We’ve all fallen into the trap at one time or another. Coming home late from work ravenous and tetchy – do you just grab the first thing you see or do you choose way more than you need and certainly not the things that are good for you. Or worse than that you give in to the take away. None of these options are especially sensible or economic.
So what has all of this got to do with your people strategy. Well quite a lot actually. Think about how often big people decisions or made as a reaction to some unforeseen event or some big external factor. That is when you see people running around desperately trying to do something to make it look like this is all part of the plan.
But just like hungry food shopping, developing a people strategy on the hoof is never the right answer. In fact it isn’t a strategy at all. A good people strategy will be well thought out and align to the organisation’s purpose, be ethical and be commercially viable. Now that doesn’t mean you can’t learn from those hangry people moments but the key point here is you learn from them as opposed to just reacting to them.
Another food analogy to bear in mind is the diet fad! Just because it is January and everyone is talking about a new juice diet that doesn’t mean you need to go out and buy a juicer. The growth of AI in particular has led to a flood of new products that will tell you they are essential to any people strategy. They are only essential if they are right for you and your organisation. Fear is another factor which can disproportionately influence a people strategy. We’ve all seen the steady flow of legal updates catastrophizing about upcoming employment legislation and telling you why you need to engage their services.
Think about what you want to achieve as an organisation and how your people can help you do that. This is the starting point for a people strategy. Explore what strategic steps you can take to help make your people make your organisation better. Think about the behavioural and cultural landscape you want and how your people strategy nurtures this. Crash or extreme diets rarely work and the same goes for people initiatives unless they’re consistent with the wider organisational culture. That doesn’t mean you’re stuck with the culture you have but it does mean that you need to understand what you have and how you can evolve it.
So if your organisation looks at people strategy through the lens of a hangry food shopper or someone who feels they have been forced onto diet then maybe it is time to take a different approach.
Give us a call and we can chat about some of our people strategy support services.