71% of the "World's Most Admired Companies" report that they are very effective at the implementation of their business strategy. Only 47% of the less exalted companies can claim the same accomplishment.
What does that mean to compensation and rewards? It probably means that more than half of the companies outside of the Fortune 500 often do not meet their business goals. It certainly means that they don't execute very well. Whether there is a correlation with their revenue - and their ability to fund salaries, bonuses and benefits - is another topic.
But really? Pay for performance? How can we seriously say we are pulling it off if we can't even get the company pointed in the right direction?
Look at the commitment that the Most Admired Companies have made to communicating the strategy and more importantly to our work, making sure that managers and employees understand their role in it.
from "Rewards-Program Effectiveness: What Makes the World's Most Admired Companies Great",World at Work Journal, First Quarter, 2009
Yes, research has indicated that employees are more engaged when they know how their work is connected to the business strategy. But let's look at something even more fundamental.
Can we truthfully claim our compensation programs are pay for performance when we spend more time on the numbers than we do on helping employees achieve the right business results?
I'm not saying it's easy. But I do think it's our job. So more on implementation, including communications, in my future posts.
And in the meantime, take these findings to heart. For many companies, this is only the first month of strategy implementation. What will you do throughout the year to continue to educate managers and employees about their role?
The information will help them take their objectives far more seriously -- oops, what I meant to say is that managers and employees will be more engaged!
Margaret O'Hanlon is founder and principal of re:Think Consulting. She has decades of experience teaming up with clients to ensure great Human Resource ideas deliver valuable business results. Margaret brings deep expertise in total rewards communications and change management to the dialog at the Café. Before founding re:Think Consulting, she was a Principal in Total Rewards Communications and Change Management with Towers Perrin. Margaret is a member of the Board of Directors of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), Pacific Plains Region. She earned her M.S. and Ed.S. in Instructional Technology at Indiana University. Creative writing is one of her outside passions, along with Masters Swimming.
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