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The neglected element of your company's performance: PEOPLE

A serious gap in workforce productivity is now holding back the growth of the Australian economy.

 

In PwC’s recently published study Key Trends in Human Capital 2012, Australia was ranked second to last for productivity growth.

As we all know, the Australian agribusiness and agricultural production industry has been suffering from a steady decline in the productive capacity of its workforce for some time now.  It is an issue that is hotly discussed around kitchen tables and boardrooms alike every day.

What the PwC report reveals is that overall productivity of the Westernised workforce has fallen dramatically in the last period.  There has been a systemic cutting back on drawing new skills in (recruiting new talent) and the ongoing professional (post graduate) development of the existing workforce.

Sound familiar?  These global trends are consistent with local trends that have emerged in Australia’s agribusiness sector.

So whilst we all may be asking ‘where are all the graduates?’ - as an industry what have we actually been doing to attract (draw in) new skills and effectively increase (up-skill) the output of the existing workforce?

For many businesses the answer is absolutely nothing.  Why?  It is not the conventional way of thinking in our industry.

The implication of doing nothing is to receive a very low return on the most important investment your company will ever make; the investment in your people (workforce – or Human Capital as it is commonly referred to now).  A poor return at a time when many are already struggling to generate external growth.

Imagine the possibilities of increasing the return on the investment in your people.  Having an effective process for monitoring the ongoing performance of people can make a huge difference to their productivity and generate external growth for your business.

One of the key ways that you can achieve this is to develop a suitable performance management system that will ensure the people of your business are consistently delivering value.  

A quick and compact approach to measuring workforce performance is a 360° Feedback Survey.

For the purpose of performance management, the performance of people at work can be divided into two broad components:

-          - Functional Performance

-         -  Behavioural Performance

360° feedback is used for the behavioural aspects and gives people an insight into the way others perceive their performance based on their workplace behaviours.  Research shows that behavioural aspects of performance are as important as the functional aspects of performance.

If you want to increase the return on investment in your people then you should have a performance management system that includes both.

At SOS we specialise in helping small and medium agribusiness located in the regions and now offer a 360° feedback service to start looking into and solving some of the productivity issues owners and operators are encountering.

If anyone would like an information copy of our 360° surveys or the PwC global study into human capital trends please contact us.

Start making your competition irrelevant.

So many great products and services created by companies such as yours have become commoditised.  Did you set out for this to happen?  No way!

The rate at which the new value created by products and services is commoditised has increased dramatically, thanks to technological advancements in the way we do business and the purchasing behaviour of consumers.  Supply now outstrips demand in many markets that are actually contracting; creating price wars and obliterating profit margins for many involved in the value chain.

The implications are that as traditional markets get increasingly overcrowded, the prospect for growth and prosperity seems gloomier than ever.  Did you realise that many of the traditional methods of strategic analysis that companies use to compete, nearly always point to that very fact i.e. there is limited opportunity for growth if we continue doing the same thing.  But still we march forward to face our opponents head-on in a bloody war of attrition.  However, to win in the future, companies must learn to stop competing with each other.

Imagine the possibilities if your business was able to operate in uncontested market space where the competition was irrelevant because they didn’t exist.  Many companies are now achieving this by using a different approach to strategy.

This different approach to strategic thinking is called Value Innovation.

 

Instead of analysing the existing competitive environment as the benchmark for how you and your industry will move forward, the focus is to create a leap in value for potential new customers that will propel your business into a new and emerging market space.  The leap in value is achieved by placing equal emphasis on creating value and the process of innovation.

So what’s your first step towards freedom?

Central to the concept of Value Innovation is the development of a Strategy Canvas.  It is a diagnostic tool that helps to understand what elements of the customer offering (i.e. current value) everyone is currently competing on and consequently, where competitor money is being invested (i.e. current process of delivery).

The result of a Strategy Canvas is the creation of a Value Curve for you, your competitors and your industry.  Next is to build into your offering a set of alternative values and to reconstruct how that new message of value will be delivered, to an as-yet untapped set of customers willing to pay for your new competitive offering.  This is your unique Value Curve.

The successful companies of tomorrow are using the tools of Value Innovation today and will capture the opportunity of high profitable growth by creating new demand in uncontested markets.

For companies that are seeking a solution to the fight for competitive advantage, I recommend reading and implementing the tactics explained in Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne and published by Harvard Business Review Press.

A great quote to end the week.

Heard this one today and thought it was brilliant:

Never spend money propping up people who are the victims of their own decisions.

Be still my beating heart.......or should I say hearts!

The other night I was channel surfing and caught an episode of Gordon Ramsay's Great Escape in Vietnam.  He ate the beating heart of a Cobra that was then cooked up and prepared for the rest of the meal.

This brought back amazing memories for me of one particular trip I did to Vietnam.

A few years ago I had the privilege of traveling around Asia developing new markets for an agricultural exporter that I worked for at the time.

I had just completed a successful week of business in Vietnam with our local agents and we decided to celebrate by going for a meal at a restaurant in Ho Chi Minh city.  Funny how they 'forgot' to tell me that this restaurant specialised in snake.

We arrived at the restaurant and were taken to a private room out the back for business people.  Whilst enjoying my first Heineken and reflecting on the week that was, I was told that the restaurant specialised in snake dishes and was I up to the task.  

They already knew that I was pretty adventurous, so of course it wasn't a problem.  I simply thought that we would order some dishes from a menu and out it would come.  No biggy right?!!

Well a few minutes later I started to notice that more and more of the staff were shuffling into the room and standing there grinning and laughing with all eyes on me.

As I stood up to shake hands with the owner of the restaurant who had just entered the room and introduced himself, I noticed that one particular lad with a glint in his eye, was standing back holding a hessian sack that seemed to be squirming.

Our agent explained to me that the restaurant rarely has Westerners and so the owner would like to show me traditional preparation of the snake.  I respectfully said yes! I'd love to see it.

The young lad holding the bag produced a 5ft grey water python and presented it for my inspection and approval.

The snake was then cut and its blood drained into a container.  At this stage I still had no idea what was coming.

They then cut out the heart of the snake and placed it on a small dish - it was still beating.  The heart was put into a shot glass and covered in a high octane rice wine and handed to me - it was still beating.

Our agent explained to me that drinking the snake heart would keep me a healthy, strong and virile male.  Not a bad sales pitch really - so oh well, when in Rome...............and down it went.

I then drank two glasses of the snake's blood (mixed with rice wine) and then either the kidneys or liver.  Overall the staff and owner were quite impressed.  The rest of the snake was taken away and prepared for the rest of the meal.  It was excellent!!

I have many more crazy stories of travels in Asia such as being arrested for suspected drug trafficking, being chased by heroin gangs, earthquakes, eating dog, typhoons, Vietnam airlines in the early days - if you want to hear them, poke me back.

As a side note, I've been watching some of the other episodes of Gordon Ramsay traveling through the back-blocks of Asia and I must say that the way he talks to and treats the locals is terrible.  Surely someone is coaching him on some of that stuff.  I know he goes for shock value but his actions and fowl language would be quite offensive to many.