Has your organization evolved with the times?

In a conversation recently with Russ Moen, VP of Human Resources at ExpressPro, he suggested that I should pick up a copy of the book Intellectual Capital by Thomas Stewart. The book looks at the new role of human capital within the business community. If we still look at employees based on the "position they hold" rather than the skills they bring to the table, we are suffering from a death spiral. Released in paperback in 1999 it is still very timely looking at the world we are operating in.

Stewart presents some guidelines for us to consider:

First, he discusses new signs of trouble to show us that our jobs might be in trouble. They are 1) Are you learning? 2) If your job were open, would you get it? 3) Are you being milked? 4) Do you know what you contribute? 5) What would you do if your job disappeared tomorrow? 6) Are you having fun yet? and 7) Are you worried about your job?

From these seven questions, Stewart discusses the new career model for the coming journey. Has your organization changed with the times? Have you recognized the tenants of the new career model? Let's look at the tenants:

1. A career is a series of giigs, not a series of steps - When you look at your human capital assets, are you viewing them from the pervue of a ladder or are you looking at what new skills they bring to your organization separate from what department they report to?
2. Project Management is the furnace in which successful careers are forged. We are looking at organizations that have learned that corss-functional teams are what generates innovation. In doing so the old model of silo mentality and rising within your silo is gone.
3. In the new organization, power flows from expertise, not from position. There is an old adage among professionals seeking new employment that it is not who you know, it is who knows you. Part of this is being recognized for the knowledge that your human capital assets have gained over their working career. When you are recruting new talent are you looking for their previous position or for the knowledge assets they bring to your organization?
4. Most roles in an organization can be performed by either insiders or outsiders. If you are hiring based on expertise, then the talent does not have to be working within your doors today. They could just as easily be a consultant who comes in for the project and moves on to the next project and client when yours is finished.
5. Careers are made in markets, not hierarchies. Charles Handy suggests that all of your human capital assets should be self-employed. If this is so the way you approach your human capital assets has to change. You do not hire them nor own them. They are leasing their services to you on a project basis for the nature of their intellectual assets.
6. The fundamental career choice is not between one company and another, but between specializing and generalizing. The new human capital assets are loyal to what they do not to your organization. If asked they do not begin by saying they work for your organization, They talk about what they do. This means they are far more concerned with the expertise they have rather than the industry you are in. The expertise crosses industry lines as easily as water.
7. Intellectual capital is the source of wealth for individuals as well as for the organization - and it is held in common between them. Your organization is valued on what you bring to the marketplace. That value is derived from what your human capital assets bring to your organization. The resulting inte4raction means that you need to change the position they play within your organization.

Your organization needs to make the decision whether you play a vital role in the marketplace or are counting the days until you disappear. A major part of this decision will be based on the position you place your human capital assets into. If you still function with the department hierarchial arrangement where the management tries to drive the organization down on the human capital you will fail. On the other hand, if you recognize the value of the expertise that is housed within your four walls in the minds of your human capital then you have a running chance to evolve as the marketplace evolves. The human capital assets will dictate whether you have the ability to  grow and introduce new innovation to the future business world.

Posted via email from hrstrategist@Net-Speed