People Risk - How to get started on managing it

As regular readers of this blog you will know that a subject dear to my heart is the topic of People Risk.   To me it is the biggest iceberg in the corporate sea and very few people have any understanding of how to track and manage it let alone fully appreciate the damage it can cause.  Thankfully I have been working with Sandra Quinn on a new Point of View that really gets to grips with the issue.   It has just been published and you can view it and download it from the following link http://ebooks.capgemini-consulting.com/Your_People_POV_04mar_2013.pdf.

However, to give you a flavour of the PoV Sandra has penned this guest blog.  I hope you enjoy it and can sense the passion we have for this subject.

Every other news story these days seems to focus on some aspect of toxic cultures, systemic people failures, market rigging, or plain dodgy conduct. In part why are we surprised? It's axiomatic that people are at the root of everything we see, good and bad. 

Yet as the common denominator in all this, we struggle to deal with the risks and the opportunities that people present, both those they present and those which the organisation creates in them, especially in the way it performance manages, rewards and incentivises them.

Presented with an investment transaction you would analyse your risks and returns from every angle to make sure you were making a wise decision. 

People are among your most significant corporate investments. Not just in costs of package but in potential to influence and take key business decisions, committing the organisation to strategic and financial positions. Yet in most cases no comparable level of rigour is applied between that relating to a transaction and that relating to the choice,  recruitment and management of the people who will deliver and approve that transaction, let alone the way they conduct themselves and run the business.

When it goes wrong, the effects can be severe: banking culture, LIBOR, BP, the SFO, NHS and patient treatment, the relationship between press and police, drugs in sport. Indeed type 'toxic culture' into your search engine at the moment and you can read about the problems of the Australian swimming team.

The problem is that people - volatile, difficult things we all are - are tough to deal with and often present recurring and what can seem like insoluble problems, especially for managers and senior executives who are more technician than leadership, and HR functions focussing on process rather than outcomes. And in worlds driven by targets, risk indicators and metrics, those complex and persisting risks which span the organisation (such as People risk) are particularly difficult to find ownership for.  

But it's not insoluble. Start by bringing together your Risk, HR, Stakeholder or Investor Relations people - have them carry out the appropriate strategic planning and apply many of the principles you'd apply to regular operational risk. This is the first step to grappling with the issue. To support you Quinnity and Capgemini have been doing some cutting edge work together on both minimising the pain of people risk management and maximising the results. If you are interested you can read more at http://ebooks.capgemini-consulting.com/Your_People_POV_04mar_2013.pdf or contact us at Capgemini on 0870 238 8514

Why the idea of “The Innovator” is killing Innovation

Imagine a David Attenborough voiceover whilst you read the italics:

“Here, in the deepest of corporate jungles we catch a glimpse of the elusive Innovator – this rarest of species is not well adapted to surviving in an increasingly harsh corporate environment and as such, is on the verge of extinction.  To see one that is able to function at all in the concrete jungle is rare, to see one functioning well is an experience only few experience.  And yet, such is the allure of the Innovator and the beautiful Innovations they create that many a senior executive will not rest until they have successfully trapped a “department” of Innovators. 

Being able to “bag” an Innovator is, of course, a major trophy for a corporate big-shot and is highly prized.  However, once captive, many of these Innovators simply do not have the ability to adapt to the rigours of the corporate environment.

Many struggle to fashion the tools required to develop effective business cases, many fail to navigate the complicated stakeholder landscape, some do not have the social skills required to work with the other jungle beasts and most lack the plumage and voice to show off their ideas to senior executives.  Most spend their days coming up with new ideas that are simply left unacknowledged and undeveloped.  Unloved and unable to bring their ideas to fruition they return to their own caves to live out a solitary existence.”

OK – enough with the Attenborough voiceover – here’s the point.  Whilst we continue to believe that the secret to driving Innovation in a business is to hire Innovators we will continually fail.   From spending many years studying Innovation and Innovators I can now categorically state that effective Innovation is best driven by a multi-disciplinary team of people with following a process.   Whilst we continue to try to find a person or persons capable of successfully executing all the stages of the Innovation process we are missing out on the massive benefits Innovation can bring.  INNOVATION IS BEST DELIVERED BY A TEAM.

Here’s another metaphor.  In the UK there is a wonderful TV programme called Grand Designs (hosted by Kevin McCloud).  Each week Kevin introduces the viewers to a couple who are planning to build their dream house and we follow their progress as they wrestle with numerous architects, planners and builders.  We smile smugly as we watch their inevitable overspending and failure to complete the build on time.   We wince as they struggle to juggle families, jobs and the building project over many years – eventually to stand proudly in the front room of their new house reliving the traumas with Kevin.  At the end of the programme we feel a sense of admiration that “against all odds” the couple have triumphed and over the many years and months have brought their idea from the dream to the paper to the reality.  This is the Innovator as we so often picture them.   Compare and contrast with another (less glamorous) UK TV building programme called the Big Build (hosted by Nick Knowles).  Each week Nick introduces us to a family who are down on their luck and living in disastrously unsuitable accommodation.  In the space of two weeks, whilst the family are holed up in a local B&B, Nick and an army of designers, builders, plumbers, electricians, plasterers and decorators dismantle, rebuild and extend the family’s home.   The result is magical and despite a few minor melodramas, the TEAM has pulled off a minor miracle for which the family is inordinately grateful.   This is Innovation as it can be, as it should be – no fuss, no bother just the right people with the right skills following the right process delivering a phenomenal result.

So please, for those of you who want to drive Innovation – please stop looking to identify “the” Innovators in your business, it is counter-productive and distracts from the more effective way to deliver innovation – instead look to build the process and the team required to deliver Innovation. 

Having laid out my thoughts on this topic I’d be fascinated to know what people think – do drop me a line and let me know your thoughts.