek on Ted Talks. While the talk is billed as being about leaders, it is really about how to position messages. And Sinek’s premise is great companies and leaders talk about ‘why’ they are doing something and not ‘what’ they do. He uses the examples of Apple, Martin Luther King and the Wright Brothers to illustrate a pattern he believes makes for success.
He calls it the golden circle. The circle illustrates the way most people and companies communicate their messages. It has ‘why’ at the centre, ‘how’ next and ‘what’ at the outer edge. Starting from the outer edge, people tell you what they do. In HR talent terms this might sound like this. “We create a nine-box grid (what) by analysing our people and dividing them into nine boxes based on a view of their potential and performance (how). This tells us where we are on talent (why).”
Sinek’s insight is that the most successful companies and leaders talk first about ’why’, because people don’t buy ‘what’ you do but ‘why’ you do it. ‘Why’ hooks people inand creates a greater sense of purpose. People can more easily relate to ‘why’ and apply it to how they see themselves. He claims this is related to how the brain is structured and recent discoveries in neuroscience support this.
The brain has three levels. The outer level is the prefrontal cortex responsible for rational thinking and corresponds with the ‘what’ level. The middle two sections make up the limbic brain, which is directly responsible for our feelings, all behaviour and decision making. This is the area that drives people to act. Neurological studies of decision making are now showing this is not a rational logical process but an emotional one. ‘Why’ speaks to our emotions. If you talk about ‘why’ you believe in your initiative, you will attract those who believe the same or something similar. This is what makes people committed and passionate.
So, if you were describing your talent initiative in terms of ‘why’ it is important to the company, what would you be saying? And how would it be different to the way you talk about it now?